ght it a tremendously interesting neck, slender, not thin, and
straight and strong, a milk-white column from the frilled collar of her
bathing-cloak to the shimmering tendrils that clustered behind her ears.
Nor was the ear she presented to his inspection an everyday ear, lacking
its individual allure. He considered that it owned its distinctive
personality, not unworthy of any man's studious attention.

He saw her face, of course, en profile: her head bowed, downcast lashes
long upon her cheeks, her mouth set in a mould of gravity, her brows
seriously contracted--signifying preoccupation with the problem of the
moment.

And then suddenly she turned her head and intercepted his whole-hearted
stare. For a thought wonder glimmered in the violet eyes; then they
flashed disconcertingly; finally they became utterly cold and
disdainful.

"Well?" she demanded in a frigid voice.

He looked away in complete confusion, and felt his face burning to the
temples.

"I beg your pardon," he mumbled unhappily.

He essayed to walk. Twenty feet and more of treacherous, dry, yielding
sand separated them from the flight of steps that ascended the bluff. It
proved no easy journey; and its difficulty was complicated by his
determination to spare the woman as much as he could. Gritting his
teeth, he grinned and bore without a murmur until, the first stage of
the journey accomplished, he was able to grasp a handrail at the bottom
of the stairs and breathe devout thanks through the medium of a gasp.

"Shall we rest a bit?" the woman asked, compassionate, ignoring now the
impertinence she had chosen to resent a few moments ago.

"Think I can manage--thanks," he said, panting a little. "It'll be
easier now--going up. I shan't need help."

He withdrew his arm, perhaps not without regret, but assuredly with a
comforting sense of decent consideration for her, as well as with some
slight and intrinsically masculine satisfaction in the knowledge that he
was overcoming her will and her resistance.

"No--honestly!" he insisted. "These handrails make it easy."

"But please be sure," she begged. "Don't take any chances. _I_ don't
mind...."

"Let me demonstrate, then."

The stairway was comfortably narrow; he had only to grasp a rail with
either hand, and half lift himself, half hop up step by step. In this
manner he accomplished the ascent in excellent, if hopelessly
ungraceful, style. At the top he limped to a wooden seat beside one of
th