th. Those
marvellous green billows, foaming in the sunshine, dashing against the
cliffs with a sound like thunder; the gentler wavelets creaming over the
snow-white sands in lines of lotus-blue; the pools, deep and limpid,
where in the aquamarine water all kind of strange sea-creatures lived;
the jagged, tooth-like rocks springing from the depths of the ocean,
ready to destroy the passing ships; the still more wonderful
lighthouses, rising, some of them, like tall white needles into the
turquoise sky; the gulls, flashing grey and white in the sunshine; the
salt scent of the sea mingling with the pungent fragrance of the yellow
gorse, hot with the sun ... surely the Cornish coast was a very favoured
spot, and the Scilly Isles, to which passage could be taken in a queer,
cranky boat, were indeed the Fortunate Isles, cradled by the bluest,
most magical, most romantic waters in the world!

Thoughts of the ocean were indissolubly bound up with all Toni's
thoughts of her honeymoon. Acting on a hint from Barry, Owen had taken
his bride straight away from the Registrar's dingy office to Paddington,
thence to Cornwall; and he would never forget the sight of Toni's face
when first she saw the sea, lying purple and green beneath a stormy sky.

During the long journey she had said very little, shyness enveloping her
as in a mantle; but when the train began to run along the sea shore, so
that the whole expanse of ocean lay spread before the window, Toni's
face changed, her eyes sparkled, and she turned to Owen with a
spontaneous expression of delight.

Now, looking back, it seemed to Toni that never for an instant had the
voice of the sea been out of her ears during all those wonderful days
and nights. Its song had helped her to bear herself properly during the
long hours alone with the man she had married. Again and again, when
embarrassment threatened to overcome her at this unusually prolonged
_tete-a-tete_, the sea whispered to her to take courage; and each night
she fell asleep to its murmured lullaby.

During the fortnight which they spent down in the genial West Country,
Owen gave himself up entirely to the service of his young wife. He
divined pretty well what she was feeling--guessed that her marriage,
after only three weeks' engagement, must have meant a complete upheaval
of her entire life; and the very fact that he did not love her gave an
added gentleness to his intercourse with her; for he could not rid
himself of