He hid it perfectly among the grass and weeds.
Over all the limited surface, among the pine shrubs and flowering weeds,
he searched to see if hiding-place for the nymph could be found. Two
colts were pastured on the isle. He found no cave or hut. When he had
finished his search, he sat and waited and watched till the sun set over
the sea; but to-day there was no smiling face rearing itself from the
blue water, no little hand beckoning him away.
"What a fool I was not to go where she beckoned!" mused Caius. "Where?
Anywhere into the heart of the ocean, out of this dull, sordid life into
the land of dreams."
For it must all have been a dream--a sweet, fantastic dream, imposed
upon his senses by some influence, outward or inward; but it seemed to
him that at the hour when he seemed to see the maid it might have been
given him to enter the world of dreams, and go on in some existence
which was a truer reality than the one in which he now was. In a
deliberate way he thought that perhaps, if the truth were known, he, Dr.
Caius Simpson, was going a little mad; but as he sat by the softly
lapping sea he did not regret this madness: what he did regret was that
he must go home and--talk to Mabel.
He rowed his boat back with feelings of blank disappointment. He could
not give another day to idleness upon the shore. It was impossible that
such an important person as himself could spend long afternoons and
evenings thus without everyone's knowledge.
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