"No, Hugh, my boy, you must be told. It is my duty to tell you. But not to-night. I have gone through enough to-day," and he sighed. I thought of that terrible scene on the moor, of my father's wild words and passionate action, and I asked him no questions. But when I left him for the night and went to bed, there was in my heart a strong sense of some approaching trouble. I tossed about from side to side in my bed till sleep became hopeless. Then I rose, and, hastily putting on my clothes, slipped out of the house. Even outside I found it warm and oppressive. The sky was black with clouds, and without the moon's softening light the sea looked sullen and uninviting. The air seemed heavy, and, even when I stood on the headland after half-an-hour's climbing, there was no cool breeze to reward me, and, though I had thought myself hard and in good condition, the perspiration came streaming from every pore in my body, and I found myself panting for breath. I stood upright, and tried to look around me, but everything was wrapped in a thick pall of darkness. I had never known so dark a night, and, after standing there for a moment or two, I grew afraid to move lest I should make a false step. To the right of me I could hear the wind moaning amongst the pine-trees of Allercombe Wood, which the slightest breeze, when in a certain direction, always seemed to cause, and, many hundred feet below, there was the roar of the sea, unusually loud for such a quiet night, as it swept round the sharp corners of the headland.