med their circling, swooping evolutions. In great
squares fenced by hurdles, flocks of sheep nibbled the wet grass. Far
beneath, the waters stretched grey to the blurred horizon, where they
and the low grey sky seemed one.

But I think our young man and woman were oblivious of things external,
absorbed in their private meditations and emotions. They walked on
without speaking, till a turn in the cliff-line brought them in sight
of the little town of Blye, at the cliffs' base, where it rose from the
surrounding green of Rowland Marshes like a smoky red island.

"Blye," said Anthony, glancing down.

"Yes," said Susanna. "I had no idea we had come so far."

"I 'm afraid we have come _too_ far. I 'm afraid I have allowed you to
tire yourself," said he, with anxiety.

"Tired!" she protested. "Could one ever get tired walking in such
exhilarating air as this?"

And, indeed, her colour, her bright eyes, her animated carriage, put to
scorn his apprehension.

"But we must turn back, all the same," she added, "or--we shall not be
home for tea."

She spoke in bated accents, and made a grave face, as if to miss tea
were to miss a function sacrosanct.

Anthony laughed, and they turned back.

"It's a bit of a coincidence," he remarked presently, "that, coming
from Sampaolo, you should just have chanced to take a house at Craford."

"Nothing could be simpler," said Susanna. "I wished to pass the summer
in England, and was looking for a country house. The agent in London
mentioned Craford New Manor, among a number of others, and Miss Sandus
and I came down to see it. The prospect of finding myself the tenant
of my exiled sovereign rather appealed to me--appealed to my sense of
romance and to my sense of humour. And then,"--her eyes
brightened,--"when we met your perfectly irresistible Mr. Willes,
hesitation was impossible. He kept breaking out with little snatches
of song, while he was showing us over the place; and afterwards he
invited us to his music-room, (or I think he called it his
_business_-room), and sang properly to us--his own compositions. He
even permitted me to play some of his accompaniments."

Anthony chuckled.

"I 'm sure he did--I see my Adrian," he said. "Well, I owe him more
than he 's aware of."

"Your Excellency is the legitimate Count of Sampaolo," said Susanna.
"Antonio, by the Grace of God, and the favour of the Holy See, Count of
Sampaolo--thirty-fourth count, and eighteenth of t