There was no mistaking that figure, and if the figure had not been ample confirmation of identity, there were the full widow's weeds, and, above all, the pale, placid face. The full light of the unclouded sun fell on her. The distance was not great, and she stood out in bold relief against the white field of cloud stretching across the northern sky.
On impulse, Alfred rose in the boat, and took off his hat and bowed.
She returned his salute, and without a moment's pause drew back from the edge on which she had been standing, and disappeared from view.
"Mrs. Davenport!" said Phelan, forgetting his ill-humour in his surprise. "What a place for a lady to be all by herself! I thought Mrs. Davenport was away somewhere in foreign parts."
Alfred sat down. The boatmen had resumed their oars, and the yawl was gliding steadily through the water.
"Is the Rock really dangerous at this time?" asked Alfred anxiously of Phelan. O'Brien was buried in thought, and did not heed what the others were saying.
"Not dangerous now, sir--not dangerous when the water is so smooth and the air so calm; but if there's a little sea on, and a little breeze, you never know what may happen here. Sometimes the sea alone will do it, and sometimes the wind alone will do it, and sometimes both together won't do it. You can only be sure she'll spout when the sea is high and the wind a strong gale from the south-west. What surprises me to see the lady there is because the place has a bad name, and she was just standing on the worst spot of all when we saw her first."
"How a bad name, and how the worst place of all? Are you quite sure there is no danger to the lady now?" asked Alfred, struggling violently and successfully to conceal his extraordinary solicitude.
"I am perfectly sure there is no danger of the spout now. The reason I said it has a bad name is because of all the people who were carried off that Rock; and where Mrs. Davenport stood is just the worst spot of all."
"But Mrs. Davenport must know the Rock well. I dare say, as her house is near, she often comes to see it."