ug a third grave beside the two others on the
cliff, and after incredible labour and exertion, she laid Claude's body
to rest, and heaped the earth above it. When she had finished her task,
which she had performed with wild and feverish energy, she threw herself
upon the mound, and gave way to utter despair. How long she lay there
she did not know; but she was recalled to herself by the crying of her
child from the hut. Not for herself, but for the sake of the little life
which depended upon her, she must continue to live and be strong. She
pressed her baby to her breast, and with amazing fortitude and heroism,
set herself to face the task before her.

Then followed many weeks of agony. Through the long nights the wind
howled about her hut, and she imagined she heard the voices of the
demons of the island clamouring for her soul. With fiendish fury they
yelled and shrieked round her frail little shelter, and often she
fancied she could hear them trying to force an entrance. In the morning,
with her child wrapped close and warm at her breast, she would go out
and pace the cliff in all weathers, finding in the worst tumult of the
elements a relief from the terrors of the night. Madness seemed settling
down upon her, but the thought of her child bore her through it all, and
the iron will of the De Robervals stood her in good stead.

Her vitality was marvellous. Something of the nature of her warrior
ancestors seemed to have entered into her veins, and she was able to
endure hardships such as had caused many a hardy soldier to succumb. The
winter, which closed in upon her, bade fair to be no less severe than
the preceding one, and now she had no one to help her in her daily
tasks. With her own hands she had to break the bare branches, carry in
fire-logs, and even cut down trees.

Her efforts to obtain fish were unsuccessful, although the ice, which
occasionally formed about the shore, was soon broken up by the wind, and
the birds, which still hovered about their island haunts, seemed to have
no difficulty in procuring their food. Fortunately, the powder and
shot, which they had carefully husbanded, still held out, and she had a
sufficient supply to carry her through the winter. She was loth to
destroy the only living creatures left upon the island. The hares, which
leaped across her path, she had learned to love, and the warmly-clad
northern birds had become very dear companions to her in her loneliness.
But the terrible