He listened to me with grave concern.
"This is very unfortunate," he said, "but do not let us be precipitate."
XXVIII.
THE FLOATING GROCERY.
I now positively decided that the next day I would leave this island,
where people flew off at such disagreeable tangents; but as I was here
on invitation, I could not go away without taking leave of my hostess.
Accordingly, in the evening Walkirk and I went up to the house.
The Sand Lady was manifestly grieved when she heard of our intended
departure, and her brother was quite demonstrative in his expressions of
regret; even the Shell Man, who had discovered in Walkirk some tastes
similar to his own, demurred at our going. The Person, however, made no
allusion to the subject, and gave us, indeed, as little of her society
as she apparently did of her thoughts.
In order not to produce the impression that I was running after Mother
Anastasia, as Walkirk had put it, I announced that we should continue
our cruise for an indefinite time. I was sorry to leave these good
people, but to stay with that mocking enigma of a woman was impossible.
She had possessed herself, in the most crafty and unwarrantable manner,
of information which she had no right to receive and I had no right to
give, and then contemptuously laughed in my face.
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