eir lives, just for no
good, that way. And so they had sat on their horses and watched in
terror, as well as they could through the torrents of rain. They had
seen in the distance Lucifer break from the young lady's control, and
swerve from the advancing sea. And then had come the great gust that
blew the rain and the sand in their faces and set their horses
dancing; and, when they could see again, all traces of horse and rider
had disappeared, and there lay nothing before them but the advancing
tide, though the island and its tower were still just visible through
the storm.

No amount of cross-examination could elicit any further information.
The girl's impulse seemed to have been quite sudden, and she had only
laughed back at the groom over her shoulder upon his earnest shout of
warning, though she had probably expected them to follow her. And as
there could be no doubt about the calamity which had ensued, and no
possible rescue even of the body, he had returned home at once to
bring the disastrous news.

Madeleine had been carried completely unconscious to her bed, but
presently Miss Sophia was summoned to her side as the girl showed
signs of returning animation, and Rupert was left alone.

He fell to pacing the room, lost in a labyrinth of complicated and
far-reaching reflections.

Beyond doubt he was shocked and distressed by the sudden and horrible
disaster; and yet as an undercurrent to these first natural thoughts,
there ran presently a distinct notion that he would have felt the
grievousness of it more keenly had Madeleine perished in that cruel
manner and her sister survived to bring the tale home.

The antagonism which his cousin, in all the insolence of her young
beauty and vigorous self-esteem, had shown for him had been mutual. He
had instinctively felt that she was an enemy, and more than that--a
danger to him. This danger was now removed from his path, and by no
intervention or even desire of his own.

The calamity which had struck the remaining sister into such
prostration would make her rich indeed; by anticipation one of the
great heiresses in England.

"Sorrow," thought Mr. Landale, and his lip curled disdainfully, "a
girl's sorrow, at least, is a passing thing. Wealth is an everlasting
benefit."

Madeleine was a desirable woman upon all counts, even pecuniary
considerations apart, or would be to one who had a heart to give--and
even if the heart was dead...?

Altogether the sum of his m