"Oh yes--take any time you like," he answered, not (as I thought)
very willingly. "While you are resting--there are still one or
two little things to be settled--I think I will go back to the
yacht. Is there anything I can do for you, Valeria, before I go?"

"Nothing--thank you, Eustace."

He hastened away to the harbor. Was he afraid of his own
thoughts, if he were left by himself in the house. Was the
company of the sailing-master and the steward better than no
company at all?

It was useless to ask. What did I know about him or his thoughts?
I locked myself into my room.


CHAPTER V.

THE LANDLADY'S DISCOVERY.

I SAT down, and tried to compose my spirits. Now or never was
the time to decide what it was my duty to my husband and my duty
to myself to do next.

The effort was beyond me. Worn out in mind and body alike, I was
perfectly incapable of pursuing any regular train of thought. I
vaguely felt--if I left things as they were--that I could never
hope to remove the shadow which now rested on the married life
that had begun so brightly. We might live together, so as to save