r fell at the foot of the wall,
but leaned their breasts against it, gleaming as they rose on its
front, and darkening as they sank low towards its deep base.

The wind kept coming in gusts, tearing a white gleam now and then on
the dark surface of the sea. Behind them shone the dim lights of the
city; before them all was dark as eternity, except for the one light at
the end of the pier. At length Alec spied another out at sea.

"I believe that is the steamer," he said. "But she is a good way off.
We shall have plenty of time to walk to the end--that is, if you would
like to go."

"Certainly; let us go on. I want to stand on the very point," answered
Kate.

They soon came to the lighthouse on the wall, and there descended to
the lower part of the pier, the end of which now plunged with a steep
descent into the sea. It was constructed of great stones clamped with
iron, and built into a natural foundation of rock. Up the slope the
waves rushed, and down the slope they sank again, with that seemingly
aimless and resultless rise and fall, which makes the sea so dreary and
sad to those men and women who are not satisfied without some goal in
view, some outcome of their labours; for it goes on and on, answering
ever to the call of sun and moon, and the fierce trumpet of the winds,
yet working nothing but the hopeless wear of the bosom in which it lies
bound for ever.

They stood looking out into the great dark before them, dark air, dark
sea, dark sky, watching the one light which grew brighter as they
gazed. Neither of them saw that a dusky figure was watching them from
behind a great cylindrical stone that stood on the end of the pier,
close to the wall.

A wave rushed up almost to their feet.

"Let us go," said Kate, with a shiver. "I can't bear it longer. The
water is calling me and threatening me. There! How that wave rushed up
as if it wanted me at once!"

Alec again drew her closer to him, and turning, they walked slowly
back. He was silent with the delight of having that lovely creature all
to himself, leaning on his arm, in the infolding and protecting
darkness, and Kate was likewise silent.

By the time they reached the quay at the other end of the pier, the
steamer had crossed the bar, and they could hear the _thud_ of her
paddles treading the water beneath them, as if eagerly because she was
near her rest. After a few struggles, she lay quiet in her place, and
they went on board.

Alec saw Kate embra