lt this American girl. She
bubbled with life and vivacity. And he was to walk with her now to
Father Anton's--half an hour ago he would as soon have dreamed of
possessing a fortune! It was incredible! It must be a marvellous
world that, where she came from--but no, even the women of her world
could not be like her! The suppleness of her form, it was divine; the
carriage, the poise, the smile--it was intoxication, it went to the
senses!

"I am mad! It is as though--as though I were drunk with wine!" Jean
muttered--and followed her across the room.

"Now where is this Father Anton of yours?"--as Jean joined her outside
the tavern.

"There," said Jean, and pointed along the street. "Do you see the
church--behind the second cottage? Well, it is there--just on the
other side."

She nodded--and Jean, glancing at her, found that she was not looking
in that direction at all. Instead, she seemed wholly engaged in
watching a boat start shoreward, as it pulled away from the side of a
smack anchored out in the bay. Father Anton might have been the last
thing that concerned her. Jean's eyes, a little puzzled, followed
hers. When he looked up again, the grey eyes were laughing at him.

"Is it quite safe out there?" she asked, waving her hand.

"Safe?" repeated Jean, in a bewildered way.

"Stupid!" she cried merrily. "Yes, of course--safe! If I am to stay
here, I cannot lie all day upon the beach and do nothing. You have a
boat, haven't you, Jean?"

"But, yes," said Jean.

"Then I am quite sure it will be safe," she decided. "I must have a
boat, and, of course, a boatman. You will be the boatman, Jean. Oh, I
really believe that, after all, Bernay-sur-Mer will be possible. There
will be places where we can go, little excursions, and heaps of things
like that. There, that is settled! And now I am more eager than ever
to see Father Anton."

Yes; it was settled! It was phrase of hers, that! To have demurred
would have been as impossible as to have said no. And, besides, he had
no wish to either demur or refuse. It seemed as though he were hurried
forward captive into some strange, unknown land of enchantment. It
staggered him, bewildered him, lured him, fired his imagination--and
there was no desire to rouse himself from what seemed like a wonderful
dream. No woman that he had ever seen, or imagined was like her. To
spend a day where he could feast his eyes upon her!--and did she not
now talk of m