He did not know or care. Come what come might, his spirit walked
the beach that night with the beautiful spirit that the face of the
sea-maid interpreted to him.
CHAPTER VII.
THE GRAVE LADY.
The hills of Cloud Island were a fair sight to see in the moonlight.
When the traveller came close to them, the beach ended obviously in a
sandy road which led up on the island. There was a small white wooden
house near the beach; there was candlelight within, but Caius took no
notice of it. The next building was a lighthouse, which stood three
hundred yards farther on. The light looking seaward was not visible. He
passed the distance swiftly, and no sooner were his feet level with the
wall of the square wooden tower, than he turned about on the soft sandy
road and faced the wind that had been racing with him, and looked. The
scene was all as he might have expected to see it; but there was no
living creature in sight. He stood in the gale, bare-headed, looking,
looking; he had no desire to enter the house. The sea-maid was not in
sight, truly; but as long as he stood alone in the moonlight scene, he
felt that her presence was with him. Then he remembered the dying man of
whom he had been told, who lay in such need of his ministrations. The
thought came with no binding sense of duty such as he had felt
concerning the keeping of his vow.
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