He went softly out of his room and down-stairs, so as not to disturb the other occupants of the house, to find, to his surprise, that the door was open; and, on stepping out into the garden, he came suddenly upon Madge, looking very bright and rosy, with her rich auburn hair taking a fresh tinge from the early morning beams. "Ah, Miss Mullion! Good-morning. You up so soon?" "Yes," she said eagerly, "I often go out for an early walk down to the sea." "Not to play at mermaid, and sport in the briny wave!" he asked laughingly. "Oh, dear, no!" she cried with a shiver, "I'm so afraid of the water." "Are you?" he said, smiling. "Well, it would be a job to get all that pretty hair dry again." Madge coloured with pleasure. "It is so nice walking over the rocks quite early," she said. "Yes, I suppose so. Well, I must be off." "Are you going for a walk?" she said naively. "Yes, but only on my way to work. Good-by for the present. I say, Miss Mullion, a nice bit of brown fish for breakfast, please. I shall be as hungry as a hunter when I come back." He walked sharply off, not seeing that uncle Paul's blind stirred slightly, and Madge stood gazing after him. "He's as cold as a stone," said the girl, petulantly. "I declare I hate him--that I do. But I'll pique him yet, see if I don't, clever as he is. He'll be sorry for this some day. A great, ugly, stupid thing!" The tears of vexation stood in her eyes, but they disappeared almost directly. "He did say it was pretty hair," she said, with her face lighting up, "and if I don't make some one jealous yet it's strange to me." She hesitated for a few moments as to whether she should take the same path as Geoffrey, and ended by flinging herself petulantly round and entering the house. "It's a glorious morning," said Geoffrey, as he went down the steep, stone-paved pathway, drinking in the fresh salt-breeze. "I declare, it's like living a new life here," and his chest seemed to expand, and his muscles and nerves grow tense, as the life-blood bounded through his veins. At times he felt as if he would like to rush off and run, like a school-boy, from the full tide of vitality that made his veins throb; but he went on soberly enough, exchanging a nod with different fishermen at their cottage doors, for most of them had come to know him now, and showed their white teeth in a friendly smile as he swung along.