"Well, you told her wrong. D'you think I'm going to chuck away an hour of this day for a thousand mothers?" When they sauntered out into the night again at ten o'clock, the Haven had nearly gone to sleep and the rain was past. In the silence they heard the river rushing through the sluices to the sea; and then they set their faces homeward. But they had to pass the old store-house. It loomed a black, amorphous pile heaved up against the stars, and the man's footsteps dragged as he came to the gaping gates and silent court. He stopped and she stopped. His voice was gruff and queer and half-choked. "Come," he said, "I'm in hell, and you've got to turn it to heaven." She murmured something, but he put his arm round her and they vanished into the mass of silent darkness. It was past midnight when they parted at the door of Sabina's home and he gave her the cool kiss of afterwards. "Now we are one, body and soul, for ever," she whispered to him. "By God, yes," he said. CHAPTER XII CREDIT The mind of Raymond Ironsyde was now driven and tossed by winds of passion which, blowing against the tides of his own nature, created unrest and storm. A strain of chivalry belonged to him and at first this conquered. He felt the magnitude of Sabina's sacrifice and his obligation to a love so absolute. In this spirit he remained for a time, during which their relations were of the closest. They spoke of marriage; they even appointed the day on which the announcement of their betrothal should be made. And though he had gone thus far at her entreaty, always recognising when with her the reasonableness of her wish, after she was gone, the cross seas of his own character, created a different impression and swept the pattern of Sabina's will away. For a time the intrigue of meeting her, the planning and the plotting amused him. He imagined the world was blind and that none knew, or guessed, the truth. But Bridetown, having eyes as many and sharp as any other hamlet, had long been familiar with the facts. The transparent veil of their imagined secrecy was already rent, though the lovers did not guess it.