CHAPTER I - THE START

After the spring day they had enjoyed, the falling night brought back the impression of winter, and they returned to dine before their fire, which was flaming with new branches.  It was their last meal together; but they had some hours yet, and were not saddened.

After dinner, they recovered the sweet impression of spring again, out on the Pors-Even road; for the air was calm, almost genial, and the twilight still lingered over the land.

They went to see the family - for Yann to bid good-bye - and returned early, as they wished to rise with break of day.

The next morning the quay of Paimpol was crowded with people.  The departures for Iceland had begun the day before, and with each tide there was a fresh fleet off.  On this particular morning, fifteen vessels were to start with the Leopoldine, and the wives or mothers of the sailors were all present at the getting under sail.

Gaud, who was now the wife of an Icelander, was much surprised to find herself among them all, and brought thither for the same fateful purpose.  Her position seemed to have become so intensified within the last few days, that she had barely had time to realize things as they were; gliding irresistibly down an incline, she had arrived at this inexorable conclusion that she must bear up for the present, and do as the others did, who were accustomed to it.

She never before had been present at these farewells; hence all was new to her.  Among these women was none like her, and she felt her difference and isolation.  Her past life, as a lady, was still remembered, and caused her to be set aside as one apart.

The weather had remained fine on this parting-day; but out at sea a heavy swell came from the west, foretelling wind, and the sea, lying in wait for these new adventurers, burst its crests afar.

Around Gaud stood many good-looking wives like her, and touching, with their eyes big with tears; others were thoughtless and lively; these had no heart or were not in love.  Old women, threatened nearly by death, wept as they clung to their sons; sweethearts kissed each other; half-maudlin sailors sang to cheer themselves up, while others went on board with gloomy looks as to their execution.

Many sad incidents could be marked; there were poor luckless fellows who had signed their contracts unconsciously, when in liquor in the grog-shop, and they had to be dragged on board by force; their own wives helping the gendarmes.  Others, noted for their great strength, had been drugged in drink beforehand, and were carried like corpses on stretchers, and flung down in the forecastles.

Gaud was frightened by all this; what companions were these for her Yann? and what a fearful thing was this Iceland, to inspire men with such terror of it?

Yet there were sailors who smiled, and were happy; who, doubtless, like Yann, loved the untrammelled life and hard fishing work; those were the sound, able seamen, who had fine noble countenances; if they were unmarried they went off recklessly, merely casting a last look on the lasses; and if they were married, they kissed their wives and little ones, with fervent sadness and deep hopefulness as to returning home all the richer.

Gaud was a little comforted when she saw that all the Leopoldines were of the latter class, forming really a picked crew.

The vessels set off two by two, or four by four, drawn out by the tugs.  As soon as they moved the sailors raised their caps and, full-voiced, struck up the hymn to the Virgin:  “Salut, Etoile-de-la-Mer!” (All Hail!  Star of the Sea!), while on the quay, the women waved their hands for a last farewell, and tears fell upon the lace strings of the caps.

As soon as the Leopoldine started, Gaud quickly set off towards the house of the Gaoses.  After an hour and a half’s walk along the coast, through the familiar paths of Ploubazlanec, she arrived there, at the very land’s end, within the home of her new family.

The Leopoldine was to cast anchor off Pors-Even before starting definitely in the evening, so the married pair had made a last appointment here.  Yann came to land in the yawl, and stayed another three hours with her to bid her good-bye on firm land.  The weather was still beautiful and spring-like, and the sky serene.

They walked out on the high road arm-in-arm, and it reminded them of their walk the day before.  They strolled on towards Paimpol without any apparent object in view, and soon came to their own house, as if unconsciously drawn there; they entered together for the last time.  Grandam Moan was quite amazed at seeing them together again.

Yann left many injunctions with Gaud concerning several of his things in his wardrobe, especially about his fine wedding clothes; she was to take them out occasionally and air them in the sun, and so on.  On board ship the sailors learn all these household-like matters; but Gaud was amused to hear it.  Her husband might have been sure, though, that all his things would be kept and attended to, with loving care.

