great was the wonder and wild were the conjectures among the people
of the valley on the subjects of Sybil's mysterious disappearance,
Lyon's sudden voyage, and Clement and Beatrix Pendleton's eccentric
conduct in following him.

Opinions were as various as characters.

Some came near the truth in expressing their belief that Sybil had been
rescued on the night of the flood, secreted for awhile in the
neighborhood, and then "spirited" away by her friends; that she was safe
in some foreign country, and that her husband and her two friends had
gone to join her.

Others whispered that Sybil had been drowned in the flood; that Lyon
Berners, finding himself a widower, had proposed for Beatrix Pendleton,
with whom he had always been in love, and that he had been accepted by
her; that they had been anxious to marry immediately; but ashamed to do
so, so soon after the tragic death of Sybil, and in her own
neighborhood; and so they had gone abroad to be united, and to spend the
first year of their wedded lives.

These and many other speculations were rife among the neighbors, and the
"Hallow Eve Mystery," deepened by recent events, formed the subject of
conversation of never-flagging interest, at every country fireside that
winter.

In the midst of all this, Miss Tabby Winterose lived her quiet, dull,
whimpering life at Black Hall, carefully keeping the house, waited on by
Aunt Mopsa, guarded by Joe, and solaced by little Cromartie, who had
been left in her care.

Dilly, Sybil's own maid, had been taken abroad by Miss Pendleton, which
fact gave additional scandal to the gossips.

"The impudence of her!" they said, "to take the late Mrs. Berners' very
maid, before even she had fairly married the widower."

All this, when it came to Miss Tabby's ears, made that faithful but
desponding soul whimper all the more.

Miss Tabby had but few recreations at Black Hall. Going to church every
Sunday in the old carryall, with little Cro' by her side and Joe on the
box, was her "most chiefest."

Then once a month or so, she went to take tea with her parents and
sister; or she walked over to spend an afternoon at the cottage occupied
by Robert Munson, who had married Rachel, the pretty daughter of that
Norfolk inn-keeper, who had been Lyon's and Sybil's host at the time of
their first flight.

And sometimes Miss Tabby had both these families up at Black Hall, to
pass a day with her.

But wherever Miss Tabby went, she always to