o took her up to her own attic and
helped her to get into bed, for the girl shivered with cold one
minute and was in a fever the next. Perrin, meanwhile, went off to
Les Casquets to tell her people that she was safe; and he gave Jean
the story of the evening, for fear he should hear it from
strangers. When he came back to the cottage, Mrs. Corbet was in the
kitchen.

"She's asleep at last! But she's cried till I thought she would die.
I asked her how it was she made herself in such a state; and then
she told me all the tale. Silly girl! the very way to upset any man,
and still more, Le Mierre, to show how ugly she is now before all
them people. And, besides, it was all like play acting, to my mind!"

"Oh, no, not like that, mother!"

"Wait a bit, wait a bit, till you hears all! It seems, she told me,
that she planned she'd do this, there's weeks ago, while Le Mierre
was yet to Jersey, and she had heard he was making love to girls
there."

"But why?"

"Well, listen! She's a strange creature, not like others! It's _my_
belief she comes from those fairies that built _Les Casquets_. You
remember Perrin?"

"No, tell me."

"Well, once my great-grandfather was on the beach to Portelet, and
he saw, a long, long way off a big ship. It came nearer and nearer,
and it was so big that great-grandfather expected to see it smashed
on hidden rocks. But, lo and behold, the ship got smaller and at
last, bah, it looked like the toy of a child, and it ran in on the
sand, close to great-grandfather. Out of the boat stepped a little
chap, and would you believe it, the boat was turned into the
blade-bone of a sheep, all tangled in sea-weed."

"Quick, what happened?"

"Have patience, my son, and don't hurry an old woman. Well,
great-grandfather asked the little chap where he was going and what
was his name. And all he would say was "_Je vais cheminant_." But
he stopped to Guernsey after all and he married a girl from near
here--and it was him built _Les Casquets_. There! _that's_ where she
gets her queer ways, Ellenor!"

"And now tell me about her plan."

"Well, it seems she thought, foolish girl, she'd find out, for sure,
if Le Mierre really loves her or only her looks. And she couldn't
think of no better way than this mad one. She can't know much of men
and their ways, her!"

"It's the best thing that could have happened, if only it makes her
see Le Mierre in his true colours."

"Well, we must hope for the best. And, look