l he had obtained my liberty."

* * * * *

Walking slowly in the winter sunshine, the one talking volubly, the
other intently listening, the odd pair had reached a rising knoll in
the park where, under the shelter of a cluster of firs, stood a row of
carved stone seats that had once been sedillas in the dismantled
Priory Church.

From this secluded spot could be obtained the most superb view of the
whole country-side. At the end of the green, gently-sloping stretch of
pasture-land, which extended, broken only by irregular clusters of
trees, down to the low cliffs forming the boundary of the strand, lay
the wide expanse of brown sand, with its streamlets and salt pools
scintillating under the morning sun.

Further in the western horizon, a crescent of deep blue sea, sharply
defined under a lighter blue sky and fringed landwards with a
straggling border of foam, advanced slowly to the daily conquest of
the golden bay. In the midst of that frame the eye was irresistibly
drawn, as to the chief object in the picture, to the distant rock of
Scarthey--a green patch, with the jagged red outline of the ruins
clear cut against the sky.

Since this point of view in the park had been made known to her, on
the first day when she was piloted through the grounds, Molly had more
than once found her way to the sedillas, yielding to the fascination
of the mysterious island, and in order to indulge in the fancies
suggested by its ever-changing aspect.

At the fall of day the red glow of the sinking sun would glint through
the dismantled windows; and against the flaming sky the ruins would
stand out black and grim, suggesting nought but abandonment and
desolation until suddenly, as the gloom gathered upon the bay, the
light of the lamp springing to the beacon tower, would reverse the
impression and bring to mind a picture of faithful and patient
watching.

When the sun was still in the ascendant, the island would be green and
fresh to the gaze, evoking no dismal impression; and as the rays
glanced back from the two or three glazed windows, and from the roofed
beacon-tower, the little estate wore a look of solid security and
privacy in spite of its crumbling walls, which was almost as
tantalising to her romantic curiosity.

It was with ulterior motives, therefore, that she had again wended her
way to the knoll this sunny, breezy morning. She now sat down and let
her eyes wander over the wide panoram