bear it!"

He made a step forward then and caught her in his arms. How could he
resist the upturned face and the sweet blue eyes brimming with tears.
Puritan she might be, the old Covenanter blood might be strong as ever,
but she loved him--there was little doubt of that, and he clasped her
close in his arms and covered her face with kisses.

"What does it matter, dear, what does it matter? Let the future take
care of itself."

She tried to wrench herself from his embrace then.

"No, no, it is for eternity. I can't, I can't."

"Susy," he caught both her hands in his, "do you love me?"

"You know I do."

"Better than any one in the world?"

"Yes." She whispered it under her breath, as if afraid of her own
temerity.

"Then listen. You shall do as you like with me. I 'll give up the sea,
darling. I 'll take up a selection here, you shall teach me your creed
and I 'll do my best to believe. There, my little girl, will that
satisfy you? Who knows, in time I may become as respectable a
psalm-singer as that holy swab, Clement Scott, your father's so fond of
quoting. The beggar's got a tenderness for you, hasn't he, Susy? Why the
first week I was here I was wild with jealousy of the canting brute!"

Gently but firmly she drew herself out of his encircling arms and leaned
up drearily against the rock again.

"Clement Scott," she said, and there was a hopeless ring in her voice
that went to his heart like a knife, "Clement Scott is a true Christian
man, he is father's friend, and--and--oh!--" with a sudden burst of
passion, "I know--I know he is the better man."

Ben Harper said nothing, only moved a step or two further seaward. What
could he say? The girl loved him, he saw that she loved him well and
truly, but she did not love him well enough. She wanted to put him
aside, as her training taught her she ought to put aside all the
pleasures of this life, all the sunshine and laughter of life, as things
hurtful to her soul's salvation. And because she was young, because she
had been born under sunny, laughter-loving skies, his love came to her
with a cruel temptation, and because of its very strength, because of
the pain it cost her, she would put it aside as a thing wrongful and
wicked.

He looked at the silent little figure in its pink gingham frock, leaning
up against the rock with head bowed down on its clasped hands. Dimly he
understood the struggle that was going on in her breast, and clearly
too he foresaw