But all these matters were very secondary for them; they spoke of them only to have something to talk about, and to hide their real feelings.  They went on speaking in low, soft tones, as if fearing to frighten away the moments that remained, and so make time flit by more swiftly still.  Their conversation was as a thing that had inexorably to come to an end; and the most insignificant things that they said seemed, on this day, to become wondrous, mysterious, and important.

At the very last moment Yann caught up his wife in his arms, and without saying a word, they were enfolded in a long and silent embrace.

He embarked; the gray sails were unfurled and spread out to the light wind that rose from the west.  He, whom she still could distinguish, waved his cap in a particular way agreed on between them.  And with her figure outlined against the sea, she gazed for a long, long time upon her departing love.

That tiny, human-shaped speck, appearing black against the bluish gray of the waters, was still her husband, even though already it became vague and indefinable, lost in the distance, where persistent sight becomes baffled, and can see no longer.

As the Leopoldine faded out of vision, Gaud, as if drawn by a magnet, followed the pathway all along the cliffs till she had to stop, because the land came to an end; she sat down at the foot of a tall cross, which rises amidst the gorse and stones.  As it was rather an elevated spot, the sea, as seen from there, appeared to be rimmed, as in a bowl, and the Leopoldine, now a mere point, appeared sailing up the incline of that immense circle.  The water rose in great slow undulations, like the upheavals of a submarine combat going on somewhere beyond the horizon; but over the great space where Yann still was, all dwelt calm.

Gaud still gazed at the ship, trying to fix its image well in her brain, so that she might recognise it again from afar, when she returned to the same place to watch for its home-coming.

Great swells now rolled in from the west, one after another, without cessation, renewing their useless efforts, and ever breaking over the same rocks, foaming over the same places, to wash the same stones.  The stifled fury of the sea appeared strange, considering the absolute calmness of the air and sky; it was as if the bed of the sea were too full and would overflow and swallow up the strand.

The Leopoldine had grown smaller and smaller, and was lost in the distance.  Doubtless the under-tow carried her along, for she moved swiftly and yet the evening breezes were very faint.  Now she was only a tiny, gray touch, and would soon reach the extreme horizon of all visible things, and enter those infinite regions, whence darkness was beginning to come.

Going on seven o’clock, night closed, and the boat had disappeared.  Gaud returned home, feeling withal rather brave, notwithstanding the tears that uncontainably fell.  What a difference it would have been, and what still greater pain, if he had gone away, as in the two preceding years, without even a good-bye!  While now everything was softened and bettered between them.  He was really her own Yann, and she knew herself to be so truly loved, notwithstanding this separation, that, as she returned home alone, she felt at least consoled by the thought of the delightful waiting for that “soon again!” to be realized to which they had pledged themselves for the autumn.

CHAPTER II - THE FIRST OF THE FLEET

The summer passed sadly, being hot and uneventful.  She watched anxiously for the first yellowed leaves, and the first gathering of the swallows, and blooming of the chrysanthemums.  She wrote to Yann several times by the boats bound for Rykawyk, and by the government cruisers, but one never can be sure of such letters reaching their destination.

Towards the end of July, she received a letter from him, however.  He told her that his health was good, that the fishing season promised to be excellent, and that he already had 1500 fish for his share.  From beginning to end, it was written in the simple conventional way of all these Icelanders’ home letters.  Men educated like Yann completely ignore how to write the thousand things they think, feel, or fancy.  Being more cultivated than he, Gaud could understand this, and read between the lines that deep affection that was unexpressed.  Several times in the four-paged letter, he called her by the title of “wife,” as if happy in repeating the word.  And the address above:  “A Madame Marguerite Gaos, maison Moan, en Ploubazlanec” - she was “Madame Marguerite Gaos” since so short a time.

