long
stretch of sandy coast which lay between the port and the bright
green waters of the sea; and all the time there was a growing sense
of inevitability in his mind. He knew that he was going to ask for
happiness, and that he was prepared to pay his self-respect and manhood
for it. The talk was of trifles in the morning until they strolled
home to luncheon; it was of trifles again in the afternoon until they
strolled home to dinner, and it was of trifles still when they set out
in the yellow sunset to saunter once more in a scene which had already
grown strangely memorable and familiar. There were no sunset clouds, but
the pageant of the dying day had a sort of sullen and pathetic beauty.
The blazing sun dropped behind the far-off sea-line, and a great band of
saffron rimmed the whole horizon, fading into palest green as it spread
upward, and this in turn melted into a blue which at the zenith looked
unfathomable. A full moon, which had until now been invisible, looked
down from the very centre of the sky. There was none of the lingering
twilight of more temperate climates. The change from broad daylight, in
which every outline and detail of the landscape was accented strongly,
to the dim, mystic and diffused radiance of the moon and stars was like
an episode in a transformation-scene at the theatre. A mere ten minutes
had sufficed to change the whole character and sentiment of the scene.
It was like walking out of one world into another, and a rude chorus of
voices, accompanied by the sounds of a banjo and a concertina, came from
some body of merrymakers beyond a distant island in the bay. It moved
away farther and farther into the distance until the harshness was
softened to an almost spiritual melody, and after awhile it reached the
ear only at uncertain intervals.

They came to a place at which they had rested in the afternoon. Some
high tide of long ago had deposited here a great wreath of wrack, a
hundred yards inland, and piled up in places to a height of some twelve
feet. There were scores of cushiony resting-places here like great
luxurious arm-chairs, and the wrack when disturbed by a touch gave out
dry and stinging odours of sea-salt and iodine.

Paul, with a mere motion of the hand to his companion, threw himself
into one of the hollows, and she took a seat at a little distance from
him. He lay, the brim of his hat sheltering his eyes from the moonlight,
and stared at the spangled vault above him, where