"What do you think of my eyrie, Cornelius?" I said, after a long pause.
"So you come here often?" was his reply.
"Yes, very often."
"What can attract you to such a wild spot?"
"Its wildness."
He looked me in the face and smiled. I resumed—
"I was born by the sea, Cornelius, and I love it, ay, very dearly; this barren spot seems pleasanter to me than any sunny landscape. I could listen for hours to the wind sweeping down the coast and the dash of the heaving waves. Could not you?"
"No," he answered, frankly, "sea-side is to me the grand historic style of nature. I like the calm, homely woodlands and quiet valleys."
"Yes, but you are going to sketch that little fall of water?"
"Am I?"