t there was one haunting memory that
had dwelt with him throughout, his child and her lover were to learn--one
memory, and that dreadful recurring illusion of the guillotine.

"When Black Venn slips his apron, I shall be in a position to consider
your suit."

Surely that was an odd and enigmatical condition, entirely remote from
the subject at issue? Yet from the moment of the first impassioned
pleadings of the stricken George, De Jussac had insisted upon it as one
from which there should be no appeal.

Now the Black Venn referred to was a great mound of lias that rolled up
and inland, in the far sweep of the bay, from the giddy margin of the
lower ruin of cliffs. These--mere compressed mountains of mud, blown by
the winds and battered by the sea--were in a constant state of yawn and
collapse. Yard by yard they yielded to the scourge of Time, and
landslides were of common occurrence.

All along the middle slope of Black Venn itself, a wide, deep fissure,
dark and impenetrable, had stretched from ages unrecorded. But the
eventual opening-out of this crevasse, and the consequent subsidence of
the incline, or apron, below it, had been foretold by Mr. De Jussac; and
this, in fact, was the condition to which he had alluded.

III

"Mr. De Jussac! do you hear me?"

"I am coming, my friend."

The light shining steadily through a front window of the cottage
flickered and shifted. The young man in the rain and storm outside danced
with impatience.

Suddenly the door opened, and Plancine's father stood there, candle in
hand.

"What is it, my George?"

"The hill, sir--the hill! It's fallen! You were right. You must stand by
your word. Black Venn has slipped his apron!"

"My God, no!"

There were despair and exultation in his voice.

"My God, no!" he whispered again, and dived into a cupboard under the
stair.

Thence he reappeared with a horn lantern and his old blue cloak.

"Come, then!" he cried. "My hour is upon me!"

"Mr. De Jussac, it will wait till the morning."

"No, no, no! Do you trifle with your destiny? It has happened
opportunely, while all are within doors and we have a clear field. How do
you know? have you seen? Is it possible to descend to it from above?"

"I passed there less than an hour ago. It is possible, I am sure."

They set off hurriedly through the rain-beaten night. Not a word passed
between them as they left the village and struck into the high-valley
road that ran past,