king keenly from side to side. Was there any one there?
No. There seemed to be no one. Chilled with a nameless horror, he stood
watching--watching and listening to the crashing noise of the great
billows as they broke against the rocks below. He raised his eyes to the
heavens, and saw--almost unseeingly--a white cloud break asunder and
show a dark blue space between,--just an azure setting for one brilliant
star that shone out with a sudden flash like a signal. And then--then he
caught sight of a dark crouching figure in the corner of the rocky
platform over-hanging the sea,--a dear, familiar figure that even while
he looked, rose up and advanced to the extreme edge with outstretched
arms,--its lovely hair loosely flowing and flecked with glints of gold
by the light of the moon. Nearer, nearer to the very edge of the dizzy
height it moved--and Angus, breathless with terror, and fearing to utter
a sound lest out of sudden alarm it should leap from its footing and be
lost for ever, crept closer and ever closer. Closer still,--and he heard
Mary's sweet voice murmuring plaintively--

"I wish I did not love him so dearly! I wish the world were not so
beautiful! I wish I could stay--but I must go--I must go!--"Here there
was a little sobbing cry--"You are so deep and cruel, you sea!--you have
drowned so many brave men! You will not be long in drowning poor me,
will you?--I don't want to struggle with you! Cover me up quickly--and
let me forget--oh, no, no! Dear God, don't let me forget Angus!--I want
to remember him always--always!"

She swayed towards the brink--one second more--and then, with a swift
strong clasp and passionate cry Angus had caught her in her arms.

"Mary! Mary, my love! My wife! Anything but that, Mary! Anything but
that!"

Heart to heart they stood, their arms entwined, clasping each other in a
wild passion of tenderness,--Angus trembling in all his strong frame
with the excitement and horror of the past moment, and Mary sobbing out
all her weakness, weariness and gladness on his breast. Above their
heads the bright star shone, pendant between the snowy wings of the
dividing cloud, and the sound of the sea was as a sacred psalm of
jubilation in their ears.

"Thank God I came in time! Thank God I have you safe!" and Angus drew
her closer and yet closer into his fervent embrace--"Oh Mary, my
darling!--sweetest of women! How could you think of leaving me? What
should I have done without you! Poverty or