Could
the incident have anything to do with Jeanne and Pierre?
He waited until he heard the tiny bell in his watch tinkle the
half-hour, and then he set out slowly over the moonlit rocks to
the north. Jeanne and Pierre would surely come from that
direction. It was impossible to miss them. He walked without sound
in his moccasins, keeping close to the edge of the cliff so that
he could look out over the Bay. Two or three hundred yards beyond
the big rock the sea-wall swung in sharply, disclosing the open
water, like a still, silvery sheet, for a mile or more. Philip
scanned it for the canoe, but as far as he could see there was not
a shadow.
For a quarter of a mile he walked over the rocks, then returned.
It was nine o'clock. The moment had arrived for the appearance of
Jeanne and Pierre. He resumed his patrol of the cliff, and with
each moment his nervousness increased. What if Jeanne failed him?
What if she did not come to the rock? The mere thought made his
heart sink with a sudden painful throb. Until now the fear that
Jeanne might disappoint him, that she might not keep the tryst,
had not entered his head. His faith in this girl, whom he had seen
but twice, was supreme.
A second and a third time he patrolled the quarter mile of cliff.
Pages:
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116