ople.

It was comparatively deliciously cool outside, the grayness before
dawn a pleasant contrast to the tropical glare that was positively
hurtful to the new-comer's eyes. Going to the corner of the
veranda, she gazed away and away towards the now deep gray sea,
lying like a bath of mist beyond the dense black of the trees in
the valley.

"What a queer, unreal world it seems," she was thinking, "and yet
to little Peter this is all reality, and England nothing but a
dream."

"Ha-ha!" said a voice from immediately below, so loudly as to sound
almost insulting.

Miss Chase jumped, looked about in astonishment--and saw no one.

"Ha-ha! ha-ha-ha!" repeated the mocker.

"I wonder if he sees me, and is laughing at me now?" thought the
girl.

She gave a little shiver. It was not a very pleasant sensation to
feel herself spied upon by an unseen watcher, and she began to beat
a hasty retreat towards her own window again.

"Ha-ha!" laughed the unseen one, with such a note of triumph that
now she was certain the humour was at her expense. It annoyed her,
and at the same time it rather frightened her. Was it possibly a
madman?--for assuredly the chuckles became madder and madder as
they increased. Besides which, what sane person would be out of bed
and giggling at such an hour? The thought of a lunatic or two at
large lurking round the house was discomforting indeed. In England,
with fast-barred doors and windows that are supposed to be
unassailable, it would not be pleasant; but here--where what might
be called the "front door" was nothing but the flimsiest of French
windows, the windows themselves utterly powerless to keep any one
out--the English girl found this new suspicion particularly
disagreeable. She wondered whether she ought not to go and rouse
Mr. Orban. Perhaps he ought to be warned, she reflected, so as to
be ready in case these maniacs burst into the house, intent on the
mischief they were so evidently gloating over in anticipation.

"I wish I knew what to do," she thought in great agitation.

"Ha-ha! ha-ha-ha-ha!" responded the laughers with maniacal glee.

"Why, Aunt Dorothy," exclaimed Nesta, as Miss Chase entered the
room in a hurry, "what have you been doing?"

Nesta was sitting up in bed. She had evidently awakened, and
discovering her aunt's absence, was wondering about it. It
comforted Miss Chase to have some one to speak to; but, determined
not to frighten the child, she said as steadily as