time the place had been much neglected. No resident clergyman had
lived there, and though a curate had come from the Parish Church at
North Ditton to take Sunday services, no attempt had been made to get
hold of the rough fisher folk in the district. It had been uphill
work, and with very little assistance or encouragement, for Mr.
Sutton, the rector, was old and in delicate health, and quite unable
to take any active part; indeed, for many years he had never visited
Skelwick or the neighbouring hamlets.

"Everything worth having here is owing to Dad," thought Gwen. "I
don't know how he'd ever bear to leave it."

She could not contemplate the idea of the smoky Vicarage at
Rawtenbeck. Though she sometimes dreamt of how she would go out into
the world and do things when she grew up, she had always imagined the
Parsonage as a place that would still be there for her to come home to
whenever she wished, even from the wilds of Canada. She loved every
inch of the dear little house, and every clump of flowers in the
garden was like a friend.

"As far as homes and houses go I'm a rank old Conservative. I hate
being uprooted," said Gwen to herself.

She felt so unsettled she could not go back at present. Her
preparation must wait, and she would take a walk higher up on the wold
to try and recover her equanimity. The fresher air of the headland
always calmed her when she was annoyed or irritable.

For some time she strolled on rather aimlessly among the heather and
the gorse bushes, watching the birds or the grasshoppers, and sitting
down every now and then to drink in a fuller enjoyment of the scene.
She was quite alone, and to-day at any rate Gwen loved solitude.
No--after all she had not the moor entirely to herself. Over a ridge
of bracken loomed a funny little black figure, which seemed to be
moving in her direction. As it came nearer she could make out that it
was a little old gentleman, very small and thin and wizened, with a
face as yellow as parchment, and a long, hooked nose, and eyes set in
a mass of wrinkles. His clothes did not fit him particularly well,
and were ill cut, and his hat was decidedly shabby. He walked along
peering through his glasses as if he were shortsighted, and
occasionally even feeling his way with a cane which he carried. When
he saw Gwen he hastened towards her with an appearance of relief.

"I'm so glad to find somebody in this wild place," he began, in a
funny little cracked voice that m