She worked hard during these summer months.  The ladies of Paimpol had, at first, hardly believed in her talent as an amateur dressmaker, saying her hands were too fine-ladyish; but they soon perceived that she excelled in making dresses that were very nice-fitting, so she had become almost a famous dressmaker.

She spent all her earnings in embellishing their home against his return.  The wardrobe and old-shelved beds were all done up afresh, waxed over, and bright new fastenings put on; she had put a pane of glass into their little window towards the sea, and hung up a pair of curtains; and she had bought a new counterpane for the winter, with new chairs and table.

She had kept the money untouched that her Yann had left her, carefully put by in a small Chinese box, to show him when he returned.  During the summer evenings, by the fading light, she sat out before the cottage door with Granny Moan, whose head was much better in the warm weather, and knitted a fine new blue wool jersey for her Yann; round the collar and cuffs were wonderful open-work embroideries.  Granny Yvonne had been a very clever knitter in her day, and now she taught all she knew to Gaud.  The work took a great deal of wool; for it had to be a large jersey to fit Yann.

But soon, especially in the evenings, the shortening of the days could be perceived.  Some plants, which had put forth all their blossoms in July, began to look yellow and dying, and the violet scabious by the wayside bloomed for the second time, smaller now, and longer-stalked; the last days of August drew nigh, and the first return-ship from Iceland hove in sight one evening at the cape of Pors-Even.  The feast of the returners began.

Every one pressed in a crowd on the cliff to welcome it.  Which one was it?

It was the Samuel-Azenide, always the first to return.

“Surely,” said Yann’s old father, “the Leopoldine won’t be long now; I know how ’tis out yonder:  when one of ’em begins to start homeward, the others can’t hang back in any peace.”

CHAPTER III - ALL BUT TWO

The Icelanders were all returning now.  Two ships came in the second day, four the next, and twelve during the following week.  And, all through the country, joy returned with them, and there was happiness for the wives and mothers; and junkets in the taverns where the beautiful barmaids of Paimpol served out drink to the fishers.

The Leopoldine was among the belated; there were yet another ten expected.  They would not be long now, and allowing a week’s delay so as not to be disappointed, Gaud waited in happy, passionate joy for Yann, keeping their home bright and tidy for his return.  When everything was in good order there was nothing left for her to do, and besides she could think of nothing else but her husband in her impatience.

Three more ships appeared; then another five.  There were only two lacking now.

“Come, come,” they said to her cheerily, “this year the Leopoldine and the Marie-Jeanne will be the last, to pick up all the brooms fallen overboard from the other craft.”

Gaud laughed also.  She was more animated and beautiful than ever, in her great joy of expectancy.

CHAPTER IV - STILL AT SEA

But the days succeeded one another without result.  She still dressed herself every day, and with a joyful look, went down to the harbour to gossip with the other wives.  She said that this delay was but natural; was it not the same event every year?  These were such safe boats, and had such capital sailors.

But when at home alone, at night, a nervous, anxious shiver of anguish would run through her whole frame.

Was it right to be frightened already?  Was there even a single reason to be so?  But she began to tremble at the mere idea of grounds for being afraid.

CHAPTER V - SHARING THE DREAD

The tenth of September came.  How swiftly the days flew by!

One morning, a true autumn morning, with cold mist falling over the earth, in the rising sun, she sat under the porch of the chapel of the shipwrecked mariners, where the widows go to pray, with eyes fixed and glassy, throbbing temples tightened as by an iron hand.

These sad morning mists had begun two days before, and on this particular day Gaud had awakened with a still more bitter uneasiness, caused by the forecast of advancing winter.  Why did this day, this hour, this very moment, seem to her more painful than the preceding?  Often ships are delayed a fortnight, even a month, for that matter.

But surely there was something different about this particular morning, for she had come to-day for the first time to sit in the porch of this chapel and read the names of the dead sailors, perished in their prime.

“In memory of GAOS, YVON, Lost at sea Near the Norden-Fjord.”

