the women!" and each time he repeated the words he sprang to his oars
and rowed as if for bare life.

The next day the same lovely weather continued, and the sea lay as
smooth as oil in the bright sunshine. An English lobster-cutter was in
the offing, with sails flapping against the mast, and the slack in the
taut rigging could be seen as the craft heaved lazily to and fro on the
gentle swell. Madeleine sat by the window; she did not care to go out.
Her eye followed the lobster-cutter, which she knew well: it was the
_Flying Fish_, Captain Crab, of Hull.

So Per must have been out with lobsters that morning: she wondered if he
had caught many. Perhaps he might have done himself harm by his efforts
of yesterday. She went out on to the slope, and looked down into the
harbour. Per's boat was there; it was quite likely he was not well.

Suddenly Madeleine made up her mind to run down and ask a man whom she
saw by the boat-houses, but half-way down the slope she met some one who
was coming upwards. She could not possibly have seen him sooner, because
he was below her at the steepest part of the hill, but now she
recognized him, and slackened her pace.

Per must also have seen her, although he was looking down, for at a few
paces from her he left the main path, and took one that was a little
lower. When therefore they were alongside each other, she was a little
above him. Per had a basket on his back, and Madeleine could see there
was seaweed in it.

Neither of them spoke, but both of them felt as if they were half
choking. When he had got a pace beyond her, she turned round and asked,