in
search of her.

The young man stood still for a moment admiring her exquisite features in
their soft contour and delicate colouring. He pictured her to himself as a
white wildflower in a grey wilderness. He could not see himself as an
exotic growth in that rugged setting--a rather dandified young man in a
well-cut suit, with an expression at once restless and bored on his
good-looking face.

He scrambled down the last few slippery yards of the path and had almost
reached her side before she saw him.

"I have been sent for you," he explained. "I knew I should find you here."

She got up immediately from the rock where she had been sitting, and they
stood for a moment in silence. She thought by his look that he had
something to say to her, but as he did not speak she commenced the ascent
of the stiff cliff path. He started after her, but the climb took all his
attention, and she was soon far ahead. When he reached the top she was
standing near the edge looking around her.

"This is my last look," she said as he reached her side. Her hand
indicated the line of savage cliffs, the tossing sea, the screaming birds,
the moors beyond the rocks.

"Perhaps you will come back here again some day," he replied.

She made no answer. He drew closer, so close that she shrank back and
turned away.

"I must go now," she hurriedly said.

"Stay, Sisily," he said. "I want to speak to you. It may be the final
opportunity--the last time we shall be alone together here."

She hesitated, walking with slower steps and then stopping. As he did not
speak she broke the silence in a low tone--

"What do you wish to say to me?"

"Are you sorry you are leaving Cornwall?" he hesitatingly began.

She made a slight indifferent gesture. "Yes, but it does not matter.
Mother is dead, and my father does not care for me." She flushed a deep
red and hastily added, "No one will miss me. I am so alone."

"You are not alone!" he impetuously exclaimed--"I love you, Sisily--that
is what I wished to say. I came here to tell you."

He caught a swift fleeting glance from her dark eyes, immediately veiled.

"Do you really mean what you say?" she replied, a little unsteadily.

"Yes, Sisily. I have loved you ever since I first met you," he replied.
"And, since then, I have loved you more and more."

"Oh, why have you told me this now?" she exclaimed. "You think I am
lonely, and you are sorry for me. I cannot stay longer. Aunt will be
waiting for