the salmon-net, and pushed her bow up against the coarse
grass which fringed the edge of the rocks. They carried the oars and
sails into a fisherman's shelter perched on a rock beside the bay. Then
Donald Ward turned to Maurice and said--

"I am going to my brother's house. I shall walk by the path along the
cliffs, and my nephew will go with me. Your way home, unless I have
entirely forgotten the roads, is not our way. We part here, therefore. I
bid you good night, and thank you heartily."

"We had intended," said Maurice, "to walk home with Neal. We have time
enough."

His sister, quicker than he to take a hint, pulled him by the arm, and
whispered to him. Then she spoke aloud.

"Good night, Mr. Donald Ward. Good night, Neal. Perhaps we shall see you
to-morrow."

The uncle and nephew climbed the hill which led to the top of the cliffs
together. For a time neither of them spoke. The elder man seemed to be
absorbed in picking out the landmarks which had once been very familiar
to him. At last he spoke to Neal.

"Does your father wish you to have Lord Dun-severic's son and daughter
for your friends?"

Neal hesitated for a moment, and then answered.

"He knows that they are my friends."

"It would be better if they were not your friends. I have heard of
Lord Dunseveric, a strong man and an able man, a good friend of his own
class, not a good friend of the people."

He paused. Neal wished to speak, to say some good of Lord Dunseveric; to
declare the strength of his friendship for Maurice. He could not speak
as he wished to speak. An unfamiliar feeling of oppression tied his
tongue. His uncle's will dominated his.

"What is the girl's name?" asked Donald.

"Una."

"Yes, and what did her brother call her?"

"Brown-Eyes." Neal felt as if the words were dragged from him.

"Are you the lover of this Una Brown-Eyes?"

Neal flushed. "You have no right to ask any such question," he said,
"and I shall not answer it. I will just say this to you. Do you suppose
that Lord Dunseveric would accept me, a penniless man, the son of a
Presbyterian minister, a member of a Church he despises, and connected
with a party he hates--do you suppose he would accept me as a suitor for
his daughter's hand?"

"You have answered my question, though you said you would not answer
it. You have told me that you love the girl. I have watched her smile
at you, and seen her eyes while she talked to you, and I can tell you
something more