She spoke to him gently, kindly, almost pleadingly. He made an odd sound. It was not a word, nor was it a sob. She had never heard anything like it before. It seemed to her to be like a smothered outcry of a heart torn by some acute emotion.
"Gaspare!" she said. "We shall meet him. We shall meet him in the ravine!"
Then they set out. As she was going, Hermione cast a look down towards the sea. Always at this hour, when night had come, a light shone there, the light in the siren's house. To-night that little spark was not kindled. She saw only the darkness. She stopped.
"Why," she said, "there's no light!"
"Signora?"
She pointed over the wall.
"There's no light!" she repeated.
This little fact—she did not know why—frightened her.
"Signora, I am going!"
"Gaspare!" she said. "Give me your hand to help me down the path. It's so dark. Isn't it?"