This landslip
(which had taken place since she had left home for her moonlight
walk) had changed the shape of the cove into a figure something like
the Greek epsilon.
I walked rapidly towards Flinty Point, which I should have to double
before I could reach the gangway I was to take. So feverishly
possessed had I become by the desire to prevent the sacrilege, if
possible, that I had walked some distance away from Winifred before I
observed how high the returning tide had risen in the cove.
When I now looked at Flinty Point, round which I was to turn, I saw
that it was already in deep water, and that I could not reach the
gangway outside the cove. It was necessary, therefore, to turn back
and ascend by the gangway Winifred was making for, behind Needle
Point, which did not project so far into the sea. So I turned back.
As I did so, I perceived that she had reached the projecting mass of
debris in the middle of the semicircle below the churchyard, and was
looking at it. Then I saw her stoop, pick up what seemed a paper
parcel, open it, and hold it near her face to trace out the letters
by the moonlight.
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