So with a laugh Jill went to do his bidding and together they sallied forth like a pair of children, or two sea-side trippers who having come for a week's holiday, intend making the most of their time. They turned their footsteps towards the sea, and sauntered along the steep winding path up the cliff for the sake of the view, and the breezes, and to catch sight of the little paddle steamers passing in the distance. They talked a great deal of nonsense, and St. John painted a golden future as background to the rosy present till Jill almost believed that the insignificant firm of Thompkins and Co. was the gilded gate to fortune, and Jack's the lucky hand to hold the key. Markham's name cropped up in the course of conversation. St. John introduced it, as he had the owner, unexpectedly, and apropos of nothing that had gone before. "How did you like Markham?" he enquired. "Not a bad sort, is he?" Jill looked dubious, and puckered her brows thoughtfully. "I don't know," she answered. "I am not sure whether if I knew him better I should like him a little, or dislike him a great deal. Why did you ask him to come and spoil our lunch?" "I didn't, I asked him to come and drink our health." "But why?" she protested. "We didn't want any horrid third person. What would you have thought if I had asked a girl?" "I should have thought it inconsiderate of you from a monetary point of view, otherwise a charming arrangement." "You are a brute," cried Mrs St. John pettishly. "I'm not enjoying my honeymoon a bit." "People never do," he rejoined; "It isn't fashionable, besides its bad taste. I am afraid that I'm going to prove an exception to the rule though; for I don't know when I have enjoyed anything so much as to-day. Beastly form on my part to admit it, I know. But to return to Markham, I asked him to join us for several reasons, not the least important being a natural desire to introduce my wife--" "Yes, dear, I'll excuse the preliminaries," interposed Jill. "I want to know the real reason." "You aggravating monkey, I've a good mind not to satisfy you. And I daresay you will be aggrieved when you hear it because it concerns Evie." "Oh! Was he in love with _her_?" St. John laughed at the disparaging tone and teasingly pinched her ear. "Incredible as it may sound he was," he replied. "I believe she refused him a little while ago but he has been out of England since then and I never heard the rights of the case. He's an old college chum of mine, and an awfully good sort; I don't know why Evie doesn't have him." "Oh, yes, you do," rejoined Jill sagely. "And so you thought you would let Mr Markham see that you were married and out of the runnings, you conceited old humbug; and that's why he laughed so much, and was so very polite to me. He'll send us a wedding present, Jack, I feel convinced of that."