The voyage passed on until at last the English shores were seen, and they sailed up the Channel amidst the thronging ships that pass to and fro from the metropolis of the world.
“To-morrow we part,” said Beatrice, as she stood with Brandon on the quarter-deck.
“No,” said Brandon; “there will be no one to meet you here. I must take you to your home.”
“To my home! You?” cried Beatrice, starting back. “You dare not.”
“I dare.”
“Do you know what it is?”
“I do not seek to know. I do not ask; but yet I think I know.”
“And yet you offer to go?”
“I must go. I must see you to the very last.”
“Be it so,” said Beatrice, in a solemn voice, “since it is the very last.”