had missed it by hours. The spoil
was housed. It was buried in cottage gardens, and cabbages planted over
it. It was secreted among the thatch, where even the best trained
bird-nesting urchin would have missed it. It was stored away under more
than one hollow hearth-stone, on which a cheerful wood-fire was crackling
and blazing. When were the 'womenkind' in a wrecker's village at a loss
for expedients?

"But a discovery was made that afternoon, which, for the moment, made the
boisterous gentleman from Lloyd's falter in his denunciations, and hushed
the menaces of the indignant and well-dressed personage who protected the
revenue, and saddened the few hearts amongst us not entirely devoid of
feeling.

"On a little knoll--called in memory of an unfortunate suicide, 'The Mad
Maiden's Knoll,'--was found the body of a lady, youthful and fair, and by
her side that of a little infant, a few weeks old. The babe, carefully
swathed in countless warm wrappers, was lying in a rude cradle of
wicker-work; this was firmly fastened to the lady's waist, who, on her
part, had been securely lashed to a spar. 'Twas a piteous sight! But
one's sympathies were called into still more painful exercise when it was
found that the unfortunate lady's corpse had been rifled by some
unprincipled marauder; that both ears had been torn, and two of her
fingers had been crushed and broken in the attempt to plunder them of the
rings with which they had been laden. Nor was this all. Every part of her
dress had been carefully examined. Her stays had been ripped open, and a
packet, assumed to be of value, had apparently been taken thence. What
strengthened this surmise was the fact that a fragment of a purple
morocco note-case still adhered to her dress. This fragment bore the
words in gilt letters, 'Bank Notes;' below were the initials 'F.H.B.' The
sight drew forth general expressions of pity: but pity gave place to
indignation when the district surgeon joined the group, and after a
careful examination of the body, said slowly, 'I suspect--I more than
suspect--I am almost positive, that this lady reached the shore alive.
The winds and waves have not destroyed her. She has perished by the hand
of another. Look here,' and he pointed to a small dark rim round the
neck, 'this is the effect of strangulation; and my belief is that the
corpse before us is that of _a murdered woman_.'

"The coroner of the district was summoned, a jury empanneled, and the
simple