"Not one."
"So be it. You have driven me to do it. Remember that."
"What would you do?" she asked, a little faintly.
"You shall see."
He crossed to where the boat that had brought them was tied to the wreck. He unfastened the rope that held it, and let it drop into the water. Then he took up a broken spar and pushed the boat away. The tide was still on the ebb, and the boat floated slowly out to sea.
Ella sprang forward.
"You would not murder me!" she exclaimed.
"No, I will not murder you," he answered, quietly. "But since the Fates have willed that we shall not live together, we can at least die together."
Ella sank back faint and dizzy. Could it be that the only link between themselves and the shore was really broken? There was no other boat near, and two miles of water intervened between the wreck and the land. It was terrible to think of the doom to which this madman had possibly condemned her.
Madman! Was it not likely that he was one in reality? It flashed across Ella's mind that, long years before, she had heard that Hubert Stone's mother had died insane. Had he inherited the awful malady, and had this day's agitation brought it suddenly out? In terrible fear she glanced across at him.