able, sobbed like a little child.

"What is to be done?" I asked, in a horrified whisper.

"Go down to the rocks and search for them," said the Sicilian officer,
"but I doubt if we shall be able to find them; the sea is very deep off
this point."

We went! Kitwater's body we discovered, terribly mutilated upon the
rocks. Hayle's remains were never found. Whether he fell into the deep
water and was washed out to sea, or whether his body was jammed between
the rocks under the water, no one would ever be able to say. It was
gone, and with it all that were left of the stones that had occasioned
their misery.

Codd did not accompany us in the search, and when we returned to the
villa above he was not to be found. Never since the moment when we left
him sobbing at the table have I set eyes on him, and now, I suppose, in
all human probability I never shall.

Later on we returned to Palermo to break the news to Miss Kitwater.
Shocked though she was, she received the tidings with greater calmness
than I had expected she would do. Perhaps, after all, she felt that it
was better that it should have ended so.

* * * * *

Three years have elapsed since we paid that terrible visit to Palermo.
It may surprise you, or it may not, when I say that I am now a married
man, Margaret Kitwater having consented to become my wife two years ago
next month. The only stipulation she made when she gave her decision was
that upon my marriage I should retire from the profession in which I had
so long been engaged. As I had done sufficiently well at it to warrant
such a step, I consented to do so, and now I lead the life of a country
gentleman. It may interest some people to know that a certain day-dream,
once thought so improbable, has come true, inasmuch as a considerable
portion of my time is spent in the little conservatory which, as I have
said elsewhere, leads out of the drawing-room. I usually wear a soft
felt hat upon my head, and as often as not I have a pipe in my mouth.
Every now and then Margaret, my wife, looks in upon me, and occasionally
she can be persuaded to bring a young Fairfax with her, who, some people
say, resembles his father. For my own part I prefer that he should be
like his mother--whom, very naturally, I consider the best and sweetest
woman in the world.

~THE END~

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