"Only for a minute," returned Kathleen. "She sent word she wished she was able to come with us."
The girl looked up at her companion as they moved down on the grass and he smiled at her with bravado.
"Not one polite lie to-night," he answered; "I want you all to myself. Think how seldom it has happened."
Kathleen laughed from sheer contentment.
"I think Cap'n James is the only one who has seen you alone," she replied.
"He's been a trump: and now," Phil inflated his lungs and looked about the irregular outline of the island lying in sheeted silver, and at the great lighthouses flashing in the distance, "I have a foothold in this paradise."
Their destination was the spot where rocks rose highest on the island's shore, turning the rising tide into boiling cauldrons of white foam, and meeting the tremendous impact of the great waves with jagged granite shelves that flung the compact water high in fountains of diamonds. Giant power, giant unrest, fascinating beauty glittering with phosphorescence, and silvered for miles with moonlight.
"Let me help you, Kathleen," said Phil, offering his hand.
"'Bred and bawn in a briar patch,'" she responded, springing lightly over the rocks.