Perhaps after all I was not
so hateful to her.

I have not a very poetical nature; but I think the scene by which we
were surrounded aroused what little I had. The birds were finding
their way to the hedgerows to seek rest for the night, ever and anon
giving a faint chirp of content. The beetles went humming heedlessly
by, the bees laden with honey returned to their hives, and all nature
seemed to be at peace. The honeysuckle and the hedge flowers that grew
in wild confusion perfumed the lane in which we walked; the nuts hung
in thick clusters on the fences, blackberries everywhere abounded. One
by one the stars came out of their obscurity until the heavens became
glorious; and as we walked on, the evening became more still. The
harvesters reached their homes, and we no longer heard the sound of
their voices. The night wind served only to make delicious music as it
played with the leaves on the trees and hedges or coquetted with the
golden corn. Now and then we could hear the sea murmur its old, old
song. To me it told of peace, and calm, and beauty.

And I was alone with the maiden whom I loved more dearly than my life.

I said that her kindness emboldened me, so with great trembling hands I
took her bonnet from her head and wove a piece of honeysuckle amid her
nut-brown hair.

Beautiful, beautiful Ruth! Yes, after the long stretch of weary years
I still call her so; but that night she was to me more than beautiful,
she was like an angel. I was young and unsophisticated, and--and I did
not know what was coming.

For fully five minutes we did not speak. Slowly we walked side by side
in the calm still eventide, until we emerged from the lane, and went
towards Pentvargle Cove. Then the sight of the rugged cliffs seemed to
alter my feelings, and the old jealous passion returned. I could see
the five great prongs of the "Devil's Tooth" towering into the sky, and
I could not help thinking of the time, years ago, when I had scaled its
slippery precipitous sides to save the girl at my side. Again the old
desire to know the worst came back to me. Did Ruth love my brother
Wilfred?

"Do you see the 'Devil's Tooth' yonder, Ruth?" I said.

"Yes," she said, "how calm the sea is now. How different from when I
saw it first. Then--but I cannot bear to think about it, can you?" and
she shuddered as she spoke.

"Oh, yes," I said. "I like to think about it. Why, Ruth, I was able
to save you, you know."

She