She heard the wild thin wind screeching across the ocean furrows, breathless in his race with death.

And then all seemed quiet, and she could see a grand form of a man, stiff-limbed and stark, the yellow hair all hanging down and the broad white throat turned up in death, floating solemnly through the deep green water, and seaweed, and ooze, far down below the angry waves.
She struggled hard against these dark thoughts; but it was no use.

They would come back, and all through the evening she sat by her fire, with eyes wide, and parted lips, staring at the embers and straining her hearing to catch the sound of some one coming to the door--some one bearing the welcome news that the good ship was sighted at last.

But no sound came, all through that weary evening, nor any message of comfort.
Lady Victoria sat with her, and Miss Skeat, pretending not to notice her distressed mood; and once or twice the Duke came in and spoke cheerfully of what they would do "when Claudius came back." But Margaret went to her room at last with a heavy heart, and would not be comforted.
To tell the truth, the Duke firmly expected to receive the news of the ship's arrival during the night, and so great was his anxiety to relieve Margaret that he insisted upon Willis and Vladimir sitting up all night, so as to be sure of having the message delivered the moment it arrived.
The Russian and the English servants hated each other, and he was certain they would not give each other any rest.

But the Duke slept soundly, and waking at daybreak yelled viciously for Willis.
"Well ?" he said, "I suppose you went to sleep.