of seat. Here
they sat them down, facing the water--towards evening--not too near to
each other, not too far,--Margaret on the right, Claudius on the left.
And Claudius punched the little pebbles with his stick after he had sat
down, wondering how he should begin. Indeed it did not seem easy. It
would have been easier if he had been less advanced, or further
advanced, in his suit. Most people never jump without feeling, at the
moment of jumping, that they could leap a little better if they could
"take off" an inch nearer or further away.

"Countess," said the Doctor at last, turning towards her with a very
grave look in his face, "I have something to tell you, and I do not know
how to say it." He paused, and Margaret looked at the sea, without
noticing him, for she half fancied he was on the point of repeating his
former indiscretion and saying he loved her. Would it be an indiscretion
now? She wondered what she should say, what she would say, if he
did--venture. Would she say "it was not right" of him now? In a moment
Claudius had resolved to plunge boldly at the truth.

"I am obliged to go away very suddenly," he said; and his voice trembled
violently.

Margaret's face lost colour in answer, and she resisted an impulse to
turn and meet his eyes. She would have liked to, but she felt his look
on her, and she feared lest, looking once, she should look too long.

"Must you go away?" she asked with a good deal of self-possession.

"Yes, I fear I must. I know I must, if I mean to remain here afterwards.
I would rather go at once and be done with it." He still spoke
uncertainly, as if struggling with some violent hoarseness in his
throat.

"Tell me why you must go," she said imperiously. Claudius hesitated a
moment.

"I will tell you one of the principal reasons of my going," he said.
"You know I came here to take possession of my fortune, and I very
naturally relied upon doing so. Obviously, if I do not obtain it I
cannot continue to live in the way I am now doing, on the slender
resources which have been enough for me until now."

"Et puis?" said the Countess, raising her eyebrows a little.

"Et puis," continued the Doctor, "these legal gentlemen find difficulty
in persuading themselves that I am myself--that I am really the nephew
of Gustavus Lindstrand, deceased."

"What nonsense!" exclaimed Margaret. "And so to please them you are
going away. And who will get your money, pray?"

"I will get it," answered