It was, however, impossible for me entirely to restrain my impulses, and
without knowing exactly what I intended to do I advanced toward the
house. Very soon I saw its chimneys above the trees which partly
surrounded it. Then, peeping under cover of a thicket, I went still
nearer, so that, if there had been any people in the surrounding
grounds, I could have seen them; but I saw no one, and I sat down on a
log and waited. It shamed me to think that I was secretly watching a
house, but despite the shame I continued to sit and watch.
There was the flutter of drapery on a little porch. My heart beat
quickly, my eyes were fixed upon the spot; but nothing appeared except a
maid who brought out some towels, which she hung on a bush to dry. Then
again I watched and watched.
After a time four people came out from the house, two of them carrying
colored parasols. I knew them instantly. There was the Middle-Aged Man
of the Sea, and his friend the Shell Man; and there was the Sand Lady,
and my enemy who called herself a Person. They went off toward the
little pier. Sylvia was not with them, nor did she join them. They
entered their boat and sailed away. They were going fishing, as was
their custom. The fact that Sylvia was not with them, and that no one of
them had stayed behind to keep her company, caused my heart to fall.
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