of her ear and the nape of her white neck, he
suddenly became aware of the presence of a lady still further ahead in
the aisle, whose attire, though of black materials in the quietest form,
was of a cut which rather suggested London than this Ultima Thule. For
the minute he forgot, in his curiosity, that Avice intervened. The
lady turned her head somewhat, and, though she was veiled with unusual
thickness for the season, he seemed to recognize Nichola Pine-Avon in
the form.

Why should Mrs. Pine-Avon be there? Pierston asked himself, if it
should, indeed, be she.

The end of the service saw his attention again concentrated on Avice to
such a degree that at the critical moment of moving out he forgot the
mysterious lady in front of her, and found that she had left the church
by the side-door. Supposing it to have been Mrs. Pine-Avon, she
would probably be discovered staying at one of the hotels at the
watering-place over the bay, and to have come along the Pebble-bank
to the island as so many did, for an evening drive. For the present,
however, the explanation was not forthcoming; and he did not seek it.

When he emerged from the church the great placid eye of the lighthouse
at the Beal Point was open, and he moved thitherward a few steps to
escape Nichola, or her double, and the rest of the congregation.
Turning at length, he hastened homeward along the now deserted trackway,
intending to overtake the revitalized Avice. But he could see nothing of
her, and concluded that she had walked too fast for him. Arrived at his
own gate he paused a moment, and perceived that Avice's little freehold
was still in darkness. She had not come.

He retraced his steps, but could not find her, the only persons on the
road being a man and his wife, as he knew them to be though he could not
see them, from the words of the man--

'If you had not a'ready married me, you'd cut my acquaintance! That's a
pretty thing for a wife to say!'

The remark struck his ear unpleasantly, and by-and-by he went back
again. Avice's cottage was now lighted: she must have come round by the
other road. Satisfied that she was safely domiciled for the night he
opened the gate of Sylvania Castle and retired to his room also.

* * *

Eastward from the grounds the cliffs were rugged and the view of the
opposite coast picturesque in the extreme. A little door from the lawn
gave him immediate access to the rocks and s