Mrs. Hunter pursed her lips and looked unutterable things at the girl, but
she regarded neither the matron's sour expression nor her father's stern
glance, for her eyes were fascinated and held by the vessel which sped
along the water like a white-winged gull. No one except Ella and the
colored man continued the observance of Houghton. The girl was in a
perverse mood, and watched until her father rebukingly spoke her name;
then she turned away.
Meanwhile George gazed wistfully at one whom he believed that he might
never see again; for he and his father were almost ready for their visit
North, where the young man was to remain. Then he saw her steady gaze in
his direction. Could she have recognized him? Did she continue to watch
him because of some faint interest? His pulses quickened at the thought.
After a few moments he said bitterly: "Yes, she knows me at last, and
turns away. Very well, away go I, then."
At this moment he caught a glimpse of the western sky, and his sailor
instincts were alarmed. There was a single dark cloud rising rapidly,
portending not a storm, but sudden, violent gusts. In the gathering gloom
all thought of vanishing was abandoned. No matter how Ella regarded him,
he would not be far away while there was a shadow of danger to her.
Examining his sail carefully he knew he could drop it to the point of
safety at a moment's notice.
The wind on which he had been sailing died out.
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