your house on the shore some day." To his surprise, her embarrassment
suddenly seemed to increase, although she had looked relieved before,
and she did not reply. After a moment she said abruptly:--

"Did you ever see the sea-lions?"

"No," said Jarman.

"Not the big ones on Seal Rock, beyond the cliffs?" continued the girl,
in real astonishment.

"No," repeated Jarman. "I never walked in that direction." He vaguely
remembered that they were a curiosity which sometimes attracted parties
thither, and for that reason he had avoided the spot.

"Why, I have sailed all around the rock in father's boat," continued
Cara, with importance. "That's the best way to see 'em, and folks from
Frisco sometimes takes a sail out there just on purpose,--it's too sandy
to walk or drive there. But it's only a step from here. Look here!" she
said suddenly, and frankly opening her fine eyes upon him. "I'm going
to take Lucy there to-morrow, and I'll show you." Jarman felt his cheeks
flush quickly with a pleasure that embarrassed him. "It won't take
long," added Cara, mistaking his momentary hesitation, "and you can
leave your telegraph alone. Nobody will be there, so no one will see you
and nobody know it."

He would have gone then, anyway, he knew, yet in his absurd
self-consciousness he was glad that her last suggestion had relieved him
of a sense of reckless compliance. He assented eagerly, when with a wave
of her hand, a flash of her white teeth, and the same abruptness she had