The Lair of the White Worm.............................................................................................................................1

Adam Salton sauntered into the Empire Club, Sydney, and found awaiting him a letter from his granduncle.

He had first heard from the old gentleman less than a year before, when Richard Salton had claimed kinship,

stating that he had been unable to write earlier, as he had found it very difficult to trace his grandnephew's

address. Adam was delighted and replied cordially; he had often heard his father speak of the older branch of

the family with whom his people had long lost touch. Some interesting correspondence had ensued. Adam

eagerly opened the letter which had only just arrived, and conveyed a cordial invitation to stop with his

"Indeed," Richard Salton went on, "I am in hopes that you will make your permanent home here. You see,

my dear boy, you and I are all that remain of our race, and it is but fitting that you should succeed me when

the time comes. In this year of grace, 1860, I am close on eighty years of age, and though we have been a

longlived race, the span of life cannot be prolonged beyond reasonable bounds. I am prepared to like you,

and to make your home with me as happy as you could wish. So do come at once on receipt of this, and find

the welcome I am waiting to give you. I send, in case such may make matters easy for you, a banker's draft

for 200 pounds. Come soon, so that we may both of us enjoy many happy days together. If you are able to

give me the pleasure of seeing you, send me as soon as you can a letter telling me when to expect you. Then

when you arrive at Plymouth or Southampton or whatever port you are bound for, wait on board, and I will

Old Mr. Salton was delighted when Adam's reply arrived and sent a groom hotfoot to his crony, Sir

Nathaniel de Salis, to inform him that his grandnephew was due at Southampton on the twelfth of June.

Mr. Salton gave instructions to have ready a carriage early on the important day, to start for Stafford, where

he would catch the 11.40 a.m. train. He would stay that night with his grandnephew, either on the ship,

which would be a new experience for him, or, if his guest should prefer it, at a hotel. In either case they

would start in the early morning for home. He had given instructions to his bailiff to send the postillion

carriage on to Southampton, to be ready for their journey home, and to arrange for relays of his own horses to

be sent on at once. He intended that his grandnephew, who had been all his life in Australia, should see

something of rural England on the drive. He had plenty of young horses of his own breeding and breaking,

and could depend on a journey memorable to the young man. The luggage would be sent on by rail to

Stafford, where one of his carts would meet it. Mr. Salton, during the journey to Southampton, often

wondered if his grandnephew was as much excited as he was at the idea of meeting so near a relation for the

first time; and it was with an effort that he controlled himself. The endless railway lines and switches round

As the train drew up on the dockside, he was getting his hand traps together, when the carriage door was

"How are you, uncle? I recognised you from the photo you sent me! I wanted to meet you as soon as I could,

but everything is so strange to me that I didn't quite know what to do. However, here I am. I am glad to see

you, sir. I have been dreaming of this happiness for thousands of miles; now I find that the reality beats all the

dreaming!" As he spoke the old man and the young one were heartily wringing each other's hands.

The meeting so auspiciously begun proceeded well. Adam, seeing that the old man was interested in the

novelty of the ship, suggested that he should stay the night on board, and that he would himself be ready to

start at any hour and go anywhere that the other suggested. This affectionate willingness to fall in with his

own plans quite won the old man's heart. He warmly accepted the invitation, and at once they became not

only on terms of affectionate relationship, but almost like old friends. The heart of the old man, which had

been empty for so long, found a new delight. The young man found, on landing in the old country, a welcome

and a surrounding in full harmony with all his dreams throughout his wanderings and solitude, and the

promise of a fresh and adventurous life. It was not long before the old man accepted him to full relationship

by calling him by his Christian name. After a long talk on affairs of interest, they retired to the cabin, which

the elder was to share. Richard Salton put his hands affectionately on the boy's shouldersthough Adam was

in his twentyseventh year, he was a boy, and always would be, to his granduncle.

"I am so glad to find you as you are, my dear boyjust such a young man as I had always hoped for as a son,

in the days when I still had such hopes. However, that is all past. But thank God there is a new life to begin

for both of us. To you must be the larger part but there is still time for some of it to be shared in common. I

have waited till we should have seen each other to enter upon the subject; for I thought it better not to tie up

your young life to my old one till we should have sufficient personal knowledge to justify such a venture.

