of trees and plants."

The ladies seated themselves by the sleeping child, trying to think what
it was best for them to do. There was no time for delay; it would soon
be dark, and the little group of three appeared to be the only living
human beings in the place, wherever that place might be. While they were
talking together, they had turned their backs to the sea and were
looking toward the sunset, and watching the varied rays of light which
here and there penetrated through the forest on the hill before them.

"I did not hear your name, Mrs. Carleton, on board the ship I sailed in
from England," said Anna.

"I did not come from England," she answered. "My parents settled in the
colony of Virginia long ago. I was born there, that is my home. My
husband as well as myself, had many relatives in England, and we were
going to visit them, and intended to have our child baptized there, that
its name might be registered among those of its forefathers. Sometime
after we sailed, we fell in with buccaneers; but our ship, the Sir
Walter Raleigh, was a fast sailor, and we got away from them; yet I was
told when the hurricane came on, that they were the cause of our being
out of our course, hence our calamity."

"We met the same destiny," said Anna, and then she told in a few words
whence she had sailed, and that her name was Vyvyan.

The hill in front of the ladies, rose too high for them to see the
actual setting of the sun, but the rich glow of gold and crimson now lit
up the whole forest, and defined the outline of the rising ground.

"What is that I see?" said Mrs. Carleton, shading her eyes with her
hands.

"'Tall pines' I think," answered Anna.

"No, it is a tower; look, Miss Vyvyan, in that direction, see on the
hill; it is a stone tower; look, now the light has changed; there are
windows, many of them, see on the right the building extends a great
way, it is very large."

Anna looked through the wood where Mrs. Carleton directed, and saw
distinctly in the rosy light of the sunset, an immense stone building,
with a massive tower capable of containing many rooms, and rising to the
height of two hundred feet. With the exception of the tower, the
building was very irregular, and gave the impression of having been
erected at different periods. It combined the characteristics of a
feudal castle and a fortress. It was old and gray, but by no means a
ruin, yet it had a gloomy and forbidding appearance. The ladies looked