I saw Grace, in a moment, the duties of hostess being temporarily undertaken by Annie, walking down a path with soldierly Lockhart Mackenzie, who had come over from the "quarters" in his uniform.
Alexandra and I found ourselves wandering into the wood and climbing the hillside at the loftiest point of the Island, where, on the summit, the trees permitted us a wide view of the St. Lawrence, its islands and ships and the open country; while the afternoon sunlight fell brokenly upon the faint colors of her face and her golden hair.
"Do you admire distant landscapes?" I asked constrainedly.
"They remind me of high aims and the broad views of great minds," returned she, looking outward.
"You favor aiming high," I said, "I always thought so of you."
She turned her glance for a moment to me, and asked seriously: "How can people aim low? Do you know the lines of Goëthe:"
"Thou must either strive and rise,
Or thou must sink and die."
Daughter of the immortals!
"I wonder what you will say of my aims," I stammered.
"May you tell them? I should like very much to hear." And as she seemed to bend from a queen into a womanly companion, I noticed my gift, the brooch of Roman mosaic, on her breast.