"I cannot tell," he replied. "Until——" The moment had arrived when he felt that he must give utterance to his thoughts or remain forever silent. He braced himself to the effort. His voice was almost harsh.
"Meriel," he said. She started at the sound of her name on his lips. "Meriel——" He paused.
There was no coquetry in her nature. She understood the unspoken thought as clearly as if it had been vocalised in a flood of eloquence.
"Guy," she answered shyly.
The one musical syllable was sufficient. Their glances met. Each read in the other's eyes the words they longed to hear. Lips closed on lips.
The sun shone down fiercely. The boat drifted.
"Then you do care for me?" Guy asked presently.
"Do I care?" Meriel looked happily into his face. "If anyone were to tell you that the sea had become dry you might sooner believe the tale than that I should have ceased to care for you."
"That is love," said Guy. "I know, for my love for you is also greater than the ocean."
She was seated beside him. One hand was on the tiller, the other encircled her waist and she leaned her head on his shoulder with a sigh of content. The westering sun was dropping to the horizon, and on the path of gold it painted on the waters the boat still drifted. Was this to be the omen of their future lot? In his rapture Guy thrust away all disturbing memories. He loved and he was beloved. Nothing could alter that one fact. The whole world was transformed for him. The sun dropped lower still. A rosy flush crept into the sky. The sea, unflecked by a single ripple, glowed with opal fires. Nothing broke the stillness. Meriel, too, lived her brief hour in love's fairyland.