ook that held him
back, abashed, and curiously afraid. She made him feel the power of her
sex,--a power invincible when strengthened by modesty and reserve,--and
the easy licence which modern women, particularly those of a degraded
aristocracy, permit to men in both conversation and behaviour nowadays,
would have found no opportunity of being exercised in her presence. So,
though his impulse moved him to catch her round the waist and draw her
with forcible tenderness away from the dizzy eminence on which she
stood, he dared not presume so far, and merely contented himself with a
bounding stride which brought him to the same point of danger as
herself, and the breathless exclamation--

"Miss Mary! Take care!"

She smiled.

"Oh, there is nothing to be frightened of!" she said. "Often and often I
have come here quite alone and looked down upon the sea in all weathers.
Just after my father's death, this used to be the place I loved best,
where I could feel that I was all by myself with God, who alone
understood my sadness. At night, when the moon is at the full, it is
very beautiful here. One looks down into the water and sees a world of
waving light, and then, looking up to the sky, there is a heaven of
stars!--and all the weary ways of life are forgotten! The angels seem so
near!"

A silent agreement with this latter statement shone in Reay's eyes as he
looked at her.

"It's good sometimes to find a woman who still believes in angels," he
said.

"Don't _you_ believe in them?"

"Implicitly,--with all my heart and soul!" And again his eyes were
eloquent.

A wave of rosy colour flitted over her face, and shading her eyes from
the strong glare of the sun, she gazed across the sea.

"I wish dear old David could see this glorious sight!" she said. "But
he's not strong--and I'm afraid--I hardly like to think it--that he's
weaker than he knows."

"Poor old chap!" said Angus, gently. "Any way, you've done all you can
for him, and he's very grateful. I hope he'll last a few years longer."

"I hope so too," she answered quickly. "For I should miss him very much.
I've grown quite to love him."

"I think he feels that," and Angus seated himself on a jutting crag of
the "Giant's Castle" and prepared for the utterance of something
desperate. "Any one would, you know!"

She made no reply. Her gaze was fixed on the furthest silver gleaming
line of the ocean horizon.

"Any one would be bound to feel it, if you loved--if