Abruptly he stopped; raised his head, a bitter question in his eyes.
6
A faint light was creeping over the bowl-like sky. And a fainter colour was spreading upward from the eastern horizon. The thousands of night stars had disappeared, leaving only one, the great star of the morning. It sent out little points of light, like the Star of the East in Sunday school pictures. It seemed to stir with white incandescence.
Henry straightened up; gently placed Corinne against the breakwater; covered his face.
She considered him from under lowered eyelids. Her face was expressionless. She didn't smile. And she wasn't singing now. She smoothed out her skirt, rather deliberately and thoughtfully.
'Think of it!' Henry broke out with a shudder. 'It's a dreadful thing that's happened!'
'It might be,' said Corinne very quietly, 'if Arthur didn't have the sense to take that train.'
'And we're sitting here as if——'
'Listen! What on earth made you go back to the house?'
'I can't tell you. I don't know. I had to.'