Miss Gaston slipped into the house as he was looking over his mail, and in a few minutes appeared again.
"I am in time to cross by the ford. My friends are expecting you as soon as you are able to come over to our hotel."
Winslow walked by her side to the beach.
"May I ask, how long has this intimacy existed between you and Marie?" he asked.
"We have been here four days. On our arrival we introduced ourselves at the island, and found that your name was the open sesame. I was much pleased with Marie, and interested in the father as well. I think the daughter is a beautiful girl, as good of heart as lovely of face."
"I would like to help the family," said Winslow, "for their history, while strange and fascinating, is also a sad one; and as you may know, Pierre is the last of his line."
"Yes, I have learned a great deal about the people from Marie and Suzanne. The child may need a protector some day, for her father's health is failing, and he is an old man, though he seems good for many years yet."
"I fear not," said Winslow, in reply; "he has a great grief ever bearing him down. Marie is all he has left in the world. And while he seldom speaks of his sorrow, I know he is bending under it. I am glad you have been drawn to the family as I have. I owe my life to Pierre," he continued, "and I feel, in the confidence the old man has reposed in me, under obligation to them, and more than that, I feel it a duty that binds me to them."
She looked at the young man and was struck by the words he had spoken in such a straightforward and manly way. She did not reply for a time, her thoughts being taken up with what he had said.
"I hope I may share with you in interest and responsibility in Marie, who has apparently bound us both to her," she said, at last. "I would not intrude myself into their lives or affect your connection with them by it, but I have found in Marie a sweet creature who has spoken to me of herself and laid bare her young heart as to a mother. She may need the comfort and love of a woman in her life, as well as the protection of a man."