Macleod of Dare

alone-that he ought seriously to study the features of this girl's face; for was there not a great deal of

ose was perhaps the least thing retrousse; and as to her eyes? They might be blue, gray, or green, but one thing he was sure of was that they could speak more than was ever uttered by any speech.

know something about the character and disposition of this new acquaintance, so that she should no longer be to him a puzzling and distracting will-o'-the-wisp. What had he

round when some one turned close by him. Then his heart stood still for a second. The sudden light that sprang to her face when she recognized him blinded him. Was it to be always so? Was she always to come upon him in a flash, as it were? What chance had the poor

at all in Miss White's face, but a very slight and perhaps

r Mrs. Ross," said

in black and blue beads was gone. He found before him (as far as he could make out) a quiet, bright-faced, self-possessed girl, clad in a light and cool costume of white, with bits of black velvet about it; and her white gloves and sunshade, and the white silver chain round her slender waist, were important features in the picture she presented. How c

the most matter-of-fact way. "I ca

d? And if he had had his will, there would have been no special train to disturb her repose. She would have embarked in a noble barge, and lain upon couches of swans-down, and ampl

to take

read what we have to tell you? Don't you know what a simple and confiding soul appeals to you?-clear

e to have repeated. It was a friendly word. It established a sort of secret companionship. It is the proud privilege of a

se parties. Mrs. Ross never thought of going until last evening,

clear-eyed, pale girl was the madcap coquette whose caprices and gri

nd a surprise. Lieutenant Ogilvie played a trick on me. He

oked a

met at Mrs. Ross's that I was e

wished her distinctly to understand that he cou

x. We have another piece in rehearsal

ve addressed each other in a more indifferent fashion. But the trivial nothings which the mouth utters may become possessed of awful import when accompanied by the language of the eyes; and the poor commonplace sentences may be ta

time to get comfortably seated in the spacious saloon carriage that had been reserved for them. The train slowly glided out of the station, and then began to rattle away from the midst of London. Glimpses of a keener blue began to appear. The gardens were

half-reserved, shy way with that low voice of hers, still there was plenty of vivacity and gladness in her eyes. They drove from Gravesend station to the river-side. They passed through the crowd waiting to see the yachts start. They got on board the steamer; a

four in each tier, the first row consisting of small forty-tonners, the more stately craft behind. A brisk northeasterly wind was blowing, causing the bosom of the river to flash in ripple

ds," said Colonel Ross to his women-f

f both her enemies, and got clear away, with the sunlight shining full on her bellying canvas. But there was no time to watch the further adventures of the forty-tonners. Here and closer at hand were the larger craft, and high up in the rigging were the mites of men, ready to drop into the air, clinging on to the halyards. The gun is fired. Down they come, swinging in the air; and the moment they have reached the deck they are off and up the

White said: she had a glass in her hand, but did not

These things seem to me to be all wi

as if there was nothing below to steady this vast extent of canvas. Macleod was astonis

said he, "a puff of wind from the Gribun Cli

es; and Thames yachting is a very nice thing. It is very close to London. You can take a day's fre

aid Miss White

Nore; and with this steady breeze they ought to be back early in the afternoo

elf to complete idlen

cert

s somewhat tame, and peaceful, and pretty landscape tended to become monotonous, they had on this side or that the spectacle of one of those tall and beautiful yachts rounding on a new tack or creeping steadily up on one of her opponents. They had a sweepstakes, of course, and Macleod dr

qual, why should your yacht b

o do so; and she tendered him in return the bit of folded paper with the name of a rival yacht

, "and lie and dream under the blue skies. I should want no other occupation than that: that would be real idleness, with a br

nds, with the blue veins and the pink, almond-shaped nails. She was right. That was the proper sort of existence for one s

and struck up a live

s no my a

gh the la

s. Ross said to her husband. "You will hav

oo: what was she thinking of-far away in Castle Dare? Of the wild morning on which she insisted on crossing to one of the Freshnist islands, because of the sick child of a shepherd there; and of the open herring smack, a

aid Colonel Ross;

n occasion, too, for assiduous helpfulness, and gentle inquiries, and patient attention. They forgot about the various chances of the yachts. They could not at once hav

s no my a

gh the la

here in the south, a long spur of land ran out at the horizon, and the sea immediately under was still and glassy, so that the neck of land seemed projected into the sky-a sort of gigantic razor-fish suspended in the silvery clouds. Then, to give the yachts time to overta

wsprit? With what an ease and majesty she comes along, scarcely dipping to the slight summer waves, while they on board notice that she has put out her long spinnaker boom, ready to hoist a great ballooner as soon as she is round the lightship and running home before the wind. The speed at which she cuts the water is now visible enough as she obscures for a second or so the hull of the lightship. In another second she has sheered round; and then the great spinnaker bulges out with the breeze, and away she goes up the river again. Chronometers are in request. It is only a matter of fifty seconds that the nearest riva

kes, Miss White," Macleod said. "Y

kes. She seemed to have been gre

e a man drowned before your eyes-in t

lets himself get drowned in this water, w

ny sailors who ca

e for them

een brought up to an amphibious life like yourself? I suppose in your country, w

born with fins. And we can hear the mermaids singing all day long.

that far land that she had shown such a deep interest in?

here fancied they heard the mermaids singing-amidst so mu

her, that is, Mary, the daughter of Red Alister. Macleod of Dunvegan, he wished her not to make any more songs; but she could not cease the making of songs. And there was another Macleod-Fionaghal, they called her, that is the Fair

et hers only for a second; he did not notice the soft

t mysterious stranger?" asked Mrs. Ro

al," he

ed to he

s the Fair Stranger from the islands-this is the poetess whose melodies the mermaids have

allooners, were running pretty well before the wind. The lazy abandonment of the day became more complete than ever. Careless talk and laughter; an easy curiosity about the fortunes of the race; tea in the saloon, with the making up of two bouquets of white roses, sweet-peas, fuchias, and ferns-the day passed lightly and swiftly enough. It was a summer day, fu

Cross he bade good-bye to Miss White, who was driven off by Mr. and Mrs. Ross along with their

he theatre again that evening-getting, if possible, into some corner where he might pursue his profound pyschological investigations unseen-but now he thought he would not go. He would spend the evening in writing a long letter to his cousin, telling her and the mother about all the beautiful, fine, gay, summer life he had seen in London-so different from anything they could have seen in Fort William, or Inverness, or even in Edinburgh. After dinner he sat down to this

he dark shores of the isles-this king's daughter clad in white, with her yellow hair down to her waist and bands of gold on her wrists? And what does she sing to the lashing waves but songs of high courage, and triumph, and

and croons her songs of suffering and of the cruel drowning in the seas, so that from hut to hut they car

ose leaf. There is a shimmer of summer around her; flowers lie in her lap; tender observances encompass and shelter her. Not for her the biting winds of the northern sea