"Mr. Hawthorne, what can you mean? Geraldine is not here. We supposed she was with you!"
"With me?—how strange! Why, Miss Carroll, I haven't seen her since Christmas Eve. Do not tell me that harm has come to my darling!"
[CHAPTER LIV.]
"WILL YOU BID ME GODSPEED."
"I reach into the dark, O Love!
I reach into the dark.
I cannot find thee; and my groping hands
Touch only memories and phantom shapes.
"I call into the dark, O Love!
I call into the dark.
There comes from out the hush above, below,
No answer but my own quick-fluttered breath."
Harry Hawthorne had sprung to his feet, pale with emotion, as he stood before Cissy, repeating the words:
"With me? How strange! Why, I have not seen her since Christmas. Do not tell me that harm has come to my darling!"
With the utterance of his words a terrible comprehension dawned on Mrs. Fitzgerald.