As this conviction grew on him, the young
man's cheek paled; and he stopped irresolute half-way between the
hearth and the door. Then he looked down doubtfully at the corpse
on the bed; and then there came upon him suddenly a revulsion of
feeling. A wild, feverish impatience to know the worst without
another instant of delay possessed him. Only telling Perrine that
he should be back soon, and that she must watch by the dead in
his absence, he left the cottage at once, without waiting to hear
her reply, even without looking back as he closed the door behind
him.
There were two tracks to the Merchant's Table. One, the longer of
the two, by the coast cliffs; the other across the heath. But
this latter path was also, for some little distance, the path
which led to the village and the church. He was afraid of
attracting his father's attention here, so he took the direction
of the coast. At one spot the track trended inland, winding round
some of the many Druid monuments scattered over the country. This
place was on high ground, and commanded a view, at no great
distance, of the path leading to the village, just where it
branched off from the heathy ridge which ran in the direction of
the Merchant's Table. Here Gabriel descried the figure of a man
standing with his back toward the coast.
This figure was too far off to be identified with absolute
certainty, but it looked like, and might well be, Francois
Sarzeau.
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