she was looking, towards the heavens.
There he saw the same star that had peered at him through the window of
his study at Carlton House Terrace,--the same that had sparkled out in
the sky the night that he and Matt Peke had trudged the road together,
and which Matt had described as "the love-star, an' it'll be nowt else
in these parts till the world-without-end-amen!" And she whose eyes were
upturned to its silvery glory,--who was she? His sight was very dim, and
in the deepening shadows he could only discern a figure of medium
womanly height,--an uncovered head with the hair loosely knotted in a
thick coil at the nape of the neck,--and the outline of a face which
might be fair or plain,--he could not tell. He was conscious of the warm
strength of the arm that supported him, for when he slipped once or
twice, he was caught up tenderly, without hurt or haste, and held even
more securely than before. Gradually, and by halting degrees, he made
the descent of the hill, and, as his guide helped him carefully over a
few loose stones in the path, he saw through a dark clump of foliage the
glimmer of twinkling lights, and heard the rush of water. He paused,
vaguely bewildered.

"Nearly home now!" said his guide, encouragingly; "Just a few steps more
and we'll be there. My cottage is the last and the highest in the
coombe. The other houses are all down closer to the sea."

Still he stood inert.

"The sea!" he echoed, faintly--"Where is it?"

With her disengaged hand she pointed outwards.

"Yonder! By and by, when the moon comes over the hill, it will be
shining like a silver field with big daisies blowing and growing all
over it. That's the way it often looks after a storm. The tops of the
waves are just like great white flowers."

He glanced at her as she said this, and caught a closer glimpse of her
face. Some faint mystical light in the sky illumined the outlines of her
features, and showed him a calm and noble profile, such as may be found
in early Greek sculpture, and which silently expresses the lines:

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,--that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know!"

He moved on with a quicker step, touched by a keen sense of expectation.
Ill as he knew himself to be, he was eager to reach this woman's
dwelling and to see her more closely. A soft laugh of pleasure broke
from her lips as he tried to accelerate his pace.

"Oh, we're getting quite strong and bold now, aren't we!" s