narrow path that led upward to the head of the bank, she
followed the course of a little stream whose pure water was now turned
into icy crystals. As she gained the level height the wind blew her hair
about her pale and beautiful face. She drew her hood over her head and
turned inland. To the south the giant fells of Arran, shrouded in snow,
stood out white and distinct against a steel-blue sky, with the wan moon
above them. But the ground that Aasta trod was bare and hard, and the
drifted snow lay only in the deeper hollows crisp as ice. She crossed
the Great Plain beside the Seat of Law, until she came to the wooded
shores of Loch Ascog. She observed that the ruffled water of the little
lake was of a deep blue, and she thought of the weird belief of that
time which held that those waters claimed once every year a new victim,
and that they only assumed that dark-blue colour in token of a coming death.

She looked upon Ascog Mere with a superstitious dread, for the people of
Bute believed that it was a place of punishment for unhappy spirits, who
might often be heard wailing in the dismal morass about its margin. She
heard such a wailing even now, though perhaps it was but the whistling
of the wintry wind among the frozen reeds, or the tinkling of the ice
that was gathering in a film at the water's verge.

Hastening her steps, she sought the shelter of the tall fir trees, and
made her way to the southern point of the lake that she might reach the
western shores of the island, and so take a fisher's boat across to
Gigha by the same easy course that Kenric had taken with her three
months before. The journey must now be taken alone, for she meant that
the vengeful work she contemplated should be secret, and that Earl
Kenric should be rid of his dangerous enemy without knowing by whom or
by what means Roderic had been slain.

Scarcely had Aasta emerged from among the trees and crossed towards the
lake when she heard the beating of footsteps upon the hard ground. She
stood still and listened. Nearer and nearer the footsteps advanced, and
presently at the top of a bald knoll in front of her there appeared the
tall figure of a man. He was covered by a seaman's great cloak, which he
held partly over his face to shield him from the cutting wind. He came
rapidly towards her, and when they were but a few paces apart he drew
back his cloak, revealing his long red beard.

"Roderic of Gigha!" cried Aasta recoiling a step and feeli