The day was so agreeable, being calm and sunshiny, with a tranquil sea, and yet with a healthful piquancy and vigor in the air, that, contrary to custom, she was tempted forth a second time to walk.  On this occasion she was accompanied by Northmour, and they had been but a short while on the beach, when I saw him take forcible possession of her hand.  She struggled, and uttered a cry that was almost a scream.  I sprung to my feet, unmindful of my strange position; but, ere I had taken a step, I saw Northmour bareheaded and bowing very low, as if to apologize; and dropped again at once into my ambush.  A few words were interchanged; and then, with another bow, he left the beach to return to the pavilion.  He passed not far from me, and I could see him, flushed and lowering, and cutting savagely with his cane among the grass.  It was not without satisfaction that I recognized my own handiwork in a great cut under his right eye, and a considerable discoloration round the socket.

For some time the girl remained where he had left her, looking out past the islet and over the bright sea.  Then with a start, as one who throws off preoccupation and puts energy again upon its mettle, she broke into a rapid and decisive walk.  She also was much incensed by what had passed.  She had forgotten where she was.  And I beheld her walk straight into the borders of the quicksand where it is most abrupt and dangerous.  Two or three steps farther and her life would have been in serious jeopardy, when I slid down the face of the sand hill, which is there precipitous, and, running halfway forward, called to her to stop.

She did so, and turned round.  There was not a tremor of fear in her behavior, and she marched directly up to me like a queen.  I was barefoot, and clad like a common sailor, save for an Egyptian scarf round my waist; and she probably took me at first for some one from the fisher village, straying after bait.  As for her, when I thus saw her face to face, her eyes set steadily and imperiously upon mine, I was filled with admiration and astonishment, and thought her even more beautiful than I had looked to find her.  Nor could I think enough of one who, acting with so much boldness, yet preserved a maidenly air that was both quaint and engaging; for my wife kept an old-fashioned precision of manner through all her admirable life—­an excellent thing in woman, since it sets another value on her sweet familiarities.

“What does this mean?” she asked.

“You were walking,” I told her, “directly into Graden Floe.”

“You do not belong to these parts,” she said again.  “You speak like an educated man.”

“I believe I have a right to that name,” said I, “although in this disguise.”

But her woman’s eye had already detected the sash.

“Oh!” she said; “your sash betrays you.”

“You have said the word betray,” I resumed.  “May I ask you not to betray me?  I was obliged to disclose myself in your interest; but if Northmour learned my presence it might be worse than disagreeable for me.”