would think of doing such
a thing.

By-and-by they returned to the hotel; and while they sat at dinner a
great fire of sunset spread over the west; and the far woods became of a
rich purple, streaked here and there with lines of pale white mist. The
river caught the glow of the crimson clouds above, and shone duskily red
amid the dark green of the trees. Deeper and deeper grew the color of
the sun as it sank to the horizon, until it disappeared behind one low
bar of purple cloud; and then the wild glow in the west slowly faded
away; the river became pallid and indistinct; the white mists over the
distant woods seemed to grow denser; and then, as here and there a lamp
was lit far down in the valley, one or two pale stars appeared in the
sky overhead, and the night came on apace.

"It is so strange," Sheila said, "to find the darkness coming on, and
not to hear the sound of the waves. I wonder if it is a fine night
at Borva."

Her husband went over to her and led her back to the table, where the
candles, shining over the white cloth and the colored glasses, offered a
more cheerful picture than the darkening landscape outside. They were in
a private room; so that when dinner was over, Sheila was allowed to
amuse herself with the fruit, while her two companions lit their cigars.
Where was the quaint old piano now; and the glass of hot whisky and
water; and the 'Lament of Monaltrie,' or 'Love in thine eyes forever
plays'? It seemed, but for the greatness of the room, to be a repetition
of one of those evenings at Borva that now belonged to a far-off past.
Here was Sheila, not minding the smoke, listening to Ingram as of old,
and sometimes saying something in that sweetly inflected speech of hers;
here was Ingram, talking, as it were, out of a brown study, and morosely
objecting to pretty nearly everything Lavender said, but always ready to
prove Sheila right; and Lavender himself, as unlike a married man as
ever, talking impatiently, impetuously, and wildly, except at such times
as he said something to his young wife, and then some brief smile and
look, or some pat on the hand, said more than words. But where, Sheila
may have thought, was the one wanting to complete the group? Has he gone
down to Borvabost to see about the cargoes of fish to be sent off in the
morning? Perhaps he is talking to Duncan outside about the cleaning of
the guns, or making up cartridges in the kitchen. When Sheila's
attention wandered away from