She could not part with them, but constantly repeated to herself the words of love, of hope, and enthusiasm, which she had heard. So she moved or talked as in a dream, mechanically, while her soul still floated away on the summer-sea of reverie. Hugh looked at her with real admiration; and, in truth, she deserved it. A fairer face you would not see in a day's journey; her smooth skin, not too white, but of a rich creamy tint,--eyes brown and inclined to be dreamy,--her hair chestnut and wavy,--a figure rather below the medium size, but with full, graceful lines,--these, joined with a gentle nature and a certain tremulous sensibility, constituted a divinity that it was surely no sin to worship. If sin it were, all the young men in Innisfield had need of immediate forgiveness. Hugh had some qualms about approaching the goddess. He was sensible of a wide gulf between himself and her, and he could not but think that she was aware of it too. "You have been to Mr. Alford's?" A momentary pause. "Did you speak, Hugh?" He repeated the question. Her eyes brightened a moment as she nodded in the affirmative; then they grew dim again, like windows seen from without when the light is withdrawn to an inner room. She seemed as unconscious as a pictured Madonna. "A beautiful day for your walk," he ventured again. The same pause, the same momentary interest as she answered, followed by the same abstraction. "I suppose," said he, at length, "that I am having the last of my idle days here; I expect to be ordered to sea shortly." "Indeed!" Mildred looked up. "I shall be very sorry to leave here," he continued. "Yes, Innisfield _is_ quite pretty this summer. But I supposed that the pleasures of the seaport and of adventure abroad were more attractive to you than this monotonous life." "'Tis rather slow here, but--I--I meant to say that I shall be sorry to leave you." "Me? Why, mother can take care of me." "Certainly she will, but I shall miss you." "No doubt you'll think of us, when you are away; I'm sure we shall remember you. We shall never sit down to the table without thinking of your vacant chair." It was impossible to misinterpret her kind, simple, sisterly tones. And Hugh could but feel that they indicated no particle of tenderness for him. The task of winning her was yet wholly to be done, and there was no prospect that she would give him the least encouragement in advance, if she did not utterly refuse him at the end. He saw that he must not count on an easy victory, but prepare for it by a slow and gradual approach.