'Where it is horizontal? It slides up a chromatic scale,' said Siegmund.

'Yes, but the settled pitch--is it about E?'

'E!' exclaimed Siegmund. 'More like F.'

'Nay, listen!' said Helena.

They stood still and waited till there came the long booing of the
fog-horn.

'There!' exclaimed Siegmund, imitating the sound. 'That is not E.' He
repeated the sound. 'It is F.'

'Surely it is E,' persisted Helena.

'Even F sharp,' he rejoined, humming the note.

She laughed, and told him to climb the chromatic scale.

'But you agree?' he said.

'I do not,' she replied.

The fog was cold. It seemed to rob them of their courage to talk.

'What is the note in _Tristan_?' Helena made an effort to ask.

'That is not the same,' he replied.