"Certainly. Go in; the air is damp and cold."

He went away quickly, but Lucia lingered on the verandah until Mrs.
Costello came to look for her. Already she thought the house looked
desolate. What should they do without Maurice? Never in her life had she
been so sorrowful, yet she had not the slightest idea how far his pain
exceeded hers, or how he had longed for a word from her which would have
encouraged him, at this last moment, to say all that was in his heart.

CHAPTER VII.

When Lucia awoke next morning, her first thought was of Maurice--what
should she do without him? She rose and dressed hastily, fancying that
at any moment he might come in, and anxious to lengthen, by every means,
the time of their nearness to each other.

Maurice, however, though he looked wishfully at the Cottage as he went
about his preparations, had too many things to think of and arrange, to
steal a moment for the indulgence of his inclinations until afternoon,
and she was obliged to wait with such patience as she could for his
coming. He had told Mrs. Costello that it would be needful for him to
spend two or three hours in Cacouna, and asked her to see his father in
the meantime. Thus, in the afternoon, Lucia was for a considerable time
quite alone.

Mrs. Costello, meanwhile, with more than friendly sympathy, heard from
Mr. Leigh his reasons for urging upon Maurice this hasty departure, and
cheered him with anticipations of his speedy return. They consulted
over, and completed together, some last preparations for his voyage; and
while they felt almost equally the trial of parting with him, the grief
of each was a kind of solace to the other. For, in fact, whatever they
might say, neither regarded this journey as an ordinary one, or thought
that the return they spoke of would be what they tried to imagine it.

Mr. Leigh, believing that his strength was really failing more and more,
hastened his son's departure, that the voyage might be made before his
increasing weakness should set it aside; his parting from Maurice,
therefore, he dreaded as a final one. Mrs. Costello had vaguer, but
equally oppressive forebodings. She saw that in all probability a few
weeks longer would find her peaceful home deserted, and herself and
Lucia fugitives. Even if Maurice, transported into a new world with new
interests and incalculably brighter prospects, should still retain his
affection for them--and _that_ she scarcely doubted--how could h