When I reached them they were speaking of the sea.
"I always long for the sea in summertime," said Lance; "when the sun is hot and the air full of dust, and no trees give shade, and the grass seems burned, I long for the sea.

Love of water seems almost mania with me, from the deep blue ocean, with its foaming billows, to the smallest pool hidden in a wood.

It is strange, Frances, with your beauty-loving soul, that you dislike the sea." She had gathered a spray of the beautiful lilac and held it to her lips.
Was it the shade of the flower, or did the color leave her face?
If so, it was the first time I had seen it change.
"Do you really dislike the sea, Mrs.Fleming ?" I asked.
"Yes," she replied, laconically.
"Why ?" I asked again.
"I cannot tell," she answered.

"It must be on the old principle-- "'I do not like thee, Doctor Fell, The reason why--I cannot tell! But only this I know full well, I do not like thee, Doctor Fell!'" "Those lines hardly apply to the sea," I said.

"I thought love for the sea was inborn with every man and woman in England." "It is not with me," she said.
She spoke quite gently.