tter to escape observation from any of the windows, she gained
at length that corner of the terrace overlooking the water where she
and Trego had paused for their first talk.

Nothing now prevented her from appreciating the view to the full.
Enchanted, she withdrew a little way from the brow of the cliff to a
seat on the stone wall, overshadowed by the hedge, and for a long time
sat there motionless, content.

Below her the harbour lay steel-grey and still within its guardian
headlands, a hundred slim, white pleasure craft riding its silent
tide. Far out a Sound steamer crawled like some amphibious glowworm,
its triple tier of deck-lights almost blended into one. Farther still
the lights of the mainland glimmered low upon the horizon. .

At a little distance, from a point invisible, an incautious footstep
grated upon a gravel path of the terrace and was instantly hushed.

But the girl, stiffened to rigidity in her place, fancied she could
hear the whisper of grass beneath stealthy feet.

Abruptly a man came out into broad moonlight and, pausing on a stone
platform at the edge of the cliff by the head of the long, steep,
wooden zigzag of stairs to the sands, looked back toward the
house.

Sally held her breath. But her heart was like a mad thing--the man was
Donald Lyttleton. He still wore evening dress, but had exchanged the
formal coat for that hybrid garment which Sally had lately learned
should _not_ be termed a Tuxedo. The brim of a soft, dark hat masked
his eyes. He carried one shoulder stiffly, as if holding something in
the hollow of his arm. She could not make out or imagine what this
might be.

His hesitation was brief. Satisfied, he swung round to the stairway,
in another instant had vanished. Only light footfalls on the wooden
steps told of a steady descent, and at the same time furnished
assurance that Sally had not victimised herself with a waking vision
bred of her infatuation.

The footfalls, not loud at best, had become inaudible before she found
courage to approach the platform. With infinite pains to avoid a
sound, she peered over the edge of its stone parapet.

For a little the gulf swam giddily beneath her who was never quite
easy at any unusual height. But she set herself with determination to
master this weakness and presently was able to examine the beach with
a clear vision.

It was only partially shadowed by the cliffs, but that shadow was
dense, and outside it nothing stirred. None