The horse belonged to
Madame Le Maitre, and was similar to the one she rode. This, together
with many other things, proved to Caius that the lady who lived so
frugally had command of a certain supply of money, for it could not be
an easy or cheap thing to transport good horses to these islands.
Whatever he did, however his thoughts might be occupied, it was never
long before they veered round to the subject that was rapidly becoming
the one subject of absorbing interest to him. Before he realized what he
did, his mind was confirmed in its habit; at morn, and at noontime, and
at night, he found himself thinking of Madame Le Maitre. The lady he was
in love with was the youthful, adventurous maiden who, it seemed, did
not exist; the lady that he was always thinking of was the grave,
subdued, self-sacrificing woman who in some way, he knew not how,
carried the mystery of the other's existence within herself. His mind
was full of almost nothing but questions concerning her, for, admire and
respect her as he might, he thought there was nothing in him that
responded with anything like love to her grave demeanour and burdened
spirit.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE MARRIAGE SCENE.
By riding across the small lagoon that lay beside Cloud Island to the
inward side of the bay, and then eastward some twelve miles toward an
island that was little frequented, the last of the chain on this horn of
the crescent, one came under the highest and boldest facade of cliffs
that was to be found in all that group.
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