Like a great shudder, a gust of wind rose from the sea, and at the same time something fell like rain upon the roof above.  It was only the dead leaves though; many were blown in at the porch; the old wind-tossed trees of the graveyard were losing their foliage in this rising gale, and winter was marching nearer.

“Lost at sea, Near the Norden-Fjord, In the storm of the 4th and 5th of August, 1880.”

She read mechanically under the arch of the doorway; her eyes sought to pierce the distance over the sea.  That morning it was untraceable under the gray mist, and a dragging drapery of clouds overhung the horizon like a mourning veil.

Another gust of wind, and other leaves danced in in whirls.  A stronger gust still, as if the western storm that had strewn those dead over the sea, wished to deface the very inscriptions that remembered their names to the living.

Gaud looked with involuntary persistency at an empty space upon the wall that seemed to yawn expectant.  By a terrible impression she was pursued, the thought of a fresh slab which might soon, perhaps, be placed there, with another name which she did not even dare to think of in such a spot.

She felt cold, and remained seated on the granite bench, her head reclining against the stone wall.

. . . “near the Norden-Fjord, In the storm of the 4th and 5th of August, At the age of 23 years, Requiescat in pace!”

Then Iceland loomed up before her, with its little cemetery lighted up from below the sea-line by the midnight sun.  Suddenly in the same empty space on the wall, with horrifying clearness she saw the fresh slab she was thinking of; a clear white one, with a skull and cross-bones, and in a flash of foresight, a name - the worshipped name of “Yann Gaos!” Then she suddenly and fearfully drew herself up straight and stiff, with a hoarse, wild cry in her throat like a mad creature.

Outside the gray mist of the dawn fell over the land, and the dead leaves were again blown dancingly into the porch.

Steps on the footpath?  Somebody was coming?  She rose and quickly smoothed down her cap and composed her face.  Nearer drew the steps.  She assumed the air of one who might be there by chance; for, above all, she did not wish to appear yet, like the widow of a shipwrecked mariner.

It happened to be Fante Floury, the wife of the second mate of the Leopoldine.  She understood immediately what Gaud was doing there; it was useless to dissemble with her.  At first each woman stood speechless before the other.  They were angry and almost hated each other for having met with a like sentiment of apprehension.

“All the men of Treguier and Saint Brieuc have been back this week,” said Fante at last, in a pitiless, muffled, half-irritated voice.

She carried a blessed taper in her hand, to offer up a prayer.  Gaud did not wish yet to resort to that extreme resource of despairing wives.  Yet silently she entered the chapel behind Fante, and they knelt down together side by side, like two sisters.

To the “Star of the Sea” they offered ardent imploring prayers, with their whole soul in them.  A sound of sobbing was alone heard, as their rapid tears swiftly fell upon the floor.  They rose together, more confident and softened.  Fante held up Gaud, who staggered, and taking her in her arms, kissed her.

Wiping their eyes, and smoothing their dishevelled hair, they brushed off the salt dust from the flagstones, soiling their gowns, and they went away in opposite directions, without another word.

CHAPTER VI - ALL BUT ONE

This end of September was like another summer, only a little less lively.  The weather was so beautiful, that had it not been for the dead leaves that fell upon the roads, one might have thought that June had come back again.  Husbands and sweethearts had all returned, and everywhere was the joy of a second spring-time of love.

At last, one day, one of the missing ships was signalled.  Which one was it?

The groups of speechless and anxious women had rapidly formed on the cliff.  Gaud, pale and trembling, was there, by the side of her Yann’s father.

“I’m almost sure,” said the old fisher, “I’m almost sure it’s them!  A red rail and a topsail that clews up - it’s very like them anyhow.  What do you make it, Gaud?

“No, it isn’t,” he went on, with sudden discouragement; “we’ve made a mistake again, the boom isn’t the same, and ours has a jigger sail.  Well, well, it isn’t our boat this time, it’s only the Marie-Jeanne.  Never mind, my lass, surely they’ll not be long now.”

