the water's edge lay a level plateau, its floor of loose, sandy, black
conglomerate, abounding in sparkling bits of quartz and sulphate of
iron; beneath this lay a bed of beautifully marbled and variegated clay,
its edge showing all along the black border of the plateau like the
brilliant wreath with which a brunette binds her dusky hair. Blocks of
this clay, fallen upon the beach, and wet with every flowing wave, lay
glistening in the sunlight and looking like--

"Castile soap, mamma," suggested the Baron, as Mysie was describing the
scene in his presence, and hesitated for a simile.

At the back of the terrace, which, in its widest part, measured some
fifty feet, rose suddenly and sharply the pinnacled cliffs, some snowy
white, some black, some deep red, and others a cold gray. At either hand
they extended quite down to the water's edge, so that, seated upon the
plateau, nothing met the eye but ocean, sky, and cliffs; no work of man
struck a discordant note in the grand harmony of these three simple,
mighty elements of creation.

Mysie sometimes took a book here with her, but it was not a place to
read in; the scene crushed and dwarfed human thoughts and words to
nothingness; and to repeat to the ocean himself what had been said of
him by the loftiest even of poets seemed tame and impertinent.

These cliffs extend about a mile along the shore, and then suddenly give
place to a broad sandy beach, behind which lies a level, desolate moor,
treeless, shrubless, and barren of all vegetation, save coarse grass and
weeds, and a profusion of stunted dog-roses, which, in their season,
must throw a rare and singular charm over their sterile home.