"I'm glad I stood by him," Mrs. Tuke reflected, with a smile of self-satisfaction, "for I believe he is coming back to the fold again."
One evening Rufus sat up very late. He had gone through his papers again to see that everything was in order, and now he sat staring at the clock on the mantelpiece, and listening to its solemn and regular tick.
"To-morrow will be just as good as next week," he said to himself. "As it must come, better it should come quickly. I could have done it this morning easily enough, and I don't think it will be at all painful. So let it be then," he added, rising to his feet. "The next time I go into the sea I do not return," and he put the lights out, and climbed slowly and silently to his bedroom.
Before undressing he knelt down and prayed. He asked for strength and pardon, and a just and merciful judgment.
He felt like a child when he rose from his knees, and a few minutes after he laid his head on the pillow he was fast asleep.
CHAPTER XXXIII
WAS IT PROVIDENCE?
When Rufus awoke next morning, the wind was blowing half a gale, and the rain was coming down in torrents.