"Isn't it a divine day," he said. "I had to come out and read the papers--and the courtyard looked so dull and I did not know where else to go--it is luck finding you here!" "I always come into the garden in the morning when it is fine--I know every plant and they are all my friends." Then to hide the pleasurable excitement she was feeling, she bent down and picked a bit of lavender. "I love that smell--won't you give me some, too?" he pleaded--and she handed him a sprig which he fixed in his white coat. "You have made the most enchanting place of this," he next told her. "Can't we go up and sit in that summer-house while you tell me how you began? Henry said all this was a ruin when you bought it some years ago--it is extraordinarily clever of you." Not the slightest embarrassment was in his manner, not the smallest look of extra meaning in his eyes; he was simply a guest and she a hostess, out together in the sunlight. A sense of unreality stole over Sabine. It could not be all true--it was just some dream--a little more vivid, that was all, than those which used to come to her of him sometimes during--that year. She almost felt that she would like to put out her hand and touch him to see if he were tangible or a thing of illusion as she led the way to the turret summer-house. The wall which protected the garden from the sea was very high and this little tower had been in the original fortifications and had been cleverly adapted to its present use. It was open, with glass which slid back on the southern side, and its great windows looked out over the blue waters and granite rocks on the other. The little bay curved round so that from there you got a three-quarter view of the chateau. Sabine put her basket down, and climbing up the wooden step she seated herself upon the high window-seat, her feet dangling while she opened the casement wide. Michael stood beside her leaning upon the sill--so that she was slightly above him. "What a glorious view!" he exclaimed; "it is certainly a perfect spot. Why, it has everything! The sea and its waves to dash up at it--and then this lovely garden for shelter and peace. What a fortunate young woman you are!" "Yes, am I not?" "I have an old castle, too--perhaps Henry has told you about it. We have owned it ever since Adam, I suppose!" and he laughed. "The grim part of this is rather like it in a way; I mean the stone passages and huge rooms--but of course the architecture is different. It has been the scene of every sort of fight. I should like to show it to you some day."