No, there never was, there never could be, just such another morning as this, for to-day I was to marry Lisbeth, and every stroke of the oar carried me nearer to her and happiness. Gaily the alders bent and nodded to me; joyfully the birds piped and sang; merrily the water laughed and chattered against my prow as I rowed through the golden morning. Long before the hour appointed I reached the water-stairs at Fane Court, and tying my skiff, lighted my pipe and watched the smoke rise slowly into the still air while I tried "to possess my soul in patience." Sitting thus, I dreamed many a fair dream of the new life that was to be, and made many resolutions, as a man should upon his wedding morn. And at last came Lisbeth herself, swiftly, lightly, as fair and sweet and fresh as the morning, who yet paused a while to lean upon the balustrade and look down at me beneath the brim of her hat. Up I rose and stretched out my hands to her, but she still stood there, and I saw her cheeks were flushed and her eyes shy and tender. So once more we stood upon the old water-stairs, she on the top stair, I on the lower; and again I saw the little foot beneath her skirt come slowly towards me and hesitate. "Dick," she said, "you know that Aunt Agatha has cut me off--disinherited me altogether--you have had time to think it all over?" "Yes." "And you are quite--quite sure?" "Quite! I think I have been so all my life." "I'm penniless now, Dick, a beggar, with nothing in the world but the clothes I wear." "Yes," I said, catching her hands in mine, "my beggar-maid; the loveliest, noblest, sweetest that ever stooped to bestow her love on man. "Dick, how glorious everything is this morning--the earth, the sky, and the river!" "It is our wedding morning!" said I. "Our wedding day," she repeated in a whisper. "And there never was just such a morning as this," said I. "But, Dick, all days cannot be as this--there must come clouds and storm sometimes, and--and--O Dick! are you sure that you will never, never regret--" "I love you, Lisbeth, in the shadow as well as the sunshine--love you ever and always." And so, the little foot hesitating no longer, Lisbeth came down to me. Oh, never again could there be such another morning as this! "Ahoy!" I looked round with a start, and there, his cap cocked rakishly over one eye, his "murderous cutlass" at his hip and his arms folded across his chest, stood "Scarlet Sam, the Terror of the South Seas." "Imp!" cried Lisbeth. "Avast!" cried he in lusty tones; "whereaway?" I glanced helplessly at Lisbeth and she at me. "Whereaway, shipmate?" he bellowed in nautical fashion, but before I could find a suitable answer Dorothy made her appearance with the fluffy kitten "Louise" cuddled under her arm as usual.