But day followed day, and night succeeded night, with uninterrupted serenity.

Gaud continued to dress every day like a poor crazed woman, always in fear of being taken for the widow of a shipwrecked sailor, feeling exasperated when others looked furtively and compassionately at her, and glancing aside so that she might not meet those glances that froze her very blood.

She had fallen into the habit of going in the early morning right to the end of the headland, on the high cliffs of Pors-Even, passing behind Yann’s old home, so as not to be seen by his mother or little sisters.  She went to the extreme point of the Ploubazlanec land, which is outlined in the shape of a reindeer’s horn upon the gray waters of the channel, and sat there all day long at the foot of the lonely cross, which rises high above the immense waste of the ocean.  There are many of these crosses hereabout; they are set up on the most advanced cliffs of the seabound land, as if to implore mercy and to calm that restless mysterious power that draws men away, never to give them back, and in preference retains the bravest and noblest.

Around this cross stretches the ever-green waste, strewn with short rushes.  At this great height the sea air was very pure; it scarcely retained the briny odour of the weeds, but was perfumed with all the exquisite ripeness of September flowers.

Far away, all the bays and inlets of the coast were firmly outlined, rising one above another; the land of Brittany terminated in ragged edges, which spread out far into the tranquil surface.

Near at hand the reefs were numerous, but out beyond nothing broke its polished mirror, from which arose a soft, caressing ripple, light and intensified from the depths of its many bays.  Its horizon seemed so calm, and its depths so soft!  The great blue sepulchre of many Gaoses hid its inscrutable mystery, while the breezes, faint as human breath, wafted to and fro the perfume of the stunted gorse, which had bloomed again in the lastest autumn sun.

At regular hours the sea retreated, and great spaces were left uncovered everywhere, as if the Channel was slowly drying up; then with the same lazy slowness, the waters rose again, and continued their everlasting coming and going, without any heed of the dead.

At the foot of the cross, Gaud remained, surrounded by these tranquil mysteries, gazing ever before her, until the night fell and she could see no more.

CHAPTER VII - THE MOURNER’S VISION

September had passed.  The sorrowing wife took scarcely any nourishment, and could no longer sleep.  She remained at home now, crouching low with her hands between her knees, her head thrown back and resting against the wall behind.  What was the good of getting up or going to bed now?  When she was thoroughly exhausted she threw herself, dressed, upon her bed.  Otherwise she remained in the same position, chilled and benumbed; in her quiescent state, only her teeth chattered with the cold; she had that continual impression of a band of iron round her brows; her cheeks looked wasted; her mouth was dry, with a feverish taste, and at times a painful hoarse cry rose from her throat, and was repeated in spasms, while her head beat backward against the granite wall.  Or else she called Yann by his name in a low, tender voice, as if he were quiet close to her, whispering words of love to her.

Sometimes she occupied her brain with thoughts of quite insignificant things; for instance, she amused herself by watching the shadow of the china Virgin lengthen slowly over the high woodwork of the bed, as the sun went down.  And then the agonized thoughts returned more horrible, and her wailing cry broke out again as she beat her head against the wall.

All the hours of the day passed, and all the hours of evening, and of night, and then the hours of the morning.  When she reckoned the time he ought to have been back, she was seized with a still greater terror; she wished to forget all dates and the very names of the days.

Usually there is some information concerning the wrecks off Iceland; those who return have seen the tragedy from afar, or else have found some wreckage or bodies, or have an indication to guess the rest.  But of the Leopoldine nothing had been seen, and nothing was known.  The Marie-Jeanne men, the last to have seen her, on the 2d of August, said that she was to have gone on fishing farther towards the north, and, beyond that, the secret was unfathomable.

Waiting, always waiting, and knowing nothing!  When would the time come when she need wait no longer?  She did not even know that; and, now, she almost wished that it might be soon.

