enceforth she would watch the clouds and find them there.
She looked down into the flood of light beneath her, with a full
consciousness that he was close to her, touching her; with a full
consciousness that every moment that she lingered there was a new
sin; with a full consciousness, too, that the beauty of those fading
colours seen thus in his presence possessed a charm, a sense of soft
delight, which she had never known before. At last she uttered a long
sigh.

"Why, what ails you?" said he.

"Oh, I must go; I have been so wrong to stand here. Good-bye; pray,
pray do not come with me."

"But you will shake hands with me." Then he got her hand, and held
it. "Why should it be wrong for you to stand and look at the sunset?
Am I an ogre? Have I done anything that should make you afraid of
me?"

"Do not hold me. Mr. Rowan I did not think you would behave like
that." The gloom of the evening was now coming on, and though but
a few minutes had passed since Mrs. Prime had walked through the
churchyard, she would not have been able to recognize them had she
walked there now. "It is getting dark, and I must go instantly."

"Let me go with you, then, as far as the bridge."

"No, no, no. Pray do not vex me."

"I will not. You shall go alone. But stand while I say one word to
you. Why should you be afraid of me?"

"I am not afraid of you,--at least,--you know what I mean."

"I wonder,--I wonder whether--you dislike me."

"I don't dislike anybody. Good-night."

He had however again got her hand. "I'll tell you why I ask;--because
I like you so much, so very much! Why should we not be friends? Well;
there. I will not trouble you now. I will not stir from here till you
are out of sight. But mind,--remember this; I intend that you shall
like me."

She was gone from him, fleeing away along the path in a run while the
last words were being spoken; and yet, though they were spoken in a
low voice, she heard and remembered every syllable. What did the man
mean by saying that he intended that she should like him? Like him!
How could she fail of liking him? Only was it not incumbent on her to
take some steps which might save her from ever seeing him again? Like
him, indeed! What was the meaning of the word? Had he intended to ask
her to love him? And if so, what answer must she make?

How beautiful had been those clouds! As soon as she was beyond the
church wall, so that she could look again to the west, she gazed with
al