I was a blundering idiot.

Of course, what I heard last night was just some echo, some trick of wind or of the river and tide.

I was half asleep and imagined the whole thing most likely, magnified sounds as one does, don't you know, sometimes at night.

Your father talked wonderfully, and I went to bed dazzled, such imagination as I possess all aflame"-- But Damaris shook her head, while her elbow rested rigid upon the palm of his hand.
"No--what you heard was real," she answered.

"I heard once myself--and the people here know about it.