seat was comfortable enough, but all around it the rocks werepiled in broken confusion, sheltering her, she thought, from anypossible chance comer. And this was what Lois wanted; for, in the firstplace, she was minded to keep herself out of the way of thenewly-arrived party, each and all of them; and, in the second place, she was intoxicated with the delights of the ocean. Perhaps I shouldsay rather, of the ocean and the rocks and the air and the sky, and ofeverything at Appledore, Where she sat, she had a low brown reef insight, jutting out into the sea just below her; and upon this reef thebillows were rolling and breaking in a way utterly and whollyentrancing. There was no wind, to speak of, yet there was much moremotion in the sea than yesterday; which often happens from the effectof winds that have been at work far away; and the breakers which beatand foamed upon that reef, and indeed upon all the shore, were beyondall telling graceful, beautiful, wonderful, mighty, and changeful. Loishad been there to see the sunrise; now that fairy hour was long past, and the day was in its full bright strength; but still she satspellbound and watched the waves; watched the colours on the rocks, thebrown and the grey; the countless, nameless hues of ocean, and thelight on the neighbouring islands, so different now from what they hadbeen a few hours ago.
Now and then a thought or two went to the hotel and its newinhabitants, and passed in review the breakfast that morning. Lois hadtaken scarce any part in the conversation; her place at table put herat a distance from Mr. Caruthers; and after those few first words shehad been able to keep very quiet, as her wish was. But she hadlistened, and observed. Well, the talk had not been, as to quality, onewhit better than what Shampuashuh could furnish every day; nay, Loisthought the advantage of sense and wit and shrewdness was decidedly onthe side of her country neighbours; while the staple of talk was nearlythe same. A small sort of gossip and remark, with commentary, on otherpeople and other people's doings, past, present, and to come. It had nointerest whatever to Lois's mind, neither subject nor treatment. Butthe manner to-day gave her something to think about. The manner wasdifferent; and the manner not of talk only, but of all that was done.Not so did Shampuashuh discuss its neighbours, and not so didShampuashuh eat bread and butter. Shampuashuh ways were more rough, angular, hurried; less quietness, less grace, whether of movement orspeech; less calm security in every action; less delicacy of taste. Itmust have been good blood in Lois which recognized all this, butrecognize it she did; and, as I said, every now and then an involuntarythought of it came over the girl. She felt that she was unlike thesepeople; not of their class or society; she was sure they knew it too, and would act accordingly; that is, not rudely or ungracefully makingthe fact known, but nevertheless feeling, and showing that they felt, that she belonged to a detached portion of humanity. Or they; what didit matter? Lois did not misjudge or undervalue herself; she knew shewas the equal of these people, perhaps more than their equal, in truerefinement of feeling and delicacy of perception; she knew she was notawkward in manner; yet she knew, too, that she had not their ease ofhabit, nor the confidence given by knowledge of the world and all othersorts of knowledge. Her up-bringing and her surroundings had not beenlike theirs; they had been rougher, coarser, and if of as goodmaterial, of far inferior form. She thought with herself that she wouldkeep as much out of their company as she properly could. For there wasbeneath all this consciousness an unrecognized, or at leastunacknowledged, sense of other things in Lois's mind; of Mr. Caruthers'possible feelings, his people's certain displeasure, and her ownpromise to her grandmother. She would keep herself out of the way; easyat Appledore —
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