The sun, larger than they had ever seen him in their lives, dropped gently like a great brass shield from behind the dark curtain into the sea of primrose light, and the primrose flushed with crimson over Guernsey and with tender green and blue over Alderney.

They hastened away to Beleme cliff, and then they saw what they had hoped to see, and more;—­the mighty granite frontlets of Sark all washed with living gold—–­ shining from their long conflict with the waves, and gleaming, every one, like a jewel,—­from Bec-du-Nez to Moie de Bretagne.  And, out in the dimness, behind which lay Jersey, there suddenly appeared the perfect circle of a rainbow such as none of them had ever dreamed of—­a perfect orb of the living colours of the Promise—­resting bodily on the dark sea like a gigantic iridescent soap-bubble, glowing and pulsing and throbbing under the level beams of the setting sun.

“Wonderful!” murmured Margaret.

“I never saw more than half a bow before,” whispered Miss Penny.

“Nor I,” said Graeme.  “But then, you see, nothing ever was as it is now.  Things happened last night.”

At which Miss Penny smiled and murmured, “Of course!  That accounts for everything.  The whole world is changed.”

And they watched and watched, in breathless admiration, first the cliffs, and then the bow, and then the sun, and then the cliffs and bow again, till the last tiny rim of the sun sank behind the dark line of Herm, and the bow went out with a snap, and the cliffs in front grew gray and sank back into their sleep, as the shadows crept up out of the sea.

And, presently, the primrose sea in the clouds lost its transparent softness and flushed with rose and carmine.  The tender greens and blues in the north deepened, and the sky above glowed crimson right into the far east.  And the sea below was like a ripe plum with a rippling bloom upon it, and then it answered to the glow “above and became like burnished copper.  And over it, from the south end of Sark, came a dancing white sail, at sight of which Graeme leaped to his feet.

“The show is over,” he cried, “and here comes your highnesses’ carriage.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it for anything,” said Margaret softly, with a rapt face still.

“It was worth living on potatoes for a month for,” said Miss Penny.  “All the same, I hope Mrs. Carre will have some dinner for us when we get home.”

The boat was heading for the Pente-a-Fouaille where they had landed the day before, and they hurried to meet it, Graeme full of misgivings as to the embarkation, for the waves were still roaring up the rocks in bursts of foam, though the wind had fallen somewhat.

But the boatmen knew their business, and had brought an extra hand for its safe accomplishment.  They dropped the sail and pulled round a corner of the black rock.  Then, while two of them kept the boat from destruction, the other stood and Graeme dropped the girls one by one into his arms, and was a very thankful man when he tumbled in himself, all in a heap, and wiped the big drops of sweat from his brow.