Oh! if he were dead; let them at least have pity enough to tell her so!  Oh! to see her darling, as he was at this very moment, that is, what was left him!  If only the much-implored Virgin, or some other power, would do her the blessing to show her, by second-sight, her beloved! either living and working hard to return a rich man, or else as a corpse, surrendered by the sea, so that she might at least know a certainty.

Sometimes she was seized with the thought of a ship appearing suddenly upon the horizon; the Leopoldine hastening home.  Then she would suddenly make an irreflected movement to rise, and rush to look out at the ocean, to see whether it were true.

But she would fall back.  Alas! where was this Leopoldine now?  Where could she be?  Out afar, at that awful distance of Iceland, forsaken, crushed, and lost.

All ended by a never-fading vision appearing to her - an empty, sea-tossed wreck, slowly and gently rocked by the silent gray and rose-streaked sea; almost with soft mockery, in the midst of the vast calm of deadened waters.

CHAPTER VIII - THE FALSE ALARM

Two o’clock in the morning.

It was at night, especially, that she kept attentive to approaching footsteps; at the slightest rumour or unaccustomed noise her temples vibrated; by dint of being strained to outward things, they had become fearfully sensitive.

Two o’clock in the morning.  On this night as on others, with her hands clasped and her eyes wide open in the dark, she listened to the wind, sweeping in never-ending tumult over the heath.

Suddenly a man’s footsteps hurried along the path!  At this hour who would pass now?  She drew herself up, stirred to the very soul, her heart ceasing to beat.

Some one stopped before the door, and came up the small stone steps.

He! - O God! - he!  Some one had knocked - it could be no other than he!  She was up now, barefooted; she, so feeble for the last few days, had sprung up as nimbly as a kitten, with her arms outstretched to wind round her darling.  Of course the Leopoldine had arrived at night, and anchored in Pors-Even Bay, and he had rushed home; she arranged all this in her mind with the swiftness of lightning.  She tore the flesh off her fingers in her excitement to draw the bolt, which had stuck.

“Eh?”

She slowly moved backward, as if crushed, her head falling on her bosom.  Her beautiful insane dream was over.  She just could grasp that it was not her husband, her Yann, and that nothing of him, substantial or spiritual, had passed through the air; she felt plunged again into her deep abyss, to the lowest depths of her terrible despair.

Poor Fantec, for it was he, stammered many excuses, his wife was very ill, and their child was stifling in its cot, suddenly attacked with a malignant sore throat; so he had run over to beg for assistance on the road to fetch the doctor from Paimpol.

What did all this matter to her?  She had gone mad in her own distress, and could give no thoughts to the troubles of others.  Huddled on a bench, she remained before him with fixed, glazed eyes, like a dead woman’s; without listening to him or even answering at random or looking at him.  What to her was the speech the man was making?

He understood it all; and guessed why the door had been opened so quickly to him, and feeling pity for the pain he had unwittingly caused, he stammered out an excuse.

“Just so; he never had ought to have disturbed her - her in particular.”

“I!” ejaculated Gaud, quickly, “why should I not be disturbed particularly, Fantec?”

Life had suddenly come back to her; for she did not wish to appear in despair before others.  Besides, she pitied him now; she dressed to accompany him, and found the strength to go and see to his little child.

At four o’clock in the morning, when she returned to throw herself on the bed, sleep subdued her, for she was tired out.  But that moment of excessive joy had left an impression on her mind, which, in spite of all, was permanent; she awoke soon with a shudder, rising a little and partially recollecting - she knew not what.  News had come to her concerning her Yann.  In the midst of her confusion of ideas, she sought rapidly in her mind what it could be, but there was nothing save Fantec’s interruption.

For the second time she fell back into her terrible abyss, nothing changed in her morbid, hopeless waiting.

Yet in that short, hopeful moment she had felt him so near to her, that it was as if his spirit had floated over the sea unto her, what is called a foretoken (pressigne) in Breton land; and she listened still more attentively to the steps outside, trusting that some one might come to her to speak of him.

