2 64 ALONGSHORE iv 



was baffled. The fair child was tenderfooted in 

 the wilderness of rocks. The dark child would 

 not be separate from the sea, and cried even in 

 the grey cottage which was close by. One was 

 afraid when storms blustered up the combe and 

 the voice of the sea was loud; but at such times 

 the other was happy. 



It happened that one evening when sunshine 

 glittered on the shore, the dark child climbed 

 upon a spur of the Black Abbey Rock, and 

 enticed the fair child to the foot of it. In a little 

 while, a storm-swell rolled in from the Atlantic 

 and the sunshine faded. A menace of winds 

 was heard over the water. Then the dark child 

 laughed; and it took up a stone that was washed 

 upon the Rock, and it dropped the stone upon 

 the fair child, and clapped its hands for happiness. 



Twilight was come. The man remembered 

 his wife who had feared the sea; and he cursed 

 the dark child whose soul was the soul of the 

 Rock-Woman, and killed it. He watched the 

 two children lying beneath the Black Abbey. 

 Darkness crept along the face of the cliffs. He 

 was alone. 



The shadow of the Rock-Woman went past 

 the combe. He called, but she would not come 



