ross at her,--so straight, so ladylike, so beautiful; almost
as tall as I and so full of bubbling mischief and virile charm.

"I am a veritable drunkard with tea, and as for music--ask Jake, out
there sitting on the cliffs in the darkness, if I like music. He
knows. Ask me, as I lie in my hammock here, night after night, waiting
for you to begin,--if Jake likes music, and the answer will satisfy you
just how much both of us appreciate it.

"But, I am very sorry I shall be unable to avail myself of your kind
invitation to come to-morrow evening."

My new friend could not disguise her surprise. I almost fancied I
traced a flush of embarrassment on her cheeks.

"No!" was all she said, and she said it ever so quietly.

"I have a pupil coming to-morrow evening for her first real lesson in
English Grammar. She has waited long for it. The book I desired to
start her in with has only arrived. She would be terribly disappointed
if I were now to postpone that lesson."

"Your pupil is a lady?"

"Yes!--a sweet little girl called Rita Clark, who lives at the ranch at
the other side of the Crescent. She comes here often. You must have
noticed her."

"What!--that pretty, olive-skinned girl, with the dark hair and dark
eyes?

"Yes! I have noticed her and I have never since ceased to envy her
complexion and her woodland beauty. I would give all I have to look as
she does.

"You are most fortunate in your choice of a pupil?"

"Yes! Rita is a good-hearted little girl," I lauded unthinkingly.

"I spoke to her once out on the Island," said Miss Grant, "but she
seemed shy. She looked me over from head to heel, then ran off without
a word.

"Well,--Mr. Bremner, days and evenings are much alike to some of us in
Golden Crescent. Shall we say Wednesday evening?"

"I shall be more than pleased, Miss Grant," I exclaimed, betraying the
boyish eagerness I felt, "if----?"

"If?" she inquired.

"If you will return the compliment by allowing me to take you out some
evening in the boat to the end of Rita's Isle there, where the sea
trout are,--or away out to the passage by The Ghoul where the salmon
are now running. I have seen you fishing very often and with the
patience of Job, yet not once have I seen you bring home a fish. Now,
Rita Clark can bring in twenty or thirty trout in less than an hour,
any time she has a fancy to.

"I should like to break your bad luck, for I think the trouble can only
be with the tack