I found my voice suddenly.

“But—­if others stand in the way?”—­I said.

He smiled.

“Surely it will be our own fault if we allow them to assume such a position!” he answered.

I left my hands in his another moment.  The fact that he held them gave me a sense of peace and security.

“Sometimes on a long walk through field and forest,” I said, softly--"one may miss the nearest road home.  And one is glad to be told which path to follow—­”

“Yes,”—­he interrupted me—­“One is glad to be told!”

His eyes were bent upon me with an enigmatical expression, half commanding, half appealing.

“Then, will you tell me—­” I began.

“All that I can!” he said, drawing me a little closer towards him—­ “All that I may!  And you—­you must tell me—­”

“I!  What can I tell you?” and I smiled—­“I know nothing!”

“You know one thing which is all things,”—­he answered—­“But for that I must still wait.”

He let go my hands and turned away, shading his eyes from the glare of gold which now spread far and wide over the heavens, turning the sullen waters of Loch Coruisk to a tawny orange against the black purple of the surrounding hills.

“I see our men,”—­he then said, in his ordinary tone, “They are looking for us.  We must be going.”

My heart beat quickly.  A longing to speak what I hardly dared to think, was strong upon me.  But some inward restraint gripped me as with iron—­and my spirit beat itself like a caged bird against its prison bars in vain.  I left my rocky throne and heather canopy with slow reluctance, and he saw this.

“You are sorry to come away,”—­he said, kindly, and with a smile—­“I can quite understand it.  It is a beautiful scene.”

I stood quite still, looking at him.  A host of recollections began to crowd upon me, threatening havoc to my self-control.

“Is it not something more than beautiful?” I asked, and my voice trembled in spite of myself—­“To you as well as to me?”

He met my earnest gaze with a sudden deeper light in his own eyes.

“Dear, to me it is the beginning of a new life!”—­he said—­“But whether it is the same to you I cannot say.  I have not the right to think so far.  Come!”

A choking sense of tears was in my throat as I moved on by his side.  Why could I not speak frankly and tell him that I knew as well as he did that now there was no life anywhere for me where he was not?  But—­had it come to this?  Yes, truly!—­it had come to this!  Then was it a real love that I felt, or merely a blind obedience to some hypnotic influence?  The doubt suggested itself like a whisper from some evil spirit, and I strove not to listen.  Presently he took my hand in his as before, and guided me carefully over the slippery boulders and stones, wet with the overflowing of the mountain torrent and the underlying morass which warned us of its vicinity by the quantity of bog-myrtle growing in profusion everywhere.  Almost in silence we reached the shore where the launch was in waiting for us, and in silence we sat together in the stern as the boat cut its swift way through little waves like molten gold and opal, sparkling with the iridescent reflections of the sun’s after-glow.