lling upon its
stomach, with bristling hair and protruding tongue, it lay shivering and
trembling, a very embodiment of canine terror.

"You see," I said, "it is no use contending against those who have
powers at their command to which we cannot even give a name. There is
nothing for it but to accept the inevitable, and to hope that these poor
men may meet with some compensation in another world for all that they
have suffered in this."

"And be free from all devilish religions and their murderous
worshippers!" Mordaunt cried furiously.

Justice compelled me to acknowledge in my own heart that the murderous
spirit had been set on foot by the Christian before it was taken up by
the Buddhists, but I forbore to remark upon it, for fear of irritating
my companion.

For a long time I could not draw him away from the scene of his father's
death, but at last, by repeated arguments and reasonings, I succeeded in
making him realise how useless and unprofitable any further efforts on
our part must necessarily prove, and in inducing him to return with me
to Cloomber.

Oh, the wearisome, tedious journey! It had seemed long enough when we
had some slight flicker of hope, or at least of expectation, before us,
but now that our worst fears were fulfilled it appeared interminable.

We picked up our peasant guide at the outskirts of the marsh, and having
restored his dog we let him find his own way home, without telling him
anything of the results of our expedition. We ourselves plodded all
day over the moors with heavy feet and heavier hearts until we saw the
ill-omened tower of Cloomber, and at last, as the sun was setting, found
ourselves once more beneath its roof.

There is no need for me to enter into further details, nor to describe
the grief which our tidings conveyed to mother and to daughter. Their
long expectation of some calamity was not sufficient to prepare them for
the terrible reality.

For weeks my poor Gabriel hovered between life and death, and though
she came round al last, thanks to the nursing of my sister and the
professional skill of Dr. John Easterling, she has never to this day
entirely recovered her former vigour. Mordaunt, too, suffered much
for some time, and it was only after our removal to Edinburgh that he
rallied from the shock which he had undergone.

As to poor Mrs. Heatherstone, neither medical attention nor change of
air can ever have a permanent effect upon her. Slowly and surely, but
ve