ith a painful smile, Martin leaned over to me and whispered"

"Hush! I want to! I must!" though what he meant by that I never knew.

He continued to look at me with a tender expression until we said
good-bye; but after the carriage door had been closed and the engine had
throbbed, and the guard had whistled, I thought I had never seen his
strong face so stern as when the train moved from the platform.

FIFTY-SIXTH CHAPTER

We reached Ellan towards the close of the following day. It was the
height of the holiday season, and the island seemed to be ablaze with
lights.

Two motor-cars were waiting for us at the pier, and in a little while we
were driving out of Blackwater through congested masses of people who
were rambling aimlessly through the principal streets.

Our way was across a stone bridge that crossed the harbour at its inner
end, and then up a hill that led to a headland overlooking the sea.
Within half an hour we drew up at a pair of large gate posts which were
much decayed and leaning heavily out of the perpendicular.

The chauffeur of the first of our ears got down to open the gate, and
after it had clashed to behind us, we began to ascend a very steep drive
that was bordered by tall elm trees. It was now almost dark, and the
rooks, which had not yet gone off to the mountains, were making their
evening clamour.

"Well, my dear, you're at home at last, and much good may it do you,"
said my husband.

I made no answer to this ungracious speech, but Alma was all excitement.

"So this is Castle Raa! What a fascinating old place!" she said, and as
we drove through the park she reached out of the car to catch a first
glimpse of the broad terraces and winding ways to the sea which had been
reflected in her memory since she was a child.

I felt no such anxiety. Never did a young bride approach the home of her
husband with less curiosity, but as our motor-car toiled up the drive I
could not help seeing the neglected condition of the land, with boughs
of trees lying where they had fallen in the storms, as well as broken
gates half off their hinges and swinging to the wind.

The house itself, when we came in sight of it, was a large castellated
building with many lesser turrets and one lofty octagonal tower, covered
entirely with ivy, which, being apparently unshorn for years, hung in
long trailers down the walls, and gave the whole pile the appearance of
a huge moss-covered rock of the sea planted o