That it was Stone the man had seen there could be little doubt of. Conroy helped Ella into the boat, and the men rowed away.
It was almost dusk now. The great black bank of cloud was still climbing slowly up from the sea, and had shut out half the sky. The wind had risen considerably during the last half-hour, and the tide was rolling in in huge sullen masses of blue-green water, with here and there a white-topped wave.
"We shall have plenty of dirty weather before morning," remarked one boatman to the other.
Ella and Conroy sat in the stern of the boat. He had wrapped his ulster round her to protect her from the wind. Also, he had taken possession of one of her hands, and she made no attempt to withdraw it. When he had her heart already, why should she refuse him possession of her hand?
Ella shut her eyes and tried to realise her happiness. Oh, the difference that one short half-hour had made! She could hardly believe this, the sitting there, to be more than a blissful dream.
"What strange chance was it that brought you here to-day?" she said to him at last. "Did you drop down from the sky? How else did you come?"
"I came by a very slow train that was an hour longer on the road than it might have been," answered Conroy. "My employers ordered me abroad yesterday. Not very far this time. Only to Spain."
"For long?"
"I may be away three months, or I may be away six. It was impossible for me to start until I had seen you again."
There was something in his tone, as he spoke these words, that thrilled Ella's heart, and made her cheeks flush rosy-red. She was glad that it was too dark for him to see her face.