She stood for a little while hesitating upon the terrace.

On the left the lawn ran down to a line of tall beeches and oaks which fringed the creek.

But a broad space had been cleared to make a gap upon the bank, so that Ethne could see the sunlight on the water and the wooded slope on the farther side, and a sailing-boat some way down the creek tacking slowly against the light wind.

Ethne looked about her, as though she was summoning her resources, and even composing her sentences ready for delivery to the man who was walking steadily towards her across the lawn.

If there was hesitation upon her part, there was none at all, she noticed, on the part of the blind man.