Page 202 - The snake's pass

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190 — — THE SNAKE'S PASS.
I did not come down until the waiter came to tell
me that dinner was ready. Dick had evidently waited
also, and followed me down. When he came into the
room, he said heartily :
" Hallo ! Art, old fellow, welcome back, I thought yon
were lost," and shook hands with me warmly.
Neither of us seemed to have much appetite, but we
pretended to eat, and sent away platesfull of food, cut
up into the smallest proportions. When the apology
for dinner was over, Dick offered me a cigar, lit his
own, and said :
" Come out for a stroll on the sand, Art ; I want to
have a chat with you." I could feel that he was
making a great effort to appear hearty, but there was
a hollowness about his voice, which was not usual.
As we went through the hall, Mrs. Keating handed me
my letters, which had just arrived.
We walked out on the wide stretch of fine hard sand,
which lies westwards from Carnaclif when the tide is
out, and were a considerable distance from the town
before a word was spoken. Dick turned to me, and
said :
"Art! what does it all mean?"
I hesitated for a moment, for I hardly knew where
to begin—the question, so comprehensive and so sudden,
took me aback. Dick went on:
"Art! two things I have always believed; and I won't
give them up without a struggle. One is that there
are very few things that, no matter how strange or