ce dumbly. No words would come.

It seemed a long while before he spoke again.

"That cable of yours was a fraud," he said then. "I was not--I am
not--prepared to release you from your engagement except under the
original condition."

"I think you must," she said faintly.

He sought for her cold hands and thrust them against his neck. And again
there was a long silence, while outside the sea raged fiercely, and far
below them in the distance a white streak of foam ran bubbling over the
rocky floor.

Soon the streak had become a stream of dancing, storm-tossed water.
Evelyn watched it with wide, fascinated eyes. But she made no sign of
fear. She felt as if he had, somehow, laid a quieting hand upon her
soul.

Higher the water rose, and higher. The cave was filled with dreadful
sound. It was almost dark, for dusk had fallen. She felt that but for
the man's presence she would have been wild with fear. But his absolute
confidence wove a spell about her that no terror could penetrate. The
close holding of his arms was infinitely comforting to her. She knew
with complete certainty that he was not afraid.

"It's very dark," she whispered to him once; and he pressed her head
down upon his breast and told her not to look. Through the tumult she
heard the strong, quiet beating of his heart, and was ashamed of her own
mortal fear.

It seemed to her that hours passed while she crouched there, listening,
as the water rose and rose. She caught the gleam of it now and then, and
once her face was wet with spray. She clung closer and closer to her
companion, but she kept down her panic. She felt that he expected it of
her, and she would have died there in the dark, sooner than have
disappointed him.

At last, after an eternity of quiet waiting, he spoke.

"The tide has turned," he said. And his tone carried conviction with it.

She raised her head to look.

A dim, silvery light shone mysteriously in revealing the black walls
above them, the tossing water below. It had been within a foot of their
resting-place, but it had dropped fully six inches.

Evelyn felt a great throb of relief pass through her. Only then did she
fully realise how great her fear had been.

"Is that the moon?" she asked wonderingly.

"Yes," said Cheveril. He spoke in a low voice, even with reverence, she
thought. "We shall be out of this in an hour. It will light us home."

"How--wonderful!" she said, half involuntarily.

Cheveril said no more;