g
we were speaking of has been connected with one or two very disagreeable
episodes. Nevertheless, it was foolish of me. How long did you think of
staying there--that is," she added, with a faint smile, "providing that
you find it possible to prove your claim and take up possession?"

"Oh, just for a week or so," he answered lightly, "and as to regaining
possession of it," he went on, a slightly pugnacious instinct stirring
him, "I don't imagine that there'll be any difficulty about that."

"Really!" she murmured.

"Not that I want to make myself disagreeable," he continued, "but the
Tower is mine, right enough, even if I have let it remain unoccupied for
some time."

She let down the window--a task in which he hastened to assist her.
A rush of salt, cold air swept into the compartment. He sniffed it
eagerly.

"Wonderful!" he exclaimed.

She stretched out a long arm and pointed. Away in the distance, on the
summit of a line of pebbled shore, standing, as it seemed, sheer over
the sea, was a little black speck.

"That," she said, "is the Tower."

He changed his position and leaned out of the window.

"Well, it's a queer little place," he remarked. "It doesn't look worth
quarrelling over, does it?"

"And that," she went on, directing his attention to the hill, "is Mr.
Fentolin's home, St. David's Hall."

For several moments he made no remark at all. There was something
curiously impressive in that sudden sweep up from the sea-line; the
strange, miniature mountain standing in the middle of the marshes, with
its tree-crowned background; and the long, weather-beaten front of the
house turned bravely to the sea.

"I never saw anything like it," he declared. "Why, it's barely a quarter
of a mile from the sea, isn't it?"

"A little more than that. It is a strangely situated abode, isn't it?"

"Wonderful!" he agreed, with emphasis. "I must study the geological
formation of that hill," he continued, with interest. "Why, it looks
almost like an island now."

"That is because of the floods," she told him. "Even at high tide the
creeks never reach so far as the back there. All the water you see
stretching away inland is flood water--the result of the storm, I
suppose. This is where you get out," she concluded, rising to her feet.

She turned away with the slightest nod. A maid was already awaiting her
at the door of the compartment. Hamel was suddenly conscious of the fact
that he disliked her going immensely.