ife of a vagabond for my own
good pleasure. I am one of Northmour's oldest friends; and three nights
ago, when I addressed him on these links, he stabbed me in the shoulder
with a knife."

"It was you!" she said.

"Why he did so," I continued, disregarding the interruption, "is more
than I can guess, and more than I care to know. I have not many friends,
nor am I very susceptible to friendship; but no man shall drive me from
a place by terror. I had camped in Graden Sea-Wood ere he came; I camp
in it still. If you think I mean harm to you or yours, madam, the remedy
is in your hand. Tell him that my camp is in the Hemlock Den, and
to-night he can stab me in safety while I sleep."

With this I doffed my cap to her, and scrambled up once more among the
sand-hills. I do not know why, but I felt a prodigious sense of
injustice, and felt like a hero and a martyr; while, as a matter of
fact, I had not a word to say in my defence, nor so much as one
plausible reason to offer for my conduct. I had stayed at Graden out of
a curiosity natural enough, but undignified; and though there was
another motive growing in along with the first, it was not one which, at
that period, I could have properly explained to the lady of my heart.

Certainly, that night, I thought of no one else; and, though her whole
conduct and position seemed suspicious, I could not find it in my heart
to entertain a doubt of her integrity. I could have staked my life that
she was clear of blame, and, though all was dark at the present, that
the explanation of the mystery would show her part in these events to be
both right and needful. It was true, let me cudgel my imagination as I
pleased, that I could invent no theory of her relations to Northmour;
but I felt none the less sure of my conclusion because it was founded on
instinct in place of reason, and, as I may say, went to sleep that night
with the thought of her under my pillow.

Next day she came out about the same hour alone, and, as soon as the
sand-hills concealed her from the pavilion, drew nearer to the edge, and
called me by name in guarded tones. I was astonished to observe that she
was deadly pale, and seemingly under the influence of strong emotion.

"Mr. Cassilis!" she cried; "Mr. Cassilis!"

I appeared at once, and leaped down upon the beach. A remarkable air of
relief overspread her countenance as soon as she saw me.

"Oh!" she cried, with a hoarse sound, like one whose bosom has been