All at once, however, the noise of the water became importunate. She had not been aware of it at all since the young man appeared, but now it came into her consciousness with the distinctness of a sudden and unexpected sound, and she looked in that direction. The last time she had noticed the tide it was far out; but now, where all had been sand beyond the sheltered cove, all was water. The silver line stretched from headland to headland, and was still advancing. Already there was no way of escape by the sands, and the cove itself would be a bay in a little while--a bay without a boat! If he did not wake and bestir himself, the callous waves would come and cover him. Should she call? She was shy of taking the initiative even to save his life, and hesitated a moment, and in that moment there came a crash. The treacherous clay cliff crumbled, and the great mass of it on which she was lying slid down bodily on to the shining sand. The young man started up, roused by the rumbling. Had he been a few feet nearer to the cliff he must have been buried alive. He and Beth stared at each other stupidly, neither realising what had happened for the first few minutes. He was the first to recover himself. "Are you hurt?" he asked with concern, going forward to help her. "I don't know," she answered, staggering to her feet. "No, I think not," she added. "I'm a little shaken. I'll sit down." The sitting would have been a tumble had he not caught her in his arms and held her up. Beth felt deadly sick for an instant, then she found herself reclining on the sand, with the young man bending over her, looking anxiously into her face. "You're faint," he said. "Is that faint?" she answered. "What a ghastly sensation! But there is something I want to remember." She shut her eyes, then opened them, and looked up at him with a puzzled expression. "It's very odd, I can't remember," she complained. The young man could not help her. He looked up at the cliff. "What were you doing up there?" he asked. "What were you doing down there?" she rejoined. "I followed you," he answered simply. "I saw you come this way, then I lost sight of you; but I thought you would be somewhere on the sands, because the cliffs are private property." "The owner is an uncle of mine," said Beth. "I come when I like." Then they looked into each other's faces shyly, and looked away again, smiling but confused. "Why did you follow me?" said Beth. "You did not know me." "No, but I wanted to," he answered readily. "Where were you?" "Lying on a shelf where that scar is now, looking down on you." "Then you saw me model that figure?" "And the cliff fell," Beth put in irrelevantly to cover a blush. "It often falls. We're always having landslips here. And I think we'd better move away from it now," she added, rising. "People are killed sometimes." "But tell me," he said, detaining her. "Didn't you know I was following you?" Beth became embarrassed.