Just as the day broke Yann’s father entered.  He took off his cap, and pushed back his splendid white locks, which were in curls like Yann’s, and sat down by Gaud’s bedside.

His heart ached fully, too, for Yann, his tall, handsome Yann, was his first-born, his favourite and his pride; but he did not despair yet.  He comforted Gaud in his own blunt, affectionate way; to begin with, those who had last returned from Iceland spoke of the increasing dense fogs that might well have delayed the vessel; and then, too, an idea struck him; they might possibly have stopped at the distant Faroe Islands on their homeward course, whence letters were so long in travelling.  This had happened to him once forty years ago, and his own poor dead and gone mother had had a mass said for his soul.  The Leopoldine was such a good boat, next to new, and her crew were such able-bodied seamen.

Granny Moan stood by them shaking her head; the distress of her granddaughter had almost given her back her own strength and reason; she tidied up the place, glancing from time to time at the faded portrait of Sylvestre, which hung upon the granite wall with its anchor emblems and mourning-wreath of black bead-work.  Ever since the sea had robbed her of her own last offspring she believed no longer in safe returns; she only prayed through fear, bearing Heaven a grudge in the bottom of her heart.

But Gaud listened eagerly to these consoling reasonings; her large sunken eyes looked with deep tenderness out upon this old sire, who so much resembled her beloved one; merely to have him near her was like a hostage against death having taken the younger Gaos; and she felt reassured, nearer to her Yann.  Her tears fell softly and silently, and she repeated again her passionate prayers to the “Star of the Sea.”

A delay out at those islands to repair damages was a very likely event.  She rose and brushed her hair, and then dressed as if she might fairly expect him.  All then was not lost, if a seaman, his own father, did not yet despair.  And for a few days, she resumed looking out for him again.

Autumn at last arrived, a late autumn too, its gloomy evenings making all things appear dark in the old cottage, and all the land looked sombre, too.

The very daylight seemed crepuscular; immeasurable clouds, passing slowly overhead, darkened the whole country at broad noon.  The wind blew constantly with the sound of a great cathedral organ at a distance, but playing profane, despairing dirges; at other times the noise came close to the door, like the howling of wild beasts.

She had grown pale, aye, blanched, and bent more than ever, as if old age had already touched her with its featherless wing.  Often did she finger the wedding clothes of her Yann, folding and unfolding them again and again like some maniac, especially one of his blue woolen jerseys, which still had preserved his shape; when she threw it gently on the table, it fell with the shoulders and chest well defined; so she placed it by itself on a shelf of their wardrobe, and left it there, so that it might for ever rest unaltered.

Every night the cold mists sank upon the land, as she gazed over the depressing heath through her little window, and watched the paltry puffs of white smoke arise from the chimneys of other cottages scattered here and there on all sides.  There the husbands had returned, like wandering birds driven home by the frost.  Before their blazing hearths the evenings passed, cosy and warm; for the spring-time of love had begun again in this land of North Sea fishermen.

Still clinging to the thought of those islands where he might perhaps have lingered, she was buoyed up by a kind hope and expected him home any day.

CHAPTER IX - WEDDED TO THE SEA

But he never returned.  One August night, out off gloomy Iceland, mingled with the furious clamour of the sea, his wedding with the sea was performed.  It had been his nurse; it had rocked him in his babyhood, and had afterward made him big and strong; then, in his superb manhood, it had taken him back again for itself alone.  Profoundest mystery had surrounded this unhallowed union.  While it went on, dark curtains hung pall-like over it as if to conceal the ceremony, and the ghoul howled in an awful deafening voice to stifle his cries.  He, thinking of Gaud, his sole, darling wife, had battled with giant strength against this deathly rival, until he at last surrendered, with a deep death-cry like the roar of a dying bull, through a mouth already filled with water; and his arms were stretched apart and stiffened for ever.

All those he had invited in days of old were present at his wedding.  All except Sylvestre, who had gone to sleep in the enchanted gardens far, far away, at the other side of the earth.