IN WHICH THE PAST LAYS AN OMINOUS HAND ON THE PRESENT Down here on the shore, in the serene morning atmosphere, voices carried with peculiar distinctness.

Every word of the brief colloquy had reached Tom Verity; and one word at least possessed an Elizabethan flavour forbidden to ears Victorian, feminine and polite.

Noting it Tom reddened and glanced uneasily at his companion, all inclination to tease giving place to a laudable desire to shield her from annoyance.

But Damaris, judging by her demeanour, was unaware of any cause of offence; whence, with relief he concluded that either she had not heard, or that the rank expression conveyed nothing intelligible to her mind.
Her open hand pressed down upon the rough surface of the pebbles, she leaned a little backward, her lithe body twisted sideways from the waist, while she scrutinized the man upon the sands below.

And that the latter presented a gallant and even distinguished appearance, though arrayed in leather-peaked cap, blue serge reefer jacket and trousers which had evidently seen service, Tom could not but admit, as he stood just clear of the ripples of incoming tide staring idly after the receding boat with its cargo of black ribbed skeleton lobster-pots .-- A spirited-looking, well-made fellow, no doubt; merchant captain or more probably mate--Tom took him to be about eight-and-twenty--but in an altogether different rank of life to themselves and therefore a quite unsuitable object for prolonged and earnest attention.