e dismay. A passing indisposition-no excuse could be more reasonable. Still, nothing of the kind had ever inter

and he kept repeating it-with an occasional "Nonsense

e first thing in the mornin

o, my

assured her jollily. "You heard him decli

an is breaking up." She touched her forehe

d Mrs. Pope, incredulous. "My dea

roprietor took over the presidency of the Court and he refused, upon pique, to be elected an ordinary member. Say what yo

ossell, who (it goes without saying) was councill

sible way you understand. I pointed out that the Lord Proprietor was, after all, the Lord Prop

iety to the sound, even as in earlier years, when a young married woman, she had taught it to substitute "agent" for "factor"). If, during the interval when her hus

man nature for Vigoureux to feel sore. As for the magistracy, he's not the man to value it one pin. It's the neglect;

Mrs. Fossell and he would not mind cutting out and surrendering their seats to Mr. Fossell and Mr. Rogers. In saying this she outrageously flattered the Vicar, with whom it was impossible to hold conversation in any tone below that of shouting. She meant that she was prepared to listen; and she knew that no flattery was too outrageous

pass it, Mr. Pope had an unconscious habit of saying, "Now dearest," when he desired her to trump; and another unconscious habit, when Mrs. Pope had the lead and he wanted trumps, of murmuring, "Your turn, darling." These two habits Mr. Rogers had noted; an

a moment he appeared to think that Mr. Rogers had gone mad;

Mr. Fossell's mouth at once grew rigid again-"I do not t

f former days-may well have warranted the Government in stationing a military officer here to keep some check on him. For instance, he shared all ordinary wrecks with the Lord High Admiral, but a wreck became

ncased in mittens, and the mittens decorat

floor of Mrs. Fossell's drawing-room trembled under her, and at the

Heav

was

pped their card

but felt the concussion, "if it weren't positively known to

e running in from the dining-room with a dish

r think no

e Vicar again to her husband. "And if it is not, I wish you would come to Selina, for she has dro

's hysterics c

and turning up its collar. "What you heard was a gun. There is a vessel in di

no sound," obje

htn't to. There has been a nasty bank of it to the south'ar

tern, brought it back, lit it, an

the door and stood, with lantern l

ys, mingling its whispers and soft murmurings with the hum of the distant tide-races. But while they wondered, Mr. Rogers's figure grew vague and amorphous i

. Rogers?" called a thin

gers, it is.

ounded suddenly quite close at hand, an

ogers give back in astonis

ket and loose trousers of yellow oilskin shone with the wet like a suit of mail. "All the way from Inniscaw I've come, in the gig. Peter Hicks and old Abe pulle

; but whe

ng Ashbran, had seen her in a lift of the fog-a powerful steamship with two funnels and a broad white band upon each. She hadn't struck when he saw her; but she was nosing into an infernal mess of rocks, and the l

mine haven't brought me warning.

possible-though you won't believe it-that your men started to find y

boatman," mused Mr. Rogers. "He

prietor. "Then it's more tha

. Good Lord! di

Mr. Fossel stepped

mehow." The Lord Proprietor nodded towards a framed engraving on the wall. "Yes, to be sure-and Lands

," Mr. Fossell suggested. "The tide sets tha

y to be led into open fields. I've struck across open fields, only to tumble against troughs, midden heaps, pig-styes. I walked straight up against

ever fetched acro

as your hat when we started, but fairly clear. We kept sight of the lamp o

miss it. Afterwards.... However, you'll step along with me to the Guard-house, Sir C?sar

y, my good sir,

t him, as he button

ans, though, searching for a wreck among the Off Islands on a

o depression-or the merest trifle. The drenched night air was warm: to Miss Gabriel, inhaling it in the passage by the drawing-room door, it seemed to be laden with the scents of summer, and Miss Gabriel had not lived all her life in Garland Town without learning the subtle aromas of the wind, to distinguish those that were harmless or beneficent from those that warned, those that

ws of the wreck had excited them, and they were offering to accompany Sir

uses stood side by side and contiguous, on a gentle rise at the foot of Garrison Hill,

he gentlemen returned. "It is impossible," she urged as an i

ecision, and from a decision Mis

e gentlemen may not return until goodness knows

sing their lanterns and tapping to right and left with their sticks, they found the hard causeway, and blundered along it toward

say, about a third of the length of the causeway-when suddenly the

that Mr. Rogers?

nising his coastguard. "I am coming-fast as I can

eck,

here i

ere was a gun fired, and Dick, here, thinks as he saw the lighthouse sen

ar

ook with the con

out," said Mr. Rogers.

nned and off, and the gig la

run,

Mrs. Pope, as the glare of th

iel assured her bravely. "We h