hind the others, with Mr. Brown by her side. They, too,
walked along in unbroken silence. His eyes were steadily fixed upon the
ground, hers were wandering idly across the sparkling blue sea with its
foam-crested furrows to the horizon. Whatever her thoughts were, they
had changed her expression for the time; to a certain extent its late
definiteness was gone, and a dreamy, refined abstraction had taken its
place.

"If I had to die," she said, half to herself, "I would choose to die on
such a day as this."

He raised his dark eyes and looked at her.

"Why?"

"I scarcely know," she said hesitatingly. "And yet, in my own mind, I
do. It is so beautiful! It seems to give one a sense of peace and
hope--I cannot explain it. It is the sort of thing one feels, and feels
only."

He looked down again.

"I know what you mean. You would fear annihilation less?"

"Annihilation! Is that your creed?"

"Sometimes, if it were not for scenes like this, I might believe it
possible," he answered slowly. "As it is, I do not! The exquisite beauty
of the earth denies it! I pin my faith to a great analogy. The natural
world is a reflex of the spiritual, and in the natural world there is no
annihilation. Nothing can ever die. Nor can our souls ever die."

She looked at him keenly. The dreamy speculation had gone from her eyes.
The fire of her former purpose had returned.

"It is well to feel like that. You would rather be Sir Geoffrey
Kynaston, then, than his murderer, even now?"

He raised his hand quickly to his forehead, as though in pain. It was
gone in an instant, but she had been watching.

"Yes, I would," he answered fervently. "Sir Geoffrey was a wicked man,
but he may have repented. He had his opportunities."

"How do you know that he was wicked?" she asked quickly.

"I heard of him abroad--many years ago. Will you excuse me, Miss
Thurwell. I must hurry on and open the door for them."

He walked swiftly on, leaving her alone. When they reached their
destination, he was there waiting for them.

It was a strangely situated and strangely built abode. A long low
building of deep yellow stone, half hidden by various creepers, and
inaccessible on the side from which they approached it save to foot
passengers. From the bottom of the winding path which they had to climb
it seemed to hang almost sheer over the cliff side. A thickly growing
patch of stunted pine trees rising abruptly in the background literally
overtopped th