The stars were
brilliant over-head, the gems in Orion's baldric shining oriently, and
the Plough glittering with frost in the cold blue fields of the
northern sky. Below, the streets shone with their own dim stars; and
men and women wove the web of their life amongst them as they had done
for old centuries, forgetting those who had gone before, and careless
of those who were to come after.
The moment he had succeeded in satisfying his landlady's inquisition,
he rushed up to Mr Cupples's room. Mr Cupples was out. What was Alec to
do? He could not call on Mr Fraser that night; and all space between
him and Kate growing more immeasurable the nearer he came to her, he
could not rest for the feeling of distance. So he wandered out, and
along the sea-shore till under the wall of the pier. The tide was low,
and the wall high over his head. He followed it to the edge of the
water, and gazed out over the dim lead-coloured sea. While he stood
thus, he thought he heard voices in the air, and looking up, saw, far
over him, on the top of the wall, two heads standing out against the
clear sky, one in a bonnet, the other in a Glengarry. Why should he
feel a pang in his heart? Surely there were many girls who took
starlight walks on that refuge in the sea.
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