w we have never met, and now we meet--here on
Snowdon--at the very llyn I was always so fond of.

'But tell me more, Winnie--tell me what occurred to you on the next
morning.'

'Well,' said she, 'I was always a sound sleeper, but my fatigue that
night made me sleep until quite late the next morning. I hurried up
and got breakfast ready for father and myself. I then went and rapped
at his door, but I got no answer. His room was empty.'

Winifred paused here as though she expected me to say something. A
thousand things occurred to me to ask, but until I knew more--until I
knew how much and how little she remembered of that dreadful time, I
dared ask her nothing--I dared make no remark at all. I said, 'Go on,
Winnie; pray do not break your story.'

'Well,' said she, 'I found that my father had not returned during the
night. I did not feel disturbed at that, his ways were so uncertain.
I did not even hurry over my breakfast, but dallied over it,
recalling the scenes of the previous night, and wondering what some
of them could mean. I then went down the gangway at Needle Point to
walk on the sands. I thought I might meet father coming from
Dullingham. I had to pass the landslip, where a great number of
Raxton people were gathered. They were looking at the frightful
relics of Raxton churchyard. They were too dreadful for me to look
at. I walked right to Dullingham without meeting my father. At
Dullingham I was told that he had not been there for some days. Then,
for the first time, I began to be haunted by fears, but they took no
distinct shape. When I returned to the landslip the people were still
there, and still very excited about it. In the afternoon I went again
on the sands, thinking that I might see my father and also that I
might see you. I walked about till dusk without seeing either of you,
and then I went back to the cottage. I had now become very anxious
about my father, and sat up all night. The next morning after
breakfast I went again on the sands. The number of people collected
round the landslip seemed greater than ever, and many of them, I
think, came from Graylingham, Rington, and Dullingham. They seemed
more excited than they had been on the previous day, and they did not
notice me as I joined them. I heard some one say in a cracked and
piping voice, "Well, it's my belief as Tom lays under that there
settlement. It's my belief that he wur standing on the edge of the
churchyard cliff, and when the clif