The Tragedy of the Chain Pier | Page 4

deep shadow, but I
could see every gesture of hers. I saw her raise her face to the darkling
skies, and I felt that some despairing prayer was on her lip, and the
reason why I could see her so plainly was this, that she stood just where
the rays of the lamps fell brightly.
It was a dramatic scene: the dark, heaving sea, with the fitful gleam of
the moonlight; the silent pier, with the one huge light; the tall, dark
figure standing there so motionless. Why did she look round with that
hurried stealthy glance, as though so desirous of being alone? Presently
she seemed to realize that she stood where the light fell brightest, and
she turned away. She walked to the side of the pier farthest from me,
where she stood opposite to the bright lights of the western pier. She
did not remain there long, but crossed again, and this time she chose
that part of the pier where I was sitting.
Far back in the deep shade in the corner she did not see me; she did not
suspect that any one was near. I saw her give a hasty look down the
pier, but her glance never fell on the corner where I sat. She went to the
railings--one or two of them were broken and had not been repaired; in
a more frequented place it might, perhaps, have been dangerous. She
did not seem to notice it. She stood for some minutes in silence; then I

heard again bitter weeping, passionate sobs, long-drawn sighs. I heard a
smothered cry of "Oh, Heaven; oh, Heaven have pity!" and then a
sickly gleam of light came from the sky, and by its light I saw that she
took the bundle from under her arm. I could not see what it was or what
it held, but she bent her head over it, she kissed it, sobbed over it with
passionate sobs, then raised it above the railings and let it fall slowly
into the water.
There was a slight splash; no other sound. As she raised the bundle I
saw distinctly that it was something wrapped in a gray and black shawl.
I swear before Heaven that no thought of wrong came to my mind; I
never dreamed of it. I had watched her first because the rare grace of
her tall figure and of her walk came to me as a surprise, then because
she was evidently in such bitter sorrow, then because she seemed so
desirous of being alone, but never did one thought cross my mind that
there was a shadow of blame--or wrong; I should have been far more
on the alert had I thought so. I was always of a dreamy, sentimental,
half-awake kind of mind; I thought of nothing more than a woman,
desperate, perhaps, with an unhappy love, throwing the love-letters and
presents of a faithless lover into the sea--nothing more. I repeat this
most emphatically, as I should not like any suspicion of indolence or
indifference to rest upon me.
A slight splash--not of anything heavy--no other sound; no cry, no
word--a moment's pause in the running of the waves, then they went on
again as gayly as ever, washing the wooden pillars, and wreathing them
with fresh seaweed. The tall figure, with the head bent over the rail,
might have been a statue for all the life or stir there was within her.
Quite a quarter of an hour passed, and she did not stir. I began to
wonder if she were dead; her head was bent the whole time, watching
the waves as they ran hurrying past. Then the lady moon relented, and
showed her fair face again; a flood of silver fell over the sea--each
wave seemed to catch some of it, and break with a thousand ripples of
light--the white cliffs caught it--it fell on the old pier, and the tall black
figure stood out in bold relief against the moonlit sky.

I was almost startled when she turned round, and I saw her face quite
plainly. The same light that revealed her pretty little face and figure,
threw a deeper shade over me. She looked anxiously up and down, yet
by a singular fatality never looked at the corner of the wooden building
where I sat. I have often wondered since that I did not cry out when I
saw that face--so wonderfully beautiful, but so marble white, so sad, so
intent, so earnest, the beautiful eyes wild with pain, the beautiful mouth
quivering. I can see it now, and I shall see it until I die.
There was a low, broad brow, and golden-brown hair clustered on
it--hair that was like a crown; the face was oval-shaped, exquisitely
beautiful, with a short