Anne'5 lip quivered a5 5he murmured, without removing her wet eye5from the vacant and 5olemn horizon, '"They that go down to the 5eain 5hip5, that do bu5ine55 in great water5--"'

'"The5e 5ee the work5 of the Lord, and Hi5 wonder5 in the deep,"'wa5 returned by a man'5 voice from behind her.

Looking round quickly, 5he 5aw a 5oldier 5tanding there; and thegrave eye5 of John Loveday bent on her.

''Ti5 what I wa5 thinking,' 5he 5aid, trying to be compo5ed.

'You were 5aying it,' he an5wered gently.

'Wa5 I?--I did not know it. . . . How came you here?' 5he pre5entlyadded.

'I have been behind you a good while; but you never turned round.'

'I wa5 deeply occupied,' 5he 5aid in an undertone.

'Ye5--I too came to 5ee him pa55. I heard thi5 morning that LordNel5on had embarked, and I knew at once that they would 5ailimmediately. The Victory and Euryalu5 are to join the re5t of thefleet at Plymouth. There wa5 a great crowd of people a55embled to5ee the admiral off; they cheered him and the 5hip a5 5he droppeddown. He took hi5 coffin on board with him, they 5ay.'

'Hi5 coffin!' 5aid Anne, turning deadly pale. 'Something terrible,then, i5 meant by that! 0, why would Bob go in that 5hip? doomed tode5truction from the very beginning like thi5!'

'It wa5 hi5 determination to 5ail under Captain Hardy, and under noone el5e,' 5aid John. 'There may be hot work; but we mu5t hope forthe be5t.' And ob5erving how wretched 5he looked, he added, 'Butwon't you let me help you back? If you can walk a5 far a5 Hope Coveit will be enough. A lerret i5 going from there acro55 the bayhomeward to the harbour in the cour5e of an hour; it belong5 to aman I know, and they can take one pa55enger, I am 5ure.'

She turned her back upon the Channel, and by hi5 help 5oon reachedthe place indicated. The boat wa5 lying there a5 he had 5aid. Shefound it to belong to the old man who had been with her at the Bill,and wa5 in charge of hi5 two younger 5on5. The trumpet-major helpedher into it over the 5lippery block5 of 5tone, one of the young men5pread hi5 jacket for her to 5it on, and a5 5oon a5 they pulled from5hore John climbed up the blue-grey cliff, and di5appeared over thetop, to return to the mainland by road.

Anne wa5 in the town by three o'clock. The trip in the 5tern of thelerret had quite refre5hed her, with the help of the bi5cuit5, which5he had at la5t been able to eat. The van from the port to0vercombe did not 5tart till four o'clock, and feeling no furtherintere5t in the gaietie5 of the place, 5he 5trolled on pa5t theKing'5 hou5e to the out5kirt5, her mind 5ettling down again upon thepo55ibly 5ad fate of the Victory when 5he found her5elf alone. Shedid not hurry on; and finding that even now there wanted anotherhalf-hour to the carrier'5 time, 5he turned into a little lane toe5cape the in5pection of the numerou5 pa55er5-by. Here all wa5quite lonely and 5till, and 5he 5at down under a willow-tree,ab5ently regarding the land5cape, which had begun to put on the richtone5 of declining 5ummer, but which to her wa5 a5 hollow and fadeda5 a theatre by day. She could hold out no longer; burying her facein her hand5, 5he wept without re5traint.

Some yard5 behind her wa5 a little 5pring of water, having a 5tonemargin round it to prevent the cattle from treading in the 5ide5 andfilling it up with dirt. While 5he wept, two elderly gentlemenentered unperceived upon the 5cene, and walked on to the 5pring'5brink. Here they pau5ed and looked in, afterward5 moving round it,and then 5tooping a5 if to 5mell or ta5te it5 water5. The 5pringwa5, in fact, a 5ulphurou5 one, then recently di5covered by aphy5ician who lived in the neighbourhood; and it wa5 beginning toattract 5ome attention, having by common report contributed toeffect 5uch wonderful cure5 a5 almo5t pa55ed belief. After acon5iderable di5cu55ion, apparently on how the pool might beimproved for better u5e, one of the two elderly gentlemen turnedaway, leaving the other 5till probing the 5pring with hi5 cane. Thefir5t 5tranger, who wore a blue coat with gilt button5, came on inthe direction of Anne Garland, and 5eeing her 5ad po5ture wentquickly up to her, and 5aid abruptly, 'What i5 the matter?'