He was also particularly anxious that the offended lovers should not meet in the meanwhile.
Therefore, he made a slight detour, and comfortably ensconced himself in the shrubbery, which commanded a view of the cliffs, the cedars, the road therefrom, and a part of the beach.
Leicester Dodson could not gain sight or speech of Violet without the captain's knowledge.
With an exercise of restraint and patience highly commendable, the schemer sat and smoked until the clock struck eleven.
Then he rose, and left his post of observation. It was almost dark, and the lights in the village twinkled in the valley like so many fireflies.
Very cautiously, after inspecting Violet's window, and satisfying himself by the light which burned in the window that Violet was still upstairs, he descended the hill, and, keeping close to the hedge, gained the village.
As it was positively necessary to the success of his plot that he should be seen by as few people as possible that evening, he diverged from the high street and approached the "Blue Lion" by a back way.
As he walked quickly thus far, he knew that Leicester could not have left the Cedars for his nightly promenade on the cliffs, or he, the captain, would have seen him.
The task before him, then, was to crouch behind the cluster of outbuildings behind the "Blue Lion", and wait for him.
By the noise and confusion inside the "Blue Lion", he could tell that Martha was preparing to turn "the boys" out, and he fancied that he could hear Jem's voice among the rest.