“You will come back?”
“Ah, believe me, nothing will stop me—nothing—nothing.”
“It is so far—I do not know where. If I knew; but the ships go away out there, and it is the distance that takes my heart from me; they fade into nothing, pass into the sky.”
“But they come back—you have seen the ships come back?”
His voice told her that he was in trouble, and that it was her grief that caused his trouble. She could not tell whether the ships she had seen going away ever came back, the sailing vessels were all alike to her. The American steamer came back, but it was different from the others, but the trouble in his voice made her dry her eyes and answer him.
“Yes—I had not thought of that, do not mind me, I am foolish—ché, thou wilt surely return. The Bon Dié will surely send you back to me.”
The boat that had been rowing across the harbour was now at the steps near by, and a man was coming up the steps. It was Sagesse. He did not notice them as he walked away towards the town, but they saw him clearly.
Marie shuddered.
“Come,” said she, “how late it is—later than I have ever been before, and the house will be closed.”
They turned, and by the Passage Bertine sought the Street of the Precipice; there was not a soul to be seen, and the moonlight was now pouring in the city.