"I suppose I have been an idiot," she remarked.

"You have been nothing of the sort," Mannering asserted, firmly. "You
have done just what is kind, and what will help me to save the situation.
I must confess that I should not like to have been taken by surprise. You
have saved me from that. Now let us put the whole subject away for a
time. How I wish that you could stay here for a few days."

The girl smiled a little piteously.

"I ought not to have left her even for so long as this," she said. "I
must go back to-morrow morning by the first train."

He nodded. He felt that it was useless to combat her resolution.

"You and I," he said, gravely, "have both our burdens to carry. Only it
seems a little unfair that Providence should have made my back so much
the broader. Listen, Hester!"

The full murmur of the sea growing louder and louder as the salt water
flowed up into the creeks betokened the change of tide. Faint wreaths of
mist were rising up from over the shadowy marshland. Above them were the
stars. He laid his hand upon her shoulder.

"Dear child!" he said, "I think that you understand how it is that the
burden, after all, is easier for me. A man may forget his troubles here,
for all the while there is this eternal background of peaceful things."

Her hand stole into his.