the grey twilight gives to the long, pale stretches of sand the sense of something strangely unreal. as far as the eye can reach, it curves out into the mist, the last vanishing garments, as it were, of some fleeing ghost. the sea comes, smoothly, quite silently, over the breast of it; there is a trembling whisper as it catches the highest stretch of sand and drags it for a moment down the slope, then, with a little sigh, creeps back again a defeated lover.

the sky is grey, with an orange light hovering on its outer edges, the last signal of the setting sun. a very faint mist is creeping gradually over the sea, so faint that the silver circle of the rising moon shines quite clearly through the shadows; but it changes the pale yellow of the ghostly sand into a dark grey land without form and void, seeming for a moment to be one with sea and sky, and then rising again, out of obscurity, into definite substance.

there is silence here in the creek, save for the rustling and whisper of the sea, but round the bend of the rocks the noises of the town come full upon the ear.

the town is built up from the sand on the side of the hill, and rises, tier upon tier, until it finds its pinnacle in the church tower and the roofs of the “man at arms.”

now, in the dusk, the lights shine, row upon row, out over the sand. from the market comes the sound of a fair—harsh, discordant tunes softened by the distance.

the church clock strikes eight, and a bell rings stridently somewhere in the depths of the town.

there is a distant rumble, a roar, a flash of light, and a train glides into the station.

but the sea pays no heed, and, round the bend of the creek, the sand gleams white beneath the moon, and the mist rises from the heart of the waves.