I saw her again as I had seen her in the past time--on the morning when
I went to fetch her into the house. I heard her again, telling me
that the Shivering Sand seemed to draw her to it against her will, and
wondering whether her grave was waiting for her THERE. The horror of it
struck at me, in some unfathomable way, through my own child. My girl
was just her age. My girl, tried as Rosanna was tried, might have lived
that miserable life, and died this dreadful death.
The Sergeant kindly lifted me up, and turned me away from the sight of
the place where she had perished.
With that relief, I began to fetch my breath again, and to see things
about me, as things really were. Looking towards the sand-hills, I saw
the men-servants from out-of-doors, and the fisherman, named Yolland,
all running down to us together; and all, having taken the alarm,
calling out to know if the girl had been found. In the fewest words, the
Sergeant showed them the evidence of the footmarks, and told them that
a fatal accident must have happened to her. He then picked out the
fisherman from the rest, and put a question to him, turning about again
towards the sea: "Tell me," he said.
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