In the Tideway

n one bold, rocky, heathery; the southern, a mere spit of bent-covered shingle, curving hornlike from the great sweep of the Grada Sands beyond. It was sunset,--a cloudless sunset

keeping time to a whispering cadence told whe

ught, but we didn't. That fello

e rocks and heather, Lady Maud and Cynthia Strong had been making tea for the shooters. A brace of setters lay panting beside the game-bags; a fai

he same contented voice, "a who

others left," assented Rick Hal

to come in the same day made it so convenient. Quite a coincidence; one of those things no one could have foreseen." She sp

essor's absence she was apt to assume the mantle of his manner in order to annihilate poor Captain Weeks, in which object she generally succeeded. On this occasion, however, embolden

but Lady Maud rose hastily and, standing a little apar

-morrow without fail," she sa

e Aunt Will to the preaching, as uncle won't. Put it off till the next day, Lady Maud. To begin with, it's my birthday, and then the tides are

rest of my party." Still with her hand shading her eyes, she remained looking seawards, much in the same attitude

ed, "like a mast--yonde

st to the south. Went ashore ever so long ago, but it is useful still as a sign-post. Up to that spar th

the spar close in-

hink, making, I should say, for Carbost

cut short. I haven't had such a good one since those old days at Lynmouth, Maud! And you too! Why, yo

he replied hastily. "Come, Rick, let us

must be faced. She had driven round it so far, had turned back deliberately when she found it barring the road, had claimed time to understand the position. What had she done to

gain, whilst her nervous fingers busied themselves mechanically with the silv

ked tenderly. "I can easi

r head with

rsisted; "perhaps the inside is not quite smooth. Gi

I, dear?" There was a sudden passion in her tone, a kind of

t hurts--

ing gesture. "Nothing you could do would hurt me, Rick. You said so t

erence," he replied stoutly

Friday, perhap

Eval, waiting for the others to come up; for Rick's

d, still dissatisfied, "and I know I

e of mood. "See! I promise to give it back on Friday

or yours; then we shall be

Strong and Captain Weeks were certainly the happier for the

oured in through the dining-room windows, when, coming

ely day," sh

tain has strict orders from Louisa to bring me off dead or alive to-night." He laughed, but there was a bi

d more at Roederay and now the equinoctial gales were over, she meant to be off southwards. If he could not make use of the yacht, he must send it round to Cowes and make his own arrangements

five this afternoon to take me on board. Perhaps it is bett

professor, bursting in

will anticipate her time by three whole days, owing to this Fast and some local market. She takes Carbost on the out instead of the in trip, and is due to-night, some tim

use," sugge

l at dusk, so as t

urse she and Captain Weeks will go too. Ah!

dy, and so reduce our regrets to a mi

come what might, to try his fate with Cynthia Strong before leaving, and now, though still determined, he felt hustled. She, in her turn, knew she had shilly-shallied in a way unworthy of a Girton girl until her opportunities of bringing the professor to bo

ynthia, pausing at the window on her way to pack, and look

ed Lady Maud in a low voice; "th

the time. It is so still," rep

Day," continued Cynthia, aggrieved. "Couldn't we bribe s

only regret which can possibly mi

-to shoot seals. Didn't get any--worse luck! But it wasn't a bit pretty. Sand and bones and a stone coffin or two. The ghillie told me, too, that sometimes, a

ted Cynthia sharply. "In my opinion, there

d non ornavit," para

owever, as you wish to see it, Miss Strong, I shall be delighted to row you over in th

dy disconsolately. "We ought to be starting

which his mind was set. "If the wagonette were to pick us up at the cross-roads, we should

professor?" aske

, and turned away with a murm

one rows at Oxford. Indeed, I, for one, thin

equire my aid. I only learnt

ad for once thought it worth while to make up his mind. "But we couldn't go without you," she p

gnificently, and the sight of his aggrieved bu

the full tide and southerly current, slip down the coast across the sands to meet the wagonette. Eustace and Maud proposed to start about the same time for Eval House, so

tillness seemed to be in the very air. Not a breath on the water, not a sound on the moor, not a cloud on the sky. The very house seemed asleep; most of the servants away for edificati

to his companion hastily. "They won't be at Eval, so there is no use goin

little pools where the water showed their shadows, blended one into the other, upon the cairns where they sate together, looking

stroke, whilst Arthur Weeks, gloomily polite, paddled in the bows, debarred from even a fair sight of his beloved. The full

a long sentence to take breath. "I don't want to hustle anybody, but we have only just got ti

"Oh, yes! please, Mr. Endorwick, pull hard

n the professor's face, and bow kept her head stra

headlands and the island began to open up, showing

t. "The tide can't have been quite slack when we started. However, i

ausing too, the

almost touch the water, and that square thing behind is a stone cof--" he paused abru

were--drifting no

ut a change at the equinox. Quick, man alive. Pull, pull hard! Once she gets beyond those rocks, we will ha

to the oar. The boat spun round with the point of the

quick, give me the oar--go forward--lie down in the bows and keep her keel stiff. Now then, Cynthia, d

as not premature. The whole world, to her, lay in the strength of those arms, and when, meeting her piteous eyes, his face relaxed to something like a smile, and

ith a queer little sound, half sob, half laugh, he slackened, and wi

r sculling--when there's no rudder." The breaks were caused by his being out of breath. Ot

low with his left hand, as he went on rowing with his right. "Raise your head, pleas

The captain's fine flush was doubtless due to his previous exertions, but why a pillow

e have to get our head towards home. Eilean-a-fa-ash is out of the question; besides, Mis

ody den