All was perfectly quiet, and, with a sigh of relief, he crept back to the pathway and listened.
All was still here too, but he could not flee yet without going back and searching about to see if there was any thing dropped—handkerchief, cloak, or the like.
But no; all was apparently as it should be, and he could find no trace; so once more going cautiously to the footpath, he listened, and, all being still, he walked swiftly in the direction of Carnac, till, reaching the path down to the shore, he turned down it quickly, and came in contact with Geoffrey Trethick.
“Hallo!” exclaimed the latter, sharply, “do you want to knock a man off the cliff? Oh, it’s you, Mr Tregenna!”
Tregenna did not answer, but, trembling in every limb, pressed on to reach the shore; but before he had gone many yards a malicious spirit seemed to tempt Geoffrey, and he called after the retreating figure,—
“If you are going to see Miss Mullion, Mr Tregenna, you will find the upper path the better.”
“Damn!” muttered Tregenna, as he almost staggered now down the cliff; “what cursed fate sent him here to-night?”
He was so completely unnerved by the encounter, that he paused for a few minutes to try and recover himself.
“If I could—if I could,” he muttered; “but he is too strong. My God! what shall I do?”
The horror of discovery was so great that for a time he could not proceed, and in imagination he saw the body of his victim brought to the surface, and Geoffrey Trethick bearing witness of having seen him near the spot.