wn the rocks now with the ease of a monkey, until Helen
begged me not to terrify her by any new exploits. Under the frowning
citadel of rocks the beach was particularly fine, well pebbled below
watermark and above a strip of shining sand. The tide was coming
in with a strong dull roar, and every wave broke on the shore with
curling cataracts of foam and a voice like thunder. It was hard for me
to realize that above us on the headland the mild October sunshine was
gilding and reddening the trees, for here we were in shadow, and the
cry of storm and the din of tempest were in our ears. Yet beyond the
bar opaline tints were playing along the sunlit sea, and the luminous,
shifting-hued swell of crested waves merged into the iridescent sky.
There was a secret and a mystery about the scene to me. I could not
understand its influence upon me, and felt under a spell as I gazed at
the distant white sails and listened to the roar of the waves as if I
could never hear it enough.

After Helen had shown me all the strange, beautiful places of the
beach, I helped her up the precipitous bank, where steps had been
carefully cut in the rock or laid upon the crumbling sods. She took me
to the stables, and I saw the horses, her pony and the blooded colt in
training for her: her dogs had followed us about, leaping and fawning
upon her and smelling suspiciously at me. Mr. Raymond disliked
animals, and it was to the stables or the gardener's cottage that the
child came to pet her hounds, her sheep-dog and her snowy Pomeranian:
not even Beppo, the Italian greyhound, was domesticated at the house.
Some shy deer peered out at us from their paddock, and a doe, less
timid than the rest, approached us and gave me a good look out of
her meek, beautiful eyes. Gold and silver pheasants lurked in the
shrubberies, and peacocks spread their tails and paraded before us on
the greensward. Everything seemed to be Helen's, and not a flower that
bloomed or a bird that flew but she gave it an ample tenderness.

We did not talk much, but stood together hand in hand, I gazing with
ardent delight and curiosity at all these beautiful expressions of
life which filled the place.

"Do you like it?" she inquired anxiously from time to time, and when
I answered her gravely that I liked it, she would smile a contented
little smile. She asked me if I rode, and carefully selected the
horse she considered suitable for me, and gave the groom orders
about exercising him