who had all the while been
covertly gazing on the surface of the little bay, rose to his feet and
bade me follow his example. Now I should say that the great run of tide
at the south-west end of Aros exercises a perturbing influence round all
the coast. In Sandag Bay, to the south, a strong current runs at certain
periods of the flood and ebb respectively; but in this northern bay--Aros
Bay, as it is called--where the house stands and on which my uncle was
now gazing, the only sign of disturbance is towards the end of the ebb,
and even then it is too slight to be remarkable. When there is any
swell, nothing can be seen at all; but when it is calm, as it often is,
there appear certain strange, undecipherable marks--sea-runes, as we may
name them--on the glassy surface of the bay. The like is common in a
thousand places on the coast; and many a boy must have amused himself as
I did, seeking to read in them some reference to himself or those he
loved. It was to these marks that my uncle now directed my attention,
struggling, as he did so, with an evident reluctance.

'Do ye see yon scart upo' the water?' he inquired; 'yon ane wast the gray
stane? Ay? Weel, it'll no be like a letter, wull it?'

'Certainly it is,' I replied. 'I have often remarked it. It is like a
C.'

He heaved a sigh as if heavily disappointed with my answer, and then
added below his breath: 'Ay, for the _Christ-Anna_.'

'I used to suppose, sir, it was for myself,' said I; 'for my name is
Charles.'

'And so ye saw't afore?', he ran on, not heeding my remark. 'Weel, weel,
but that's unco strange. Maybe, it's been there waitin', as a man wad
say, through a' the weary ages. Man, but that's awfu'.' And then,
breaking off: 'Ye'll no see anither, will ye?' he asked.

'Yes,' said I. 'I see another very plainly, near the Ross side, where
the road comes down--an M.'

'An M,' he repeated very low; and then, again after another pause: 'An'
what wad ye make o' that?' he inquired.

'I had always thought it to mean Mary, sir,' I answered, growing somewhat
red, convinced as I was in my own mind that I was on the threshold of a
decisive explanation.

But we were each following his own train of thought to the exclusion of
the other's. My uncle once more paid no attention to my words; only hung
his head and held his peace; and I might have been led to fancy that he
had not heard me, if his next speech had not contained a kind of echo
from my own.