Sibyl's keen eyes were bent with ill-concealed anxiety upon him, and she drew a deep breath of relief as she noted his quiet gravity, as if a heavy load had been lifted off her breast.
"Poor Mrs. Tom!" sighed the minister's wife, "she is indeed to be pitied. I urged her to quit that lonesome island, and we would provide for her somewhere here, but she refused; and says that the only comfort she has now is in watching the waves under which her darling Christie is buried."
A faint shudder passed over Drummond's frame, in spite of himself, at her words.
"By the way, Mr. Brantwell," said Captain Campbell, "where are the Courtneys? They were speaking of going away somewhere when last I was here."
"Yes, they have gone home. Mr. Courtney was in very poor health; and even Mrs. Courtney, poor thing! seemed to have lost most of her high spirits, and was glad to be on the wing again," replied Mrs. Brantwell.
During this short dialogue, Sibyl and Willard were conversing together in low tones.
"And so your resolution is really to go abroad?" said Sibyl, lifting her dark eyes anxiously to his face.
"Yes—but for some months only; and the project gives me pleasure in the thought alone that, in so doing, I will not be separated from you."
"No! and how?" she said, in surprise.
"Then you are not aware that your brother, having completed all his business, and refitted his vessel, is about to take you with him again to England?"