"Let us go," said Kate, with a shiver. "I can't bear it longer. The water is calling me and threatening me. There! How that wave rushed up as if it wanted me at once!" Alec again drew her closer to him, and turning, they walked slowly back. He was silent with the delight of having that lovely creature all to himself, leaning on his arm, in the infolding and protecting darkness, and Kate was likewise silent. By the time they reached the quay at the other end of the pier, the steamer had crossed the bar, and they could hear the _thud_ of her paddles treading the water beneath them, as if eagerly because she was near her rest. After a few struggles, she lay quiet in her place, and they went on board. Alec saw Kate embrace a girl perhaps a little older than herself, helped her to find her luggage, put them into a chaise, took his leave, and went home. He did not know that all the way back along the pier they had been followed by Patrick Beauchamp. CHAPTER XLIII. Excited, and unable to settle to his work, Alec ran upstairs to Mr Cupples, whom he had not seen for some days. He found him not more than half-way towards his diurnal goal. "What's come o' _you_, bantam, this mony a day?" said Mr Cupples. "I saw ye last Saturday," said Alec. "Last Setterday week, ye mean," rejoined the librarian. "Hoo's the mathematics comin' on?" "To tell the truth, I'm raither ahin' wi' them," answered Alec. "I was thinkin' as muckle. Rainbows! Thae rainbows! And the anawtomy?" "Nae jist stan'in' still a'thegither." "That's weel. Ye haena been fa'in' asleep again ower the guddlet carcass o' an auld pauper--hae ye?" Alec stared. He had never told any one of his adventure in the dissecting-room. "I saw ye, my man. But I wasna the only ane that saw ye. Ye micht hae gotten a waur fleg gin I hadna come up, for Mr Beauchamp was takin' the bearin's o' ye throu the window, and whan I gaed up, he slippit awa' like a wraith. There ye lay, wi' yer heid back, and yer mou' open, as gin you and the deid man had been tryin' whilk wad sleep the soun'est. But ye hae ta'en to ither studies sin' syne. Ye hae a freah subject--a bonnie young ane. The Lord hae mercy upo' ye! The goddess o' the rainbow hersel's gotten a haud o' ye, and ye'll be seein' naething but rainbows for years to come.--Iris bigs bonnie brigs, but they hae nowther pier, nor buttress, nor key-stane, nor parapet. And no fit can gang ower them but her ain, and whan she steps aff, it's upo' men's herts, and yours can ill bide her fit, licht as it may be." "What are ye propheseein' at, Mr Cupples?" said Alec, who did not more than half understand him.