“It will be very dark in four hours from now, dear lady.”
“Time enough. Oh, I must see the top; and the view out to sea! You shall know how fast I can walk.”
Percy smiled and nodded assent, and on they went. It was a wild, rugged road, but more in the seeming than in fact, for the experienced guide, who had traversed the crag in every direction from earliest childhood, knew every inch of the way, and was able to follow a path almost as easy of ascent as would have been the climbing of a grassy slope of the same inclination.
By and by they came to a stretch of path which was restful—a grand aisle, with perpendicular walls towering aloft on either hand; the floor of which was very smooth and even, and wide enough to allow two persons to walk abreast, with room to spare.
In reaching this point, they had climbed an ascent where our hero had given to Cordelia his hand; and he continued to hold it after the need had passed.
Mary was several yards in the rear, and seemed inclined to remain so.
For a time the two in advance had been silent. The sublimity of the scene around them had inspired them.
Presently Cordelia looked up, with a new light in her eyes and a new look on her beautiful face. A new thought had possessed her—a thought that sent a tremor to her heart, imparting a perceptible quiver to her lips.
“Percy!” she said, withdrawing her hand from his grasp and transferring it to his arm, where it clung trustingly. “Percy! what did you mean by what you said to me last evening when you asked me to look when you worked out that matter of interest?”
He looked at her with surprise, and his look plainly asked her to what she referred.