Phyllis Bottome

“ The sea lay stretched out under the sky, a smooth, unbroken mirror of pale blue. The air shimmered and danced with the heat, and every breath of it was filled with meadow-sweet, honeysuckle, and the tonic wildness of the sea. ”

“ She could speak better to David without looking at him.
"You be a praper sorrowful man, David," she said gently. "'T is a dreadful thing that have come to 'e."
"'T is all of that," said David, heavily, "and 't is kind of 'e to take it so, Mary. Happen we 'll forget them words in the orchard?"
"Happen we 'll forget them," she repeated without tears; and David left her and went down to meet the sea.
The tide brought Lizzie in at dawn, and laid her broken and mauled and bitterly disfigured under the fringe of the black rock where the surf had flung her. ”

“ The natural laws were against visitors and on the side of Mary.
Mary's father had a small farm. A good deal of it was granite, but there was enough grass for half a dozen cows, and Mary was very knowing about all animals—cart-horses, cows, pigs, and poultry. She worked hard from early morning till the dews fell, but on Sundays she only fed the animals, went twice to church, and took a walk with David. The walk with David was also a religious institution. She had walked with him for four years; she would walk with him for another, and then she would marry him. ”

“ David fell into the habit of bringing his friend the blacksmith up to the farm, and the four young people behaved as much like visitors as Mary would consent to behave. They went for walks on the cliff, and made expeditions to neighboring coves and villages. Mary had never seen so much of the country in her life as she saw with Lizzie, and it confirmed in her the desire to remain at Trelinnock and keep everybody else out of it, including relatives. ”

“ The farm-work was over, and Lizzie and Mary set of toward the cliffs. Mary had heard that morning that her aunt was in trouble with a sick cow; it was a four-mile walk to her aunt's farm.
"I reckon," she said to Lizzie, "I 'll be back an hour after sunset."
Lizzie was going down to the strand to bathe; Mary believed that she had a secret arrangement to meet David at the strand. Their ways parted on the edge of the cliff.
"My," said Lizzie, "the air is just like scent! It is reely. I often wonder, Mary, you don't buy any scent. Men like it. ”

“ Lizzie tossed her head.
"Who's afraid?" she said airily. "I 'll tease David about them; he wanted me to promise not to try to get down without him with me—he did reely. But catch me promising a man anything! As long as you 'll not promise, they do; the moment you begin, they stop. I know men."
Mary did not dispute her cousin's knowledge; she took her boots off without speaking, and slung them together by their laces round her neck.
"You don't find me taking my boots off," said Lizzie; "my feet are n't as tough as yours, and the Lord only knows how I'd get them on again. Are you coming, too? ”

“ It was only last night that David said to me, 'You 're as sweet as a flower.' He did reely."
Mary stood quite still at the cliff's edge.
"'T is all sweet here," she said quietly. "We don't need glass bottles for to hold it. 'T is all clean sweet."
"No," said Lizzie, scornfully; "nor, with your knowledge of the sun and the tide, you don't need watches to tell you the time. All the same, it's a pretty thing to wear on your wrist, and it pays to wear pretty things and take a little trouble over yourself. I only tell you for your own good, Mary. Lor'! the strand's a long way off ”

“ I thought you'd got to go and help that aunt of yours about a sick cow. I must say you do funny things in the country; no wonder you can't dress properly."
"I 'll see you down-along," said Mary, briefly. She led the way by a grassy path to the heathery verge. The slope looked easy, and was possible for the sure-footed. Half-way down it changed abruptly into a sheer drop of ironstone rock; one could not see the edge until one was upon it.
Mary began to descend very methodically and slowly. She never left a foot-hold until she had found and tested the one beneath it ”