Gaelic; and this will be the answer that will come to you from the
lighthouse--'_A hundred thousand welcomes to the young bride!_' And you
will soon learn the Gaelic, too; and you will get used to our rough
ways: and you will no longer have any fear of the sea. Some day you will
get so used to us that you will think the very sea-birds to be your
friends, and that they know when you are going away and when you are
coming back, and that they know you will not allow any one to shoot at
them or steal their eggs in the springtime. But if you would rather not
have our rough ways, Gerty, I will go with you wherever you please--did
I not say that to you, sweetheart? There are many fine houses in
Essex--I saw them when I went down to Woodford with Major Stuart. And
for your sake I would give up the sea altogether; and I would think no
more about boats; and I would go to Essex with you if I was never to
see one of the sea-birds again. That is what I will do for your sake,
Gerty, if you wish; though I thought you would be kind to the poor
people around us at Dare, and be proud of their love for you, and get
used to our homely ways. But I will go into Essex, if you like,
Gerty--so that the sea shall not frighten you; and you will never be
asked to go into one of our rough boats any more. It shall be just as
you wish, Gerty; whether you want to go away into Essex, or whether you
will come away with me to the North, that I will say to Captain
Macallum, 'Captain Macallum, what will you do, now that the English lady
has been brave enough to leave her home and her friends to live with us?
and what are we to do now to show that we are proud and glad of her
coming?'"

Well, tears did gather in her eyes as she listened to this wild,
despairing cry, and her hands were working nervously with a book she had
taken from the table; but what answer could she make. In self-defence
against this vehemence she adopted an injured air.

"Really, Keith," said she, in a low voice, "you do not seem to pay any
attention to anything I say or write. Surely I have prepared you to
understand that my consent to what you propose is quite impossible--for
the present, at least? I asked for time to consider."

"I know--I know," said he. "You would wait, and let those doubts close
in upon you. But here is a way to defeat them all. Sweetheart, why do
you not rise and give me your hand, and say 'Yes?' There would be no
more doubts at all!"

"But surely, Keith, yo