d the torment and the provocation of another day.

Allow an hour and a half for the swim--say, two; another hour in which
to find a boat; and another to row or sail back: four hours. He should
be back upon the island long before dawn, even if delayed. Surely no
harm could come to her in that time; surely he ought to be able to
reckon on her sleeping through his absence--worn down by the stress of
the day's emotions as she must certainly be. True, he had given her to
understand he would not leave her; but she need not know until his
return; and then his success would have earned him forgiveness.

An hour dragged out its weary length, and the half of another while he
reasoned with himself, drugging his conscience and his judgment alike
with trust in his lucky star. In all that time he heard no sound from
the room above him; and for his part he lay quite unstirring, his whole
body relaxed, resting against the trial of strength to come.

Insensibly the windows of his room, that looked eastward, filled with
the pale spectral promise of the waning moon. He rose, with infinite
precaution against making any noise, and looked out. The night was no
less placid than the day had been. The ruins of his three beacons shone
like red winking eyes in the black face of night. Beyond them the sky
was like a dome of crystal, silvery green. And as he looked, an edge of
silver shone on the distant rim of the waters; and then the moon,
misshapen, wizened and darkling, heaved sluggishly up from the deeps.

Slowly, on tiptoes, Whitaker stole toward the door, out into the hall;
at the foot of the stairs he paused, listening with every nerve tense
and straining; he fancied he could just barely detect the slow, regular
respiration of the sleeping woman. And he could see that the upper
hallway was faintly aglow. She had left her lamp burning, the door open.
Last night, though the lamp had burned till dawn, that door had been
closed....

He gathered himself together again, took a single step on toward the
kitchen; and then, piercing suddenly the absolute stillness within the
house, a board squealed like an animal beneath his tread.

In an instant he heard the thud and patter of her footsteps above, her
loud, quickened breathing as she leaned over the balustrade, looking
down, and her cry of dismay: "Hugh! Hugh!"

He halted, saying in an even voice: "Yes; it is I." She had already seen
him; there was no use trying to get away without her knowle