_ purely Smith after all. He must have had some good
blood in his veins! Oh, of course, of course, he was dreadfully
wicked, I know; but he was a fine fellow, and all these complications
would have been avoided. But, after all, it was Rupert's fault if
everything ended in tragedy ... there, there, we won't speak another
word about your brother; we must leave him to the Lord--and," added
Miss O'Donoghue, piously under her breath, "if it's not the devil, He
is playing with him, it's a poor kind of justice up there!--Alas, my
poor Sophia, such is life. One only sees things in their true light
when they're gone into the darkness of the past. And now we must make
the best of the present, which, I regret to find, seems disposed to be
peculiarly uncomfortable. But I have done what I could, and now I owe
it myself to wash my hands of you and look after my own soul.--I'll
take no more journeys, at any rate, except to lay my bones at
Bunratty; if I live to reach it alive."

CHAPTER XXXV

THE LIGHT REKINDLED

Look not upon the sky at eventide,
For that makes sorrowful the heart of man;
Look rather here into my heart,
And joyful shalt thou always be.

_Luteplayer's Song._

It was on the fifth day after Sir Adrian's return to his island home.
Outwardly the place was the same. A man had been engaged to attend to
the lighthouse duties, but he and his wife lived apart in their own
corner of the building and never intruded into the master's apartments
or into the turret-room which had been Captain Jack's.

From the moment that Sir Adrian, attended by Rene, had re-entered the
old rooms, the peel had resumed its wonted aspect. But the peace, the
serenity which belonged to it for so many years, had fled--fled, it
seemed to Sir Adrian, for ever. Still there was solitude and, in so
far, repose. It was something to have such a haven of refuge for his
bruised spirit.

The whole morning of this day had been spent in counting out and
securing, in separate lots, duly docketted and distinguished, a
portion of that unwieldy accumulation of wealth, the charge of which
he had accepted, against the time when it should be called for and
claimed by its depositors.

The task was by no means simple, and required all his attention; but
there is a blessing even in mere mechanical labour, that soothes the
torment of the mind. In the particular occupation upon which he had
been engaged there was, moreover, a hidden touc