from one to another, is to become in the long-run more widely circulated
than if it were openly proclaimed. I had a strong affection for my
circle of cousins, which widened as the circle round a stone cast into
water; but I knew I might as well try to arrest the eddying of such
waters as stop the spread of a story like Olivia's.

I had resolved, in the first access of my curiosity, to cross over to
Sark the next week, alone and independent of Captain Carey. Every Monday
the Queen of the Isles made her accustomed trip to the island, to convey
visitors there for the day.

I had not been on deck two minutes the following Monday when I saw my
patient step on after me. The last clew was in her fingers now, that was
evident.

CHAPTER THE THIRTY-SECOND.

OLIVIA GONE.

She did not see me at first; but her air was exultant and satisfied.
There was no face on board so elated and flushed. I kept out of her way
as long as I could without consigning myself to the black hole of the
cabin; but at last she caught sight of me, and came down to the
forecastle to claim me as an acquaintance.

"Ha! ha! Dr. Dobree!" she exclaimed; "so you are going to visit Sark
too?"

"Yes," I answered, more curtly than courteously.

"You are looking rather low," she said, triumphantly--"rather blue, I
might say. Is there any thing the matter with you? Your face is as long
as a fiddle. Perhaps it is the sea that makes you melancholy."

"Not at all," I answered, trying to speak briskly; "I am an old sailor.
Perhaps you will feel melancholy by-and-by."

Luckily for me, my prophecy was fulfilled shortly after, for the day was
rough enough to produce uncomfortable sensations in those who were not
old sailors like myself. My tormentor was prostrate to the last moment.

When we anchored at the entrance of the Creux, and the small boats came
out to carry us ashore, I managed easily to secure a place in the first,
and to lose sight of her in the bustle of landing. As soon as my feet
touched the shore I started off at my swiftest pace for the Havre
Gosselin.

But I had not far to go, for at Vaudin's Inn, which stands at the top of
the steep lane running from the Creux Harbor, I saw Tardif at the door.
Now and then he acted as guide when young Vaudin could not fill that
office, or had more parties than he could manage; and Tardif was now
waiting the arrival of the weekly stream of tourists. He came to me
instantly, and we sat down on a low sto