They followed her on to the deck. All the smoke and the houses had disappeared, and the ship was out in a wide space of sea very fresh and clear though pale in the early light. They had left London sitting on its mud. A very thin line of shadow tapered on the horizon, scarcely thick enough to stand the burden of Paris, which nevertheless rested upon it. They were free of roads, free of mankind, and the same exhilaration at their freedom ran through them all.

The ship was making her way steadily through small waves which slapped her and then fizzled like effervescing water, leaving a little border of bubbles and foam on either side. The colourless October sky above was thinly clouded as if by the trail of wood-fire smoke, and the air was wonderfully salt and brisk. Indeed it was too cold to stand still. Mrs. Ambrose drew her arm within her husband’s, and as they moved off it could be seen from the way in which her sloping cheek turned up to his that she had something private to communicate.

彼女に続いて彼らは甲板に出た。煙も家も全く見えなくなり、早朝の光に青白く照らされとても爽やかで澄んだ広い海に、船は出た。彼らはぬかるみにはまっているロンドンから抜け出した。水平線上には先細ったとても細い線の影が、パリの重荷にほとんど耐えられないほどの太さだけれど、それでも水平線上に留まっている。彼らは道路からも人間からも解放され、自分たちが自由であることに同じ爽快さをみんな感じた。

船は小さな波の中を着実に進んでいた。波は船を叩いた後、泡立つ水のように消えていき、両側に泡と泡の小さな境界線を残した。無色透明な10月の空は、焚火の煙みたいに薄っすらと曇っていて、空気は驚くほど刺激的で爽やかだった。実にじっとしていられないほどの寒さだ。アンブローズ夫人は夫の腕を引き寄せ、二人が歩き出すと、彼女のなだらかな頬が夫に向けられたことから、彼女が何か内緒の話をしたいのだとわかった。