nearly eleven o'clock before
A gorgeous moonlight is bathing the Jersey coast in sparkling silver . The tumbling billows come thundering in to the shining strand , and sending their hissing , seething , whirling waters , all shimmer and radiance , to the very feet of the groups of spectators . There are hundreds of people scattered here and there along the shingle , and among the groups a pale-faced young man in tweed travelling-suit has made his way to a point where he can command a view of all the passers-by . It is nearly eleven o'clock before they begin to break up and seek the broad corridors of the brilliantly-lighted hotel . A great military band of nearly forty pieces is playing superbly at intervals , and every now and then , as some stirring martial strains come thrilling through the air , a young girl in a group near at hand beats time with her pretty foot and seems to quiver with the influence of the soldier melodies . A tall , dark-eyed , dark-haired man bends devotedly over her , but he , too , seems to rise to his full height at times , and there is something in the carriage and mien that tells that soldier songs have thrilled his veins ere now . And this man the young traveller in gray watches as though his eyes were fascinated .