"Do you think he would care to sink his fortune, or any part of it, in a Cornish estate, or to live amidst these wild hills?" "He says he adores this place." "He is in love, and would swear as much of a worse place. No, Belle, I am not foolish enough to suppose that you and Mr. Hamleigh are to settle for life at the end of the world. This house shall be your home whenever you choose to occupy it; and I hope you will come and stay with me sometimes, for I shall be very lonely without you." "Dear Auntie, you know how I love you; you know how completely happy I have been with you--how impossible it is that anything can ever lessen my love." "I believe that, dear girl; but it is rarely now-a-days that Ruth follows Naomi. Our modern Ruths go where their lovers go, and worship the same gods. But I don't want to be selfish or unjust, dear. I will try to rejoice in your happiness. And if Angus Hamleigh will only be a little patient; if he will give me time to grow used to the loss of you, he shall have you with your adopted mother's blessing." "He shall not have me without it," said Christabel, looking up at her aunt with steadfast eyes. She had said no word of that early doom of which Angus had told her. For worlds she could not have revealed that fatal truth. She had tried to put away every thought of it while she talked with her aunt. Angus had urged her beforehand to be perfectly frank, to tell Mrs. Tregonell what a mere wreck of a life it was which her lover offered her: but she had refused. "Let that be our secret," she said, in her low sweet voice. "We want no one's pity. We will bear our sorrow together. And, oh, Angus! my faith is so strong. God, who has made me so happy by the gift of your love, will not take you from me. If--if your life is to be brief, mine will not be long." "My dearest! if the gods will it so, we will know no parting, but be translated into some new kind of life together--a modern Baucis and Philemon. I think it would be wiser--better, to tell your aunt everything. But if you think otherwise----" "I will tell her nothing, except that you love me, and that, with her consent, I am going to be your wife;" and with this determination Christabel had made her confession to her aunt. The ice once broken, everybody reconciled herself or himself to the new aspect of affairs at Mount Royal. In less than a week it seemed the most natural thing in life that Angus and Christabel should be engaged. There was no marked change in their mode of life. They rambled upon the hills, and went boating on fine mornings, exploring that wonderful coast where the sea-birds congregate, on rocky isles and fortresses rising sheer out of the sea--in mighty caves, the very tradition whereof sounds terrible--caves that seem to have no ending, but to burrow into unknown, unexplored regions, towards the earth's centre.