A solitary figure sat in the boat, his face turned her way; but the distance was too great for her to distinguish that face. A word in white letters she could see on the blue flag; but again the distance was too great for her to distinguish. She sat and watched and watched, until the opening of the door startled her. She turned round and saw Susan Sharpe—this time alone.
"Look there!" said Mollie, obeying a sudden impulse; "did you ever see anything so pretty?"
The nurse looked—bent her brows and looked again. Her face flushed—she caught her breath.
"Who is the man?" she asked, hurriedly, lowly.
"I don't know," in the same breathless way. "He is watching here—but the distance is so great. Oh, nurse—"
She did not finish the sentence, but with hands clasped and lips parted, stood looking imploringly in the woman's face.
"Wait a minute," said Mrs. Susan Sharpe; "there is no one on the watch this time, thank the Lord! Mrs. Oleander's down with the toothache."
She left the room—was absent in her own two or three minutes—then returned with a pocket telescope in her hand.
"Try this," she said, quietly; "it's small, but it's powerful."
She put it in the girl's hand. Mollie turned eagerly to the window—the boat and the man were near enough now. The word on the blue flag was Hope; the face of the man was still toward her, true as the needle to the north star. With the first look she recognized it. A low cry of amaze, and she dropped the glass, and stood all trembling with the sudden joyful shock.