er
visit to the Mermaid's Cave, and of the wonderful echoes which the
sailor's voice had called forth. It had started to rain slightly, and
the light fitful wind was capping the waves with froth, but the tide was
coming in. Julien, therefore, proposed that they should go to the cave,
and he would see if he could rouse the echoes as Jack had done. It
would be better than standing in the rain and watching for Jack. No
thought of the incoming tide troubled them.

Crouched behind the rocks, unseen by the children, knelt the
ex-gardener, Thomas. He listened, with a pleased smile, to the
conversation, which showed him his chance had come. The prize he had
waited for so patiently was almost his: the little girl was walking into
the best trap he could have laid for her. Only a boy was there to defend
her. If only Jack remained away, the boy could be got rid of. No more
hiding in holes and corners. No more intimate acquaintance with
starvation.

Unconscious of any danger, Julien was making Estelle laugh at his witty
sallies as he helped her over the rocks on their watery road to the
ravine. They sobered down as they entered the high, gloomy caverns, and
were glad to get on to the broad daylight of the Cave of the Silver
Sand. Julien would have gone no further. The darkness and stillness
overawed him, impressing him with a sense of danger and misgiving. But
Estelle was greatly excited.

'I know just where Jack keeps some candles,' she exclaimed, eagerly,
'and I always put one or two bits in my pockets. Here they are, and some
matches. Do come on to the Mermaid's Cave, Julien! We have managed to
get through the Rift before.'

The boy agreed to anything she proposed, but his heart sank within him
in a strange, unaccountable manner. Still, he made no remonstrance, and
bravely concealed his fears.

Lighting a candle, Estelle scrambled on to a narrow ledge on one side of
the Rift, and, with much laughter and fun, she managed, with Julien's
help, to creep along without falling off till they reached the Mermaid s
Cave. Julien got more wet than he liked, for the pool was deep and the
ledge too narrow to help him as it did the much smaller Estelle. He had
not time, however, to think of his soaked condition, for Estelle was
running about, placing her candles here and there, and calling upon him
to admire the beauties of the cave. She insisted on standing exactly
where Jack had stood when he sang to her, and the boy, with a laugh,
to