man should not appear mrs showed in her face that she fully recognized the difference between a rich bird in hand and a young bird in the bush she looked him curiously up and down i know you would make anybody a very nice husband she said i know that you would be than many men half your age and though there is a great deal of difference between you and her there have been more a young man turned sixty unequal marriages that s true speaking as her mother i can say that i shouldn t object to you sir for her provided she liked you that is where the difficulty will lie i wish you would help me to get over that difficulty he said gently remember i brought back a husband to you twenty years ago yes you did she assented and though i may say no great things as to happiness came of it i ve always seen that your intentions towards me were none the less noble on that account i would do for you what i would do for no other man and there is one reason in particular which me to help you with � that i should feel absolutely certain i was helping her to a kind husband well that would remain to be seen i would at any rate try to be worthy of your opinion come for old times sake you must help me you never felt anything but friendship in those days you know and that makes it easy and proper for you to do me a good turn now after a little more conversation his old friend promised that she really would do everything that lay in her power she did the well beloved not say how simple she thought him not to perceive that she had already by writing to him been doing everything that lay in her power had created the feeling which prompted his entreaty and to show her good faith in this promise she asked him to wait till later in the evening when might possibly run across to see her who fancied he had won the younger s interest at least by the part he had played upon the rocks the week before had a dread of her in full light till he should have advanced a little further in her regard he accordingly was perplexed at this proposal and seeing his hesitation mrs suggested that they should walk together in the direction whence would come if she came at all he welcomed the idea and in a few minutes they started strolling along under the now strong moonlight and when they reached the gates of castle turning back again towards the house after two or three such walks up and down the gate of the castle grounds and a form came forth which proved to be the expected one as soon as they met the girl recognized in a young man turned sixty her mother s companion the gentleman who had helped her on the shore and she seemed really glad to find that her assistant was claimed by her parent as an old friend she remembered hearing at divers times about this worthy london man of talent and position whose were people of her own isle and possibly from the name of a common stock with her own and you have actually lived in castle yourself mr asked the daughter with her innocent young voice was it long ago yes it was some time ago replied the with a sinking at his heart lest she should say how long it must have been when i was away � or when i was very little i don t think you were away but i don t think i could have been here no perhaps you couldn t have been here i think she was hiding herself in the bed said s mother they talked in this general way till they reached mrs s house but resisted both the widow s invitation and the desire of his own heart and went away with the well beloved out entering to risk by visibly her the advantage that he had already gained or fancied he had gained with the required more courage than he could claim in his present mood such evening as these were frequent during the of that summer moon on one occasion as they were all good it was arranged that they should meet half way between the island and the town in which had lodgings it was impossible that by this time the pretty young should not have guessed the ultimate reason of these to be a matrimonial intention but she inclined to the belief that the widow rather than herself was the object of s regard though why this educated and apparently wealthy man should be attracted by her mother � whose was apparent enough to the girl s more modern training � she could not comprehend they met accordingly in the middle of the bank coming from the and the women from the rock crossing the wooden bridge which connected the bank with the shore proper a young man turned sixty they moved in the direction of henry the eighth s castle on the verge of the cliff like the red king s castle on the island the interior was open to the sky and when they entered and the full moon streamed down upon them over the edge of the the whole present reality faded from s mind under the press of memories neither of his companions guessed what was thinking of it was in this very spot that he was to have met the grandmother of the girl at his side and in which he would have met her had she chosen to keep the appointment a meeting which might � nay must � have changed the whole current of his life instead of that forty years 