y than either had anticipated
at starting--the excursion having been so obviously undertaken for the
pleasure of the performance only,--and that they had landed at some steps
he knew of further down toward the pier, to be longer alone together.

'Still he disliked to harbour the thought, and would not mention its
existence to his companion. He merely said to her, "Let us walk further
on."

'They did so, and lingered between the boat-stage and the pier till
Stephen Hardcome's wife was uneasy, and was obliged to accept James's
offered arm. Thus the night advanced. Emily was presently so worn out
by fatigue that James felt it necessary to conduct her home; there was,
too, a remote chance that the truants had landed in the harbour on the
other side of the town, or elsewhere, and hastened home in some
unexpected way, in the belief that their consorts would not have waited
so long.

'However, he left a direction in the town that a lookout should be kept,
though this was arranged privately, the bare possibility of an elopement
being enough to make him reticent; and, full of misgivings, the two
remaining ones hastened to catch the last train out of Budmouth-Regis;
and when they got to Casterbridge drove back to Upper Longpuddle.'

'Along this very road as we do now,' remarked the parish clerk.

'To be sure--along this very road,' said the curate. 'However, Stephen
and Olive were not at their homes; neither had entered the village since
leaving it in the morning. Emily and James Hardcome went to their
respective dwellings to snatch a hasty night's rest, and at daylight the
next morning they drove again to Casterbridge and entered the Budmouth
train, the line being just opened.

'Nothing had been heard of the couple there during this brief absence. In
the course of a few hours some young men testified to having seen such a
man and woman rowing in a frail hired craft, the head of the boat kept
straight to sea; they had sat looking in each other's faces as if they
were in a dream, with no consciousness of what they were doing, or
whither they were steering. It was not till late that day that more
tidings reached James's ears. The boat had been found drifting bottom
upward a long way from land. In the evening the sea rose somewhat, and a
cry spread through the town that two bodies were cast ashore in Lullstead
Bay, several miles to the eastward. They were brought to Budmouth, and
inspection revealed them to be the mi