noon
it would be madness , would mean giving up all that he respected , and his own self-respect . He turned and walked quickly back towards the station . But memory of that poor , bewildered little figure , those anxious eyes searching the passers-by , smote him too hard again , and once more he turned towards the sea . The cap was no longer visible ; that little spot of colour had vanished in the stream of the noon promenaders . And impelled by the passion of longing , the dearth which comes on one when life seems to be whirling something out of reach , he hurried forward . She was nowhere to be seen ; for half an hour he looked for her ; then on the beach flung himself face downward in the sand . To find her again he knew he had only to go to the station and wait till she returned from her fruitless quest , to take her train home ; or to take train himself and go back to the farm , so that she found him there when she returned .