Alice B Toklas knows the answer

I picked up a book to read last night from the bookshelf. I had not read this work of fiction in probably two decades. I wondered if it was as good as I remembered. Of course books read for assignment are never as good as books read for pleasure, that, my friends, is a scientific fact.

I have some sharp readers. This is also a scientific fact. Just how literary are you? Here is the final paragraph of chapter one of the tome I mentioned. The passage is what I remember most about this book, since I wrote a paper on the symbolism one time. Can you ID the book and author?

I decided to call to him. Miss Baker had mentioned him at dinner, and that would do for an introduction. But I did not call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone -- he stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him,I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily, I glanced seaward -- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been at the end of a dock. When I looked once more...he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness.

There you have it, an example of some mighty fine writing. As I move through chapter two and its subsequent pages, I will let you know if the book stands up to its reputation.

Show me your literary chops, what is this book? Come on you can do it, I left you several clues.