Now I can, so far as I am concerned, enter into it freely, since from the moment my eyes rested on you I saw

"Thank you, Adam, for that." The old, man's eyes filled and his voice trembled. Then, after a long silence

between them, he went on: "When I heard you were coming I made my will. It was well that your interests

should be protected from that moment on. Here is the deedkeep it, Adam. All I have shall belong to you;

and if love and good wishes, or the memory of them, can make life sweeter, yours shall be a happy one. Now,

my dear boy, let us turn in. We start early in the morning and have a long drive before us. I hope you don't

mind driving? I was going to have the old travelling carriage in which my grandfather, your

greatgranduncle, went to Court when William IV. was king. It is all rightthey built well in those

daysand it has been kept in perfect order. But I think I have done better: I have sent the carriage in which I

travel myself. The horses are of my own breeding, and relays of them shall take us all the way. I hope you

"I love them, sir, and I am happy to say I have many of my own. My father gave me a horse farm for myself

when I was eighteen. I devoted myself to it, and it has gone on. Before I came away, my steward gave me a

"Just fancy what a delight it will be, sir, to see so much of Englandand with you!"

"Thank you again, my boy. I will tell you all about your future home and its surroundings as we go. We shall

travel in oldfashioned state, I tell you. My grandfather always drove fourinhand; and so shall we."

"Whenever you choose, Adam. The team is your own. Every horse we use today is to be your own."

"Not at all. Only an old man's selfish pleasure. It is not every day that an heir to the old home comes back.

Andoh, by the way. . . No, we had better turn in nowI shall tell you the rest in the morning."

Mr. Salton had all his life been an early riser, and necessarily an early waker. But early as he woke on the

next morningand although there was an excuse for not prolonging sleep in the constant whirr and rattle of

the "donkey" engine winches of the great shiphe met the eyes of Adam fixed on him from his berth. His

grandnephew had given him the sofa, occupying the lower berth himself. The old man, despite his great

strength and normal activity, was somewhat tired by his long journey of the day before, and the prolonged

and exciting interview which followed it. So he was glad to lie still and rest his body, whilst his mind was

actively exercised in taking in all he could of his strange surroundings. Adam, too, after the pastoral habit to

which he had been bred, woke with the dawn, and was ready to enter on the experiences of the new day

whenever it might suit his elder companion. It was little wonder, then, that, so soon as each realised the

other's readiness, they simultaneously jumped up and began to dress. The steward had by previous

instructions early breakfast prepared, and it was not long before they went down the gangway on shore in

They found Mr. Salton's bailiff looking out for them on the dock, and he brought them at once to where the

carriage was waiting in the street. Richard Salton pointed out with pride to his young companion the

suitability of the vehicle for every need of travel. To it were harnessed four useful horses, with a postillion to

"See," said the old man proudly, "how it has all the luxuries of useful travelsilence and isolation as well as

speed. There is nothing to obstruct the view of those travelling and no one to overhear what they may say. I

have used that trap for a quarter of a century, and I never saw one more suitable for travel. You shall test it

shortly. We are going to drive through the heart of England; and as we go I'll tell you what I was speaking of

last night. Our route is to be by Salisbury, Bath, Bristol, Cheltenham, Worcester, Stafford; and so home."

Adam remained silent a few minutes, during which he seemed all eyes, for he perpetually ranged the whole

"Has our journey today, sir," he asked, "any special relation to what you said last night that you wanted to

"Won't you tell me nowI see we cannot be overheardand if anything strikes you as we go along, just run

"To begin at the beginning, Adam. That lecture of yours on 'The Romans in Britain,' a report of which you

posted to me, set me thinkingin addition to telling me your tastes. I wrote to you at once and asked you to

come home, for it struck me that if you were fond of historical researchas seemed a factthis was exactly

the place for you, in addition to its being the home of your own forbears. If you could learn so much of the

British Romans so far away in New South Wales, where there cannot be even a tradition of them, what might

you not make of the same amount of study on the very spot. Where we are going is in the real heart of the old

kingdom of Mercia, where there are traces of all the various nationalities which made up the conglomerate

"I rather gathered that you had some more definitemore personal reason for my hurrying. After all, history

"Quite right, my boy. I had a reason such as you very wisely guessed. I was anxious for you to be here when

"Certainly. The principal landowner of our part of the county is on his way home, and there will be a great

homecoming, which you may care to see. The fact is, for more than a century the various owners in the

"The great house and estate in our part of the world is Castra Regis, the family seat of the Caswall family.

