turned round to Mr. Strafford.

"Look!" she said; "it _is_ a sail."

He rose, and looked as she pointed.

"I see nothing," he answered.

"Lucia!" she said impatiently, "can't you see it?"

But Lucia shook her head. She had fancied several times already that she
saw something.

Mrs. Costello said no more just then. A minute or two afterwards,
however, she spoke still more positively.

"It is a boat with two sails. It is coming down quickly now. They must
have waited for the storm to be over."

Next moment the others saw something faintly marked against the horizon.
It _was_ a sail.

But Mrs. Costello either was gifted with longer sight, or her excitement
sharpened her faculties. She declared that it was certainly the expected
boat; it was one, she knew well, and could recognize distinctly.

They began to speculate as to the time of its arrival; and while they
spoke, still watching eagerly, they did not notice how the sky darkened.
The horizon still remained light; it even grew brighter; but the
brightness was only a line, surrounded with a silvery border; the black
cloud spread out overhead. By-and-by the wind began to rise again in
long, wailing blasts, as it had done that morning. The edges of the
cloud seemed to be torn into long, jagged fringes, and there fell sharp,
momentary showers of snow and sleet, hissing as they touched the water.
The boat came on fast now; but at intervals it was hidden; once, when a
denser obstacle than usual of rain and drift and frosty mist had come
between it and the land, there appeared in the lull that followed
another object much further away, but moving down the river also. It was
a large steamer coming down from the lakes, and hurrying on before the
storm.

Again the distance was hidden. Again, after a longer interval, the two
boats were seen--the small one tacking from side to side, using every
contrivance to hasten its course, and reach the port; the other holding
steadily and swiftly on its way.

But as the wind increased there came with it a dense fog. Gradually it
settled down over the river and then the wind sank, blowing only, as at
first, in single gusts, which wailed horribly round the house and
through the trees about it. There was nothing to see now, but still the
three kept their places at the window, and hoped the fog might rise if
but for a moment, and show them where the boat was.

Sometimes, indeed, the fog did vary in intensity. A current of wind
see