I had a fancy that when she spoke again it would be without that deliberation--almost restraint--which seemed to accord a little strangely with the girlishness of her appearance and actual years.

She stood on the extreme edge of the cliff, her slim straight figure outlined to angularity against the sky.

She remained so long without speech that I had time to note all these things.

The sunshine, breaking through the thin-topped pine trees, lay everywhere about us; a little brown feathered bird, scarcely a dozen yards away, sang to us so lustily that the soft feathers around his throat stood out like a ruff.

Down below the sea came rushing on to the shingles.
"Mr.Ducaine," she said at last, "did my father make you any offer of employment this afternoon ?" It was a direct, almost a blunt question.