he feeling of distance. So he wandered out, and
along the sea-shore till under the wall of the pier. The tide was low,
and the wall high over his head. He followed it to the edge of the
water, and gazed out over the dim lead-coloured sea. While he stood
thus, he thought he heard voices in the air, and looking up, saw, far
over him, on the top of the wall, two heads standing out against the
clear sky, one in a bonnet, the other in a Glengarry. Why should he
feel a pang in his heart? Surely there were many girls who took
starlight walks on that refuge in the sea. And a Glengarry was no
uncommon wear for the youths of the city. He laughed at his own weak
fancies, turned his back on the pier, and walked along the shore
towards the mouth of the other river which flowed into the same bay. As
he went, he glanced back towards the top of the wall, and saw the
outline of the man. He was in full Highland dress. The woman he could
not see, for she was on the further side of her companion. By the time
he was halfway to the college, he had almost forgotten them.

It was a desolate shore along which he walked. Two miles of sand lay by
the lip of the sea on his right. On his left rose irregular and
changeful mounds of dry sand, upon which grew coarse grass and a few
unpleasant-looking plants. From the level of the tops of these mounds
stretched away a broad expanse of flat uncultivated ground, covered
with thin grass. This space had been devoted, from time immemorial, to
the sports of the city, but at this season, and especially at this
hour, it was void as the Sahara. After sauntering along for half an
hour, now listening to the wind that blew over the sand-hills, and now
watching the spiky sparkle of the wintry stars in the sea, he reached a
point whence he could descry the windows of Mr Fraser's part of the
college. There was no light in Kate's window. She must be in the
dining-room with her uncle--or--or--on the pier--with whom? He flung
himself on the sand. All the old despair of the night of thunder, of
the moonlight ramble, of the last walk together, revived. He dug with
his fingers into the sand; and just so the horrible pain was digging,
like a live creature with claws, into his heart. But Kate was indeed
sitting quietly with her uncle, while he lay there on the sea-shore.

Time passes quickly in any torment--merciful provision. Suddenly
something cold seemed to grasp him by the feet. He started and rose.
Like a wild beast in