"It would be worth living to be loved like that," he said, more to
himself than to her.

Jess did not answer, but she let her eyes rest on his. Indeed, she did
more, for she put her soul into them and gazed and gazed till John Niel
felt as though he were mesmerised. And as she gazed there rose up in her
breast a knowledge that if she willed it she could gain this man's heart
and hold it against all the world, for her nature was stronger than his
nature, and her mind, untrained though it be, encompassed his mind and
could pass over it and beat it down as the wind beats down the tossing
seas. All this she learnt in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye: she
could not tell how she knew it, but she did know it as surely as she
knew that the blue sky stretched overhead, and, what is more--for the
moment, at any rate--he knew it too. This strange strong certainty came
on her as a shock and a revelation, like the tidings of some great joy
or grief, and for a moment left her heart empty of all things else.

Jess dropped her eyes suddenly.

"I think," she said quietly, "that we have been talking a great deal of
nonsense, and that I want to finish my sketch."

He rose and left her, for he was wanted at home, saying as he went that
he thought there was a storm coming up; the air was so quiet, and the
wind had fallen as it does before an African tempest. Presently on
looking round she saw him slowly climbing the precipitous ascent to the
table-land above the gulf.

It was one of those glorious afternoons that sometimes come in the