"Asleep, my love!" said Mrs. Fitzpatrick, in a tone that thrilled through Margaret, there was in it so much despair.
"We are all half asleep," said Mr. Haveloc. "Shall I ring for candles?"
"Do," said Aveline; "stay! do you see a figure—a shadow—there, in the verandah?"
Margaret heard no more. She turned, rushed from the terrace down the steps to the beach on the sands until the foam of the waves broke over her feet.
"Good Heavens!" exclaimed Hubert Gage, who had hastened after her. "What is it you intend? What are you going to do?"
"What should I do but go home?" said Margaret, turning quietly round. "I have seen what I came to see."
And turning away again, she began to walk rapidly.
"Speak to me," said he, after he had followed her in silence for some time. "Tell me—am I to blame?"
Margaret shook her head.
"I cannot bear this silence," he said, after another pause. "Say something to me."