"What a question, my dear," returned Miss Elliott. "Why should you suppose such a thing?"
"I don't know. I only wondered. One likes to know—a girl does—all about her father and mother's courtship."
"I was not there, as you well know," Miss Elliott spoke with emphasis. "I could not possibly know what was going on in Lillian's brain. She was so much younger than I that there could not be the confidence between us as between girls nearer of an age. At all events your father was worthy of any woman's love, so we ought to assume it was a love match. He certainly adored her."
"If you know that he adored her, why don't you know whether she adored him?" asked Gwen.
"What is the matter with you to-night, child?" said her aunt impatiently. "It is too damp out here. I am going in. I have some letters to write."
Gwen, wrapped in a fleecy scarf of white, sat watching the figure on the rocks till the west faded from rose to gray and the shore's limits were visible only when a white line of foam curled along the base of the cliffs.
CHAPTER XIII
THREE FISHERS WENT SAILING
The fog shut down again the next day, for the uncertain wind veered around again to the southeast, and for several days the weather was capricious. At last it seemed to settle and was warm, sunny and agreeable. In spite of what Gwen called "Ethel's wiles" Cephas Mitchell discreetly divided his time between the two girls, and none could say which he preferred, though by certain signs Gwen was convinced that she was first favorite. Kenneth Hilary she had not seen again except casually. The more she realized the depth of her interest in him, the more indifference she had tried to show, and prided herself upon returning his formal lifting of his cap with as formal a nod. She wondered if things must go on this way indefinitely, and, as time passed, felt more and more helpless to alter conditions, while more and more eager to do so. The precious days were drifting by, the seat of happy memories under a branchy tree on the edge of Sheldon Woods, had become a sort of altar for the worship of lost hours, and she often went there alone, but never, by any accident, permitted Cephas to select it as a resting place when they strolled in that direction. It seemed that the more unattainable the more valuable grew that lover whom she had so rudely thrust aside. Perhaps one reason for this was that closer acquaintance with Mr. Mitchell commended him less than ever to her taste, and there were days when a walk with him seemed intolerable. At other times, when Ethel made one of the party, the spirit of rivalry gave zest to the occasion, and Gwen was ready to exercise her own powers of attraction. At such times the talk was light and flippant, indeed, it seldom rose to anything more serious than the summer's experiences, the gossipy tales about the island. There was a good deal of chaffing and much laughter. Cephas enjoyed what the two girls called "kidding," and set little value upon any but trifling subjects.