They were on the windward side of the ship, untenanted save now and then by the shadowy forms of other promenaders.

The whole experience, even the regular throbbing of the engines, the swish of the sea, the rising and falling of a lantern bound to the top of a fishing smack by which they were passing, the distant chant of the changing watch, all the night sights and sounds of the seaborne hostel, were unfamiliar and exhilarating.

And inside his hand, even though given him of her great pity, a woman's fingers lay in his.
She spoke at last a little abruptly.
"There is something I must know about," she said.
"You have only to ask," he assured her.
"Don't be afraid," she continued.

"I wish to ask you nothing which might give you pain, but I must know--you see, I am really such a ordinary woman--I must know about some one whom you went to visit that day, didn't you, at Detton Magna ?" He answered her almost eagerly.
"I want to talk about Beatrice," he declared.

"I want to tell you everything about her.