"
Beatrice pretended not to hear, and reflected a moment. He would go away
and she would see him no more. Could she let slip this last hour? Oh,
she could not do it!
In that moment of reflection her fate was sealed.
"No," she answered slowly, "I don't think that I am coming; it is too
sultry to go to church. I daresay that Mr. Bingham will accompany you."
Geoffrey hastily disclaimed any such intention, and Elizabeth started
alone. "Ah!" she said to herself, "I thought that you would not come, my
dear."
"Well," said Geoffrey, when she had well gone, "shall we go out?"
"I think it is pleasanter here," answered Beatrice.
"Oh, Beatrice, don't be so unkind," he said feebly.
"As you like," she replied. "There is a fine sunset--but I think that we
shall have a storm."
They went out, and turned up the lonely beach. The place was utterly
deserted, and they walked a little way apart, almost without speaking.
The sunset was magnificent; great flakes of golden cloud were driven
continually from a home of splendour in the west towards the cold lined
horizon of the land.
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