"Steer for those pretty water lilies," said Beatrice, "they look so
fresh and shining in the sun."

And as they floated over the water, her thoughts went back to that May
morning when Lillian sat upon the cliffs and sketched the white far-off
sails. How distant it seemed! She longed then for life. Now every
sweet gift which life could bestow was here, crowned with love. Yet
she sighed as Hugh Fernely's face rose before her. If she could but
forget it! After all it had been on her side but a mockery of love.
Yet another sigh broke from her lips, and then Lord Airlie looked
anxiously at her.

"Does anything trouble you, Miss Earle?" he asked. "I never remember
to have seen you so serious before."

She looked for a moment wistfully into his face. Ah, if he could help
her, if he could drive this haunting memory from her, if ever it could
be that she might tell him of this her trouble and ask him to save her
from Hugh Fernely! But that was impossible. Almost as though in answer
to her thought, Gaspar Laurence began to tell them of an incident that
had impressed him. A gentleman, a friend of his, after making
unheard-of sacrifices to marry a lady who was both beautiful and
accomplished, left her suddenly, and never saw her again, the reason
being that he discovered that she had deceived him by telling him a
willful lie before her marriage. Gaspar seemed to think she had been
hardly used. Lord Airlie and Lionel differed from him.

"I am quite sure," said Lord Airlie, "that I could pardon anything
sooner than a lie; all that is mean, despicable, and revolting to me is
expressed in the one word, 'liar.' Sudden anger, passion, hot
revenge--anything is more easily forgiven. When once I discover that a
man or woman has told me a lie, I never care to see their face again."

"I agree with you," said Lionel; "perhaps I even go further. I would
never pardon an air of deceit; those I love must be straightforward,
honest, and sincere always."

"Such a weight of truth might sink the boat," said Beatrice,
carelessly; but Lord Airlie's words had gone straight to her heart. If
he only knew. But he never would. And again she wished that in reply
to her father's question she had answered truthfully.

The time came when Lillian remembered Mr. Dacre's words, and knew they
had not been spoken in vain.

Beatrice had taken off her glove, and drew her hand trough the cool,
deep water; thinking intently of the story she h