Then Sir Tancred said, "Well, we
must wait"; and spread a rug for her at the foot of a tree. He paced
up and down before her, keeping an eye over the water and talking to
her.
The dusk deepened and deepened, and at last it was quite dark.
"We're in a fix," said Sir Tancred uneasily. "Of course, if we stay
here they will come for us sooner or later, but goodness knows when.
If we set out to walk to civilisation we shall doubtless in time strike
it somewhere, but goodness knows where."
"If we went along this strip and turned eastward at the end of it
shouldn't we come to the railway?" said Dorothy.
"I don't know that we should. We should get into the _Landes_, and
they're by way of being trackless. Anyhow it would mean walking for
hours; and it is less exhausting for you to sit here. The _Petrel_
must turn up sooner or later."
Remembering her talk with Tinker in the morning, Dorothy believed that
it would be later--much later; but as she could hardly unfold her
reasons for the belief, she said nothing.
For a long time they were silent. Listening to the faint thunder of
the Bay behind them, the lapping of the water at their feet, and the
stirring of the pines, she filled slowly with a sense of their
aloofness from the world, and a perfect content in being out of it
alone with him.
Pages:
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261