So utterly unconventional had their proceedings been, so thoroughly had the spirit of the remote little island possessed them, and so all-sufficient had they been to one another, that the thought of an engagement ring had troubled his mind as little as the lack of it had troubled Margaret's. But the absolute necessity of a wedding ring had reminded him of his lapse, and now he would repair it on a scale remotely commensurate with his feelings. Remotely, because, if his pocket had borne any relation to his feelings, he would have bought up the whole shop and lavished its contents upon her, though he knew that the simple golden circlet would far outweigh all else in her mind. He was waiting placidly for them in the shade of the dark trees of Hauteville, when they came panting up the steep way, flushed with victory and the joys of purchase after long abstinence. "Well, has the proprietor of that big shop retired with a competence?" he asked, as he threw away the end of his cigar. "Can you lend us our boat-fares home?" gasped Miss Penny. "So bad as all that? I can't say yet. I've not begun my own purchases. We'll see when I'm through. If I'm cleaned out too we'll offer to work our passages." "You can pawn your watch. Meg and I haven't got one between us. We left them at home on purpose." "Thoughtful of you. Now let us into the treasure-house." They enjoyed the wonders of Hauteville immensely,--objectively, the wonderful carved work and the tapestries, the china and the furniture,--the odd little bedroom with the bed on the floor, so that the Master could roll out to his work at any moment of inspiration, and the huge balconies, and the glass eyrie on the roof whence he surveyed his wide horizons, and where, above the world, he worked;--and subjectively, the whole quaint flavour and austere literary atmosphere of the place. "No wonder he produced masterpieces," said Graeme, delighting in it all. "The view alone is an inspiration." Then he took them up to Old Government House for lunch and a rest in the garden, and then away to the Arcade to the jeweller's shop, which proved adequate to all his demands;--for Margaret, a half-hoop of diamonds which the jeweller, with an air of sincerity, assured them were as fine stones as he had ever seen in the course of a long and prosperous career. Which ring Margaret would thenceforth value before all her others, though in the simple matter of intrinsic worth her jewel-case could beat it hollow.--And a plain gold circlet which, when she got it, would be more precious to her than all the rest put together.--And for Miss Penny, in spite of her protestations, a handsome signet ring which, when cornered, she chose in preference to a more feminine jewel, and which was left to be engraved with her family crest and motto.