The last owner who lived here was Edgar Caswall, grandfather of the man who is coming hereand he was

the only one who stayed even a short time. This man's grandfather, also named Edgarthey keep the

tradition of the family Christian namequarrelled with his family and went to live abroad, not keeping up

any intercourse, good or bad, with his relatives, although this particular Edgar, as I told you, did visit his

family estate, yet his son was born and lived and died abroad, while his grandson, the latest inheritor, was

also born and lived abroad till he was over thirtyhis present age. This was the second line of absentees.

The great estate of Castra Regis has had no knowledge of its owner for five generationscovering more than

a hundred and twenty years. It has been well administered, however, and no tenant or other connected with it

has had anything of which to complain. All the same, there has been much natural anxiety to see the new

owner, and we are all excited about the event of his coming. Even I am, though I own my own estate, which,

though adjacent, is quite apart from Castra Regis.Here we are now in new ground for you. That is the spire

of Salisbury Cathedral, and when we leave that we shall be getting close to the old Roman county, and you

will naturally want your eyes. So we shall shortly have to keep our minds on old Mercia. However, you need

not be disappointed. My old friend, Sir Nathaniel de Salis, who, like myself, is a freeholder near Castra

Regishis estate, Doom Tower, is over the border of Derbyshire, on the Peakis coming to stay with me

for the festivities to welcome Edgar Caswall. He is just the sort of man you will like. He is devoted to history,

and is President of the Mercian Archaeological Society. He knows more of our own part of the country, with

its history and its people, than anyone else. I expect he will have arrived before us, and we three can have a

long chat after dinner. He is also our local geologist and natural historian. So you and he will have many

interests in common. Amongst other things he has a special knowledge of the Peak and its caverns, and

They spent the night at Cheltenham, and on the following morning resumed their journey to Stafford. Adam's

eyes were in constant employment, and it was not till Salton declared that they had now entered on the last

As the dusk was closing down, they drove on to Lesser Hill, Mr. Salton's house. It was now too dark to see

any details of their surroundings. Adam could just see that it was on the top of a hill, not quite so high as that

which was covered by the Castle, on whose tower flew the flag, and which was all ablaze with moving lights,

manifestly used in the preparations for the festivities on the morrow. So Adam deferred his curiosity till

daylight. His granduncle was met at the door by a fine old man, who greeted him warmly.

"I came over early as you wished. I suppose this is your grandnephew I am glad to meet you, Mr. Adam

Adam, from the moment of their eyes meeting, felt as if they were already friends. The meeting was a new

The cordiality with which Sir Nathaniel and Adam met, made the imparting of information easy. Sir

Nathaniel was a clever man of the world, who had travelled much, and within a certain area studied deeply.

He was a brilliant conversationalist, as was to be expected from a successful diplomatist, even under

unstimulating conditions. But he had been touched and to a certain extent fired by the younger man's evident

admiration and willingness to learn from him. Accordingly the conversation, which began on the most

friendly basis, soon warmed to an interest above proof, as the old man spoke of it next day to Richard Salton.

He knew already that his old friend wanted his grandnephew to learn all he could of the subject in hand, and

so had during his journey from the Peak put his thoughts in sequence for narration and explanation.

Accordingly, Adam had only to listen and he must learn much that he wanted to know. When dinner was over

and the servants had withdrawn, leaving the three men at their wine, Sir Nathaniel began.

"I gather from your uncleby the way, I suppose we had better speak of you as uncle and nephew, instead of

going into exact relationship? In fact, your uncle is so old and dear a friend, that, with your permission, I shall

drop formality with you altogether and speak of you and to you as Adam, as though you were his son."

