“The Englishman was in favour of plunging through it, but I restrained him; flight was impossible, on account of the deep pools that we had had to pick our way round as we came, and into which we should fall on the way back.
“We felt a sudden pang of mortal agony. Then the little English girl managed to smile and murmured:
“ ‘We’re shipwrecked now.’
“I wanted to laugh; but I was paralysed with fear, a frightful cowardly fear, as vile and treacherous as this advancing sea. In one moment of insight I saw all the dangers we were running. I wanted madly to cry: ‘Help!’ But who was there to hear me?
“The two smaller English girls huddled against their father, who was looking in consternation at the vast stretch of water round us.
“And night was falling, as swiftly as the sea was swelling, a heavy damp icy night.
“ ‘There’s nothing for it but staying on the boat,’ I said.
“ ‘Oh, yes,’ the Englishman answered.
“We stayed up there a quarter of an hour, half an hour, I really don’t know how long, watching the yellow water that deepened all round us, and swirled and seemed to boil and leap for joy over the wide recaptured shore.
“One of the little girls was cold, and we conceived the idea of going below to shelter from the small but icy wind that blew lightly in our faces and pricked our skin.
“I leaned over the hold. The ship was full of water, so we were forced to crouch against the aft bulwark, which afforded us a little shelter.
“Now the shadows of night were falling round us, and we pressed close together, surrounded by the darkness and the waters. I felt the English girl’s shoulder trembling against my shoulder; her teeth chattered a little; but I felt too the gentle warmth of her body through her clothes, and this warmth thrilled me like a caress. We did not talk now; we stayed there motionless, mute, crouching as beasts in a ditch crouch against a storm.
“And yet, in spite of everything, in spite of the night, in spite of the terrible and growing damp, I began to feel glad to be there, glad of cold and danger, glad to be spending long hours of darkness and terror on this narrow hulk, close to this pretty and adorable young girl.
“I wondered why I was filled with so strange a sense of well-being and joy.
“Why? Who knows? Because she was there? And who was she? An unknown little English girl. I did not love her, I did not know her, and a passion of pity for her filled me, overwhelmed me. I longed to save her, to devote myself to her, to commit a thousand follies. A strange thing! How is it that the nearness of a woman bowls us over like this? Is it her grace that enslaves and enfolds us? The seductive charm of youth and beauty mounting to our heads like wine?
“Isn’t it rather a fugitive touch of love, this mysterious love that never ceases to drive human beings into each other’s arms, that tries its power the moment a man and a woman meet, piercing their hearts with a vague and deep and secret emotion, as the earth is given water that it may bear flowers?
“But the silence of the night and the sky grew terrifying, for we heard surging faintly round us the gentle swishing of wide waters, the hollow murmur of the rising sea, and the monotonous lapping of the tide against the boat.
“Suddenly I heard sobs. The smallest of the English girls was crying. Then the father tried to comfort her, and they began to talk in their own tongue, which I did not understand. I guessed that he was reassuring her, and that she was still afraid.
“ ‘You are not too cold?’ I asked my neighbour.
“ ‘Oh, I’m dreadfully cold.’
“I wanted to give her my cloak; she declined it, but I had taken it off. I wrapped it round her in spite of her protests. In the brief struggle, I touched her hand and a marvellous thrill ran through my whole body.
“For some little time the air had been growing sharper and the water surging with more violence against the sides of the boat. I stood up; a great gust of wind blew in my face. The wind was rising.
“The Englishman noticed it at the same moment, and said simply:
“ ‘This is bad for us, this is.’
“It was bad indeed: it was certain death if a swell, even a light swell, got up to batter and shake the boat, already so broken and knocked about that the first fair-sized wave would carry it away in fragments.
“Our misery increased every moment as the gusts of wind grew more and more violent. The waves were breaking a little now, and through the shadows I saw white lines, lines of foam, rise and vanish, while each surge struck the hulk of the Marie-Joseph and sent through her a brief shudder that communicated itself to us.
“The English girl was trembling; I felt her shivering against me, and I felt a wild desire to seize her in my arms.
“In the distance, ahead of us, to left and right of us, and behind us, the lamps of lighthouses shone out down the coasts, white lights, yellow lights, red lights, revolving lights, like enormous eyes, like giant eyes watching us, spying on us, waiting hungrily to see us disappear. I found one of them particularly maddening. It went out and flashed on again every third second; it really was an eye, with an ever-winking eyelid dropping over its fiery glance.
“Every now and then the
