back to the cool stretch of green water.

"Yes," she said slowly, "I suppose it is easy to be nice to some
people; but not to selfish people like me."

At her words, Milbanke's hand tightened abruptly.

"You must not say that," he murmured. "I have never seen any faults
in your character. And even--even if I had"--his voice quickened
confusedly--"even if I had seen them, you would still be the--the child
of my oldest friend."

He spoke disjointedly and agitatedly; but at his words, Clodagh turned
to him afresh with a grateful, impulsive movement.

"Ah, then I understand!" she said warmly. "You are very kind--you are
very good----"

At her movement and her tone, a mental giddiness seized upon Milbanke.
A flush rose to his temples.

"Clodagh," he said suddenly, "let me be kind to you always! Let--let me
marry you--and be kind to you always!"

The appeal came forth with volcanic suddenness. He had not meant to be
precipitate; it was entirely alien to his slow, methodical nature to
plunge headlong into any situation. But the occasion was unprecedented;
circumstances overwhelmed him. For a long space he stood as if
transfixed, his eyes straining to catch the expression on Clodagh's
face, his pale, ascetic features puckered with anxiety.

The pause was long--preternaturally long. Clodagh stood as motionless
as he, her hand still resting passive in his clasp, her clear eyes
staring into his in stupefied amazement. It was plainly evident that no
realisation of the declaration just made had penetrated her
understanding. To her mind--unattuned, even vaguely, to the idea of
love, and temporarily numbed by her grief--the thought that her
father's friend could consider her in any light but that of a child was
too preposterous, too unreal to come spontaneously. The belief that
Milbanke's extraordinary words but needed some explanatory addition
held her attentive and expectant. And under this conviction, she stood
unconscious of his close regard and unembarrassed by the pressure of
his hand.

At last, as some shadowy perception of her thoughts obtruded itself
upon him, he stirred nervously, and the flush upon his face deepened.

"Clodagh," he said, "have I made myself plain? Do you understand that
I--that I wish to marry you? That I want you for my--my wife?"

The final word with its intense incongruity cut suddenly through the
mist of her bewilderment. In a flash of comprehension the meaning of
his declaration sprang t