over her--a man whose face, revealed to her in the dim light, sent a
throb of wonder through her heart.

"You!" she said, speaking with a great effort. "Is it really you?"

He was rubbing one of her hands between his own. He paused to answer.

"Yes; it's really me," he said. And she fancied his voice quivered a
little. "They told me I might perhaps find you on the shore. Are you
better?"

She tried to sit up, and he helped her, keeping his arm about her
shoulders. She found herself lying on a ledge of rock high up in the
slanting wall of a deep and narrow cave. She knew the place well, and
had always avoided it with instinctive aversion. It was horribly eerie.
The rocky walls were wet with the ooze and slime of the ages. There was
a trickle of spring-water along the ridged floor.

Evelyn closed her eyes dizzily. The marvel of the man's presence was
still upon her, but the horror of death haunted her also. She would
rather have been drowned outside on the howling shore than here.

"The sea comes in at high tide," she murmured shakily.

Lester Cheveril, crouching beside her, made undaunted reply.

"Yes, I know. But it won't touch us. Don't be afraid!"

The assurance with which he spoke struck her very forcibly; but
something held her back from questioning the grounds of his confidence.

"How did you get here?" she asked him instead.

"I saw you from the corner of the bay," he said. "It was before you left
your rock. I climbed round the point over the boulders. I thought at the
time that there must be some way up the cliff. Then I saw you start
running, and I knew you were cut off. I yelled to you, but I couldn't
make you hear. So I had to give chase."

His arm tightened a little about her.

"I am sorry you were scared," he said. "Are you feeling better now?"

She could not understand him. He spoke with such entire absence of
anxiety. In spite of herself her own fears began to subside.

"Yes, I am better," she said. "But--tell me more. Why didn't you go back
when you saw what had happened?"

"I couldn't," he said simply. "Besides, even if they launched the
lifeboat, the chances were dead against their reaching you. I thought of
a rope, too. But that seemed equally risky. It was a choice of odds. I
chose what looked the easiest."

"And carried me here?" she said.

The light, shining weirdly in upon his face, showed her that he was
smiling.

"I couldn't stop to consult you," he said. "I saw this hole,