could I do?

In the meantime the old lady was still speaking to me with the
most considerate sympathy. She too was fatigued. she said. She
had passed a weary night at the bedside of a near relative
staying at Ramsgate. Only the day before she had received a
telegram announcing that one of her sisters was seriously ill.
She was herself thank God, still active and strong, and she had
thought it her duty to start at once for Ramsgate. Toward the
morning the state of the patient had improved. "The doctor
assures me ma'am, that there is no immediate danger; and I
thought it might revive me, after my long night at the bedside,
if I took a little walk on the beach."

I heard the words--I understood what they meant--but I was still
too bewildered and too intimidated by my extraordinary position
to be able to continue the conversation. The landlady had a
sensible suggestion to make--the landlady was the next person who
spoke.

"Here is a gentleman coming," she said to me, pointing in the
direction of Ramsgate. You can never walk back. Shall we ask him
to send a chaise from Broadstairs to the gap in the cliff?"

The gentleman advanced a little nearer.

The landlady and I recognized him at the same moment. It was
Eustace coming to meet us, as we had arranged. The irrepressible
landlady gave the freest expression to her feelings. Oh, Mrs.
Woodville, ain't it lucky? here is Mr. Woodville himself ."