"And is that all?" she asked herself, not bitterly,
but with a sort of tender contempt.
"He is so sane," sounded Lingard's voice, gloomily, "that if I had
listened to him you would not have found me here."
"What do you mean by here? In this stockade?"
"Anywhere," he said.
"And what would have happened then?"
"God knows," he answered. "What would have happened if the world had not
been made in seven days? I have known you for just about that time. It
began by me coming to you at night--like a thief in the night. Where the
devil did I hear that? And that man you are married to thinks I am no
better than a thief."
"It ought to be enough for you that I never made a mistake as to what
you are, that I come to you in less than twenty-four hours after you
left me contemptuously to my distress. Don't pretend you didn't hear me
call after you. Oh, yes, you heard. The whole ship heard me for I had no
shame."
"Yes, you came," said Lingard, violently. "But have you really come? I
can't believe my eyes! Are you really here?"
"This is a dark spot, luckily," said Mrs. Travers. "But can you really
have any doubt?" she added, significantly.
He made a sudden movement toward her, betraying so much passion that
Mrs. Travers thought, "I shan't come out alive this time," and yet he
was there, motionless before her, as though he had never stirred.
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