He sprung out of bed, and ran to the banks of the Glamour. Upon the cold morning stream the sun-rays fell slanting and gentle. He plunged in, and washed the dreams from his eyes with a dive, and a swim under water. Then he rose to the surface and swam slowly about under the overhanging willows, and earthy banks hollowed by the river's flow into cold damp caves, up into the brown shadows of which the water cast a flickering shimmer. Then he dressed himself, and lay down on the meadow grass, each blade of which shadowed its neighbour in the slant sunlight. Cool as it still was with the coldness of the vanished twilight, it yet felt warm to his bare feet, fresh from the waters that had crept down through the night from the high moor-lands. He fell fast asleep, and the sheep came and fed about him, as if he had been one of themselves. When he woke, the sun was high; and when he reached the house, he found his mother and Kate already seated at breakfast--Kate in the prettiest of cotton dresses, looking as fresh and country-like as the morning itself. The window was open, and through the encircling ivy, as through a filter of shadows, the air came fresh and cool. Beyond the shadow of the house lay the sunshine, a warm sea of brooding glory, of still power; not the power of flashing into storms of splendour beneath strange winds, but of waking up and cherishing to beauty the shy life that lay hidden in all remotest corners of the teeming earth. "What are you going to do with Kate to-day, Alec?" said his mother. "Whatever Kate likes," answered Alec. "I have no choice," returned Kate. "I don't know yet what I have to choose between. I am in your hands, Alec." It was the first time she had called him by his name, and a spear of sunshine seemed to quiver in his heart. He was restless as a hyena till she was ready. He then led her to the banks of the river, here low and grassy, with plenty of wild flowers, and a low babblement everywhere. "This is delightful," said Kate. "I will come here as often as you like, and you shall read to me." "What shall I read? Would you like one of Sir Walter's novels?" "Just the thing." Alec started at full speed for the house. "Stop," cried Kate. "You are not going to leave me alone beside this--talking water?" "I thought you liked the water," said Alec. "Yes. But I don't want to be left alone beside it. I will go with you, and get some work." She turned away from the stream with a strange backward look, and they walked home.