Le Neve gazed around him with a certain slight shudder of unspoken
disapprobation. This place didn't suit his sunny nature. It was even
blacker and more dismal than the brown moorland above it. Tyrrel caught
the dissatisfaction in his companion's eye before Le Neve had time to
frame it in words.
"Well, you don't think much of it?" he said, inquiringly.
"I can't say I do," Le Neve answered, with apologetic frankness. "I
suppose South America has spoilt me for this sort of thing. But it's
not to my taste. I call it gloomy, without being even impressive."
"Gloomy," Tyrrel answered; "oh, yes, gloomy, certainly. But impressive;
well, yes. For myself, I think so. To me, it's all terribly,
unspeakably, ineffably impressive. I come here every day, and sit close
on the sands, and look out upon the sea by the edge of the breakers.
It's the only place on this awful coast one feels perfectly safe in.
You can't tumble over here, or...roll anything down to do harm to
anybody."
A steep cliff path led up the sheer face of the rock to southward. It
was a difficult path, a mere foothold on the ledges; but its difficulty
at once attracted the engineer's attention. "Let's go up that way!" he
said, waving his hand toward it carelessly. "The view from on top there
must be infinitely finer."
"I believe it is," Tyrrel replied, in an unconcerned voice, like one
who retails vague hearsay evidence. "I haven't seen it myself since I
was a boy of thirteen. I never go along the top of the cliffs on any
account."
Le Neve gazed down on him, astonished. "You BELIEVE it is!" he
exclaimed, unable to conceal his surprise and wonder. "You never go up
there! Why, Walter, how odd of you! I was reading up the Guidebook this
morning before breakfast, and it says the walk from this point on the
Penmorgan estate to Kynance Cove is the most magnificent bit of wild
cliff scenery anywhere in Cornwall."
"So I'm told," Tyrrel answered, unmoved. "And I remember, as a boy, I
thought it very fine. But that was long since. I never go by it."
"Why not?" Le Neve cried.
Tyrrel shrugged his shoulders and shook himself impatiently. "I don't
know." he answered, in a testy sort of voice. "I don't like the cliff
top... It's so dangerous, don't you know? So unsafe. So unstable. The
rocks go off so sheer, and stones topple over so easily."
Le Neve laughed a little laugh of half-disguised contempt. He was
moving over toward the path up the cliff side as they spoke. "Why, you
used to be a first-class climber at school," he said, attempting it,
"especially when you were a little chap. I remember you could scramble
up trees like a monkey. What fun we had once in the doctor's orchard!
And as to the cliffs, you needn't go so near you have to tumble over
them. It seems ridiculous for a landowner not to know a bit of scenery
on his own estate that's celebrated and talked about all over England."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account