Page:Maud Howe - A Newport Aquarelle.djvu/127

 friend absent, the girl and the admirer, who had been privileged to ride with her, had left their horses in charge of the groom, and walked down to view the quiet beauty of the vale. Gladys loved the place, and was not in the mood for badinage with Larkington. She wished to be alone, and so had sent him off in quest of the bunch of red seaweed. She had not been in this pleasant spot for many years. She remembered the last time she had visited it. Cid had been with her. The thought of him had made the presence of the Englishman hateful to her.

At the edge of the pond the path swerved to the left, leading down to the deep gorge below. A narrow ledge of rock stretched to the right, skirting the millpond, a precipice of a hundred feet yawning on one side, the deep water on the other. With a quick step the girl passed along the narrow rocky ledge, and seated herself on a great stone, which lay just where the black sheet of water poured smoothly over the edge of the dam,