.'

'Ah, John,' said she, 'I have bad news; there is danger to-night for our
venture.'

'And d'ye tell o't! I dreamed there might be.'

'Yes,' she said hurriedly; 'and you must go at once round to where the
chaps are waiting, and tell them they will not be wanted till to-morrow
night at the same time. I go to burn the lugger off.'

'I will,' he said; and instantly went off through a gate, Lizzy
continuing her way.

On she tripped at a quickening pace till the lane turned into the
turnpike-road, which she crossed, and got into the track for Ringsworth.
Here she ascended the hill without the least hesitation, passed the
lonely hamlet of Holworth, and went down the vale on the other side.
Stockdale had never taken any extensive walks in this direction, but he
was aware that if she persisted in her course much longer she would draw
near to the coast, which was here between two and three miles distant
from Nether-Moynton; and as it had been about a quarter-past eleven
o'clock when they set out, her intention seemed to be to reach the shore
about midnight.

Lizzy soon ascended a small mound, which Stockdale at the same time
adroitly skirted on the left; and a dull monotonous roar burst upon his
ear. The hillock was about fifty yards from the top of the cliffs, and
by day it apparently commanded a full view of the bay. There was light
enough in the sky to show her disguised figure against it when she
reached the top, where she paused, and afterwards sat down. Stockdale,
not wishing on any account to alarm her at this moment, yet desirous of
being near her, sank upon his hands and knees, crept a little higher up,
and there stayed still.

The wind was chilly, the ground damp, and his position one in which he
did not care to remain long. However, before he had decided to leave it,
the young man heard voices behind him. What they signified he did not
know; but, fearing that Lizzy was in danger, he was about to run forward
and warn her that she might be seen, when she crept to the shelter of a
little bush which maintained a precarious existence in that exposed spot;
and her form was absorbed in its dark and stunted outline as if she had
become part of it. She had evidently heard the men as well as he. They
passed near him, talking in loud and careless tones, which could be heard
above the uninterrupted washings of the sea, and which suggested that
they were not engaged in any business at their own risk. This prove