guns or
making up cartridges in the kitchen. When Sheila's attention wandered
away from the talk of her companions she could not help listening for
the sound of the waves; and as there was no such message coming to her
from the great wooded plain without, her fancy took her away across
that mighty country she had traveled through, and carried her up to
the island of Loch Roag, until she almost fancied she could smell
the peat-smoke in the night-air, and listen to the sea, and hear
her father pacing up and down the gravel outside the house, perhaps
thinking of her as she was thinking of him.

This little excursion to Richmond was long remembered by those three.
It was the last of their meetings before Sheila was ushered into the
big world to busy herself with new occupations and cares. It was a
pleasant little journey throughout, for as they got into the landau
to drive back to town the moon was shining high up in the southern
heavens, and the air was mild and fresh, so that they had the carriage
opened, and Sheila, well wrapped up, lay and looked around her with
a strange wonder and joy as they drove underneath the shadow of the
trees and out again into the clear sheen of the night. They saw the
river, too, flowing smoothly and palely down between its dark banks;
and somehow here the silence checked them, and they hummed no more
those duets they used to sing up at Borva. Of what were they thinking,
then, as they drove through the clear night along the lonely road?
Lavender, at least, was rejoicing at his great good fortune that he
had secured for ever to himself the true-hearted girl who now sat
opposite him, with the moonlight touching her face and hair; and
he was laughing to himself at the notion that he did not properly
appreciate her or understand her or perceive her real character. If
not he, who then? Had he not watched every turn of her disposition,
every expression of her wishes, every grace of her manner and look of
her eyes? and was he not overjoyed to find that the more he knew
of her the more he loved her? Marriage had increased rather than
diminished the mystery and wonder he had woven about her. He was more
her lover now than he had been before his marriage. Who could see in
her eyes what he saw? Elderly folks can look at a girl's eyes, and
see that they are brown or blue or green, as the case may be; but the
lover looks at them and sees in them the magic mirror of a hundred
possible worlds. How can he f