see it from the Downs.'

'Very likely. Our villa's on the South edge of the Island, by the Broken
Cliffs. Most of it is three hundred years old, but the cow-stables,
where our first ancestor lived, must be a hundred years older. Oh, quite
that, because the founder of our family had his land given him by
Agricola at the Settlement. It's not a bad little place for its size. In
spring-time violets grow down to the very beach. I've gathered sea-weeds
for myself and violets for my Mother many a time with our old nurse.'

'Was your nurse a--a Romaness too?'

'No, a Numidian. Gods be good to her! A dear, fat, brown thing with a
tongue like a cowbell. She was a free woman. By the way, are you free,
maiden?'

'Oh, quite,' said Una. 'At least, till tea-time; and in summer our
governess doesn't say much if we're late.'

The young man laughed again--a proper understanding laugh.

'I see,' said he. 'That accounts for your being in the wood. _We_ hid
among the cliffs.'

'Did you have a governess, then?'

'Did we not? A Greek, too. She had a way of clutching her dress when she
hunted us among the gorse-bushes that made us laugh. Then she'd say
she'd get us whipped. She never did, though, bless her! Aglaia was a
thorough sportswoman, for all her learning.'