On the next day we left Fulham for a quiet town on the south coast.  At that early season of the year we were the only visitors in the place.  The cliffs, the beach, and the walks inland were all in the solitary condition which was most welcome to us.  The air was mild—­the prospects over hill and wood and down were beautifully varied by the shifting April light and shade, and the restless sea leapt under our windows, as if it felt, like the land, the glow and freshness of spring.

I owed it to Marian to consult her before I spoke to Laura, and to be guided afterwards by her advice.

On the third day from our arrival I found a fit opportunity of speaking to her alone.  The moment we looked at one another, her quick instinct detected the thought in my mind before I could give it expression.  With her customary energy and directness she spoke at once, and spoke first.

“You are thinking of that subject which was mentioned between us on the evening of your return from Hampshire,” she said.  “I have been expecting you to allude to it for some time past.  There must be a change in our little household, Walter, we cannot go on much longer as we are now.  I see it as plainly as you do—­as plainly as Laura sees it, though she says nothing.  How strangely the old times in Cumberland seem to have come back!  You and I are together again, and the one subject of interest between us is Laura once more.  I could almost fancy that this room is the summer-house at Limmeridge, and that those waves beyond us are beating on our seashore.”

“I was guided by your advice in those past days,” I said, “and now, Marian, with reliance tenfold greater I will be guided by it again.”

She answered by pressing my hand.  I saw that she was deeply touched by my reference to the past.  We sat together near the window, and while I spoke and she listened, we looked at the glory of the sunlight shining on the majesty of the sea.

“Whatever comes of this confidence between us,” I said, “whether it ends happily or sorrowfully for me, Laura’s interests will still be the interests of my life.  When we leave this place, on whatever terms we leave it, my determination to wrest from Count Fosco the confession which I failed to obtain from his accomplice, goes back with me to London, as certainly as I go back myself.  Neither you nor I can tell how that man may turn on me, if I bring him to bay; we only know, by his own words and actions, that he is capable of striking at me through Laura, without a moment’s hesitation, or a moment’s remorse.  In our present position I have no claim on her which society sanctions, which the law allows, to strengthen me in resisting him, and in protecting her.  This places me at a serious disadvantage.  If I am to fight our cause with the Count, strong in the consciousness of Laura’s safety, I must fight it for my Wife.  Do you agree to that, Marian, so far?”