_Diagrams!_ The word sounded like an old friend. Mona quite longed to know what they were--botanical? anatomical? physiological? She merely assented in a word, however, and with another courteous "Good morning" he went away. "A nice shopkeeper I make," she said scornfully. "Firstly, I promise to get in new goods without knowing that the proceeding is practicable. Secondly, I undertake to make a bonnet, which will doubtless prove to be entirely beyond my powers. Thirdly, I give an estimate for said bonnet, which won't allow sixpence for the trouble of trimming. Fourthly, I sell a piece of my own india-rubber without so much as a farthing of profit. No, my dear girl, it must be frankly admitted that, on to-day's examination, you have made something like minus fifty per cent!" CHAPTER XII. CASTLE MACLEAN. The sunlight broke and sparkled on the sea, and all the flowering grasses on the braes were dancing in the wind. Numberless rugged spurs of rock, crossing the strip of sand and shingle, stretched out into the water, and the long trails of _Fucus_ fell and rose with the ebb and flow of every wave. Mona was half intoxicated with delight. The mid-day dinner had been rather a trial to her. The "silver" was far from bright, and the crystal was far from clear; and although the table-cloth was clean, it might to all intents and purposes have been a sheet, so little pretension did it make to its proper gloss and sheen. It seemed incredible that, within little more than a stone's-throw of the dusty shop and the musty parlour, there should be such a world of freshness, and openness, and beauty. No need for any one to grow petty and narrow-minded here, when a mere "Open Sesame" was sufficient to bring into view this great, glowing, bountiful Nature. "It is mine, mine, mine," she said to herself. "Nobody in all the world can take it from me." And she sang softly to music of her own-- "'Tis heaven alone that is given away, 'Tis only God may be had for the asking." This stretch of breezy coast meant for her all that the secret passage to the _abbé's_ cell meant for Monte Christo--knowledge, and wisdom, and companionship, and untold treasures. A little distance off, a great column of rock rose abruptly from the beach, and Mona found to her delight that, with a little easy scrambling, she could reach the summit by means of a rude natural staircase at one side. On the top the rocks were moulded by rain and wave into nooks and hollows, and there was a fairy carpet of small shells and shingle, sea-campions and thrift. In front of her, for leagues and leagues, stretched the rippling, dazzling sea; behind rose the breezy braes; and away to the left the afternoon sun shone on the red roofs, and was flashed back from the museum windows and weather-cocks of Kirkstoun. Mona selected a luxurious arm-chair, and ensconced herself comfortably for the afternoon. The old clock was striking five when she entered the house.