pushed off.

* * * * *

While this terrible scene was taking place, anxious eyes were taking it
all in from the shore.

Early that day the _Minerva_ had been signalled, and Norah with her
heart in her mouth had watched almost all day from the veranda, scanning
the sea with a pair of binoculars. Mrs. Somerset kept the children
entirely, knowing well what her poor young governess was going through.

[Sidenote: A Weary Night]

The storm had raged fiercely all day, but as night came on it grew
worse. Norah could remain no longer in the house, and had gone down to
the quay. As she reached it she saw a large ship driving furiously
forward to its doom. There she stood as though turned to stone, and was
not aware of a voice speaking in her ear, and a hand drawing her away.

"This is no place for you, Mrs. Wylie; my wife sent me for you. You can
do no good here; you will learn what there is to learn quicker at
home--one can't believe a word they say."

Her agony was too great for words or tears. She had gone through so much
all those years, and now happiness had seemed so near, she had believed
it might even yet be in store for her since Mrs. Somerset had spoken to
her on the subject, and now? . . . She let herself be led into the house,
and when Mrs. Somerset ran to meet her and clasp her in her arms, it was
as if she grasped a statue, so cold and lifeless was Norah.

"She is stunned," the major said; "she is exhausted."

Mechanically she let herself be covered up and put on the sofa, her feet
chafed by kind hands--it gave a vague sense of comfort, though all the
time she felt as if it were being done to some one else.

And yet had Norah only known, grief would have been turned into
thanksgiving. Her husband was not dead.

The weary night came to an end at last, as such nights do. Several times
Mrs. Somerset had crept in. They had been unable to gather any reliable
news about the _Minerva's_ passengers. The ship had gone down, but
whether the people had been saved they had been unable as yet to
ascertain.

A glorious sunrise succeeded a night of storm and terror, and its
crimson beams came in on Norah. Hastily rising, and throwing on her hat
and jacket she ran out into the morning freshness longing to feel the
cool air.

She only wanted to get away from herself.

She climbed the steep ascent up the "Rock," past the governor's house,
then stood and gazed at this wonderful scene.