The answer warmed the hearts of both the old men, but, with the usual avoidance of Englishmen of emotional

subjects personal to themselves, they instinctively returned to the previous question. Sir Nathaniel took the

"I understand, Adam, that your uncle has posted you regarding the relationships of the Caswall family?"

"Partly, sir; but I understood that I was to hear minuter details from youif you would be so good."

"I shall be delighted to tell you anything so far as my knowledge goes. Well, the first Caswall in our

immediate record is an Edgar, head of the family and owner of the estate, who came into his kingdom just

about the time that George III. did. He had one son of about twentyfour. There was a violent quarrel

between the two. No one of this generation has any idea of the cause; but, considering the family

characteristics, we may take it for granted that though it was deep and violent, it was on the surface trivial.

"The result of the quarrel was that the son left the house without a reconciliation or without even telling his

father where he was going. He never came back again. A few years after, he died, without having in the

meantime exchanged a word or a letter with his father. He married abroad and left one son, who seems to

have been brought up in ignorance of all belonging to him. The gulf between them appears to have been

unbridgable; for in time this son married and in turn had a son, but neither joy nor sorrow brought the

sundered together. Under such conditions no RAPPROCHEMENT was to be looked for, and an utter

indifference, founded at best on ignorance, took the place of family affectioneven on community of

interests. It was only due to the watchfulness of the lawyers that the birth of this new heir was ever made

"After this the family interest merely rested on heirship of the estate. As no other children have been born to

any of the newer generations in the intervening years, all hopes of heritage are now centred in the grandson of

"Now, it will be well for you to bear in mind the prevailing characteristics of this race. These were well

preserved and unchanging; one and all they are the same: cold, selfish, dominant, reckless of consequences in

pursuit of their own will. It was not that they did not keep faith, though that was a matter which gave them

little concern, but that they took care to think beforehand of what they should do in order to gain their own

ends. If they should make a mistake, someone else should bear the burthen of it. This was so perpetually

recurrent that it seemed to be a part of a fixed policy. It was no wonder that, whatever changes took place,

they were always ensured in their own possessions. They were absolutely cold and hard by nature. Not one of

themso far as we have any knowledgewas ever known to be touched by the softer sentiments, to swerve

from his purpose, or hold his hand in obedience to the dictates of his heart. The pictures and effigies of them

all show their adherence to the early Roman type. Their eyes were full; their hair, of raven blackness, grew

"The thick black hair, growing low down on the neck, told of vast physical strength and endurance. But the

most remarkable characteristic is the eyes. Black, piercing, almost unendurable, they seem to contain in

themselves a remarkable will power which there is no gainsaying. It is a power that is partly racial and partly

individual: a power impregnated with some mysterious quality, partly hypnotic, partly mesmeric, which

seems to take away from eyes that meet them all power of resistancenay, all power of wishing to resist.

With eyes like those, set in that allcommanding face, one would need to be strong indeed to think of

"You may think, Adam, that all this is imagination on my part, especially as I have never seen any of them.

So it is, but imagination based on deep study. I have made use of all I know or can surmise logically

regarding this strange race. With such strange compelling qualities, is it any wonder that there is abroad an

idea that in the race there is some demoniac possession, which tends to a more definite belief that certain

"But I think we had better go to bed now. We have a lot to get through tomorrow, and I want you to have

your brain clear, and all your susceptibilities fresh. Moreover, I want you to come with me for an early walk,

during which we may notice, whilst the matter is fresh in our minds, the peculiar disposition of this

placenot merely your granduncle's estate, but the lie of the country around it. There are many things on

which we may seekand perhaps find enlightenment. The more we know at the start, the more things

Curiosity took Adam Salton out of bed in the early morning, but when he had dressed and gone downstairs;

he found that, early as he was, Sir Nathaniel was ahead of him. The old gentleman was quite prepared for a

Sir Nathaniel, without speaking, led the way to the east, down the hill. When they had descended and risen

again, they found themselves on the eastern brink of a steep hill. It was of lesser height than that on which the

Castle was situated; but it was so placed that it commanded the various hills that crowned the ridge. All along

the ridge the rock cropped out, bare and bleak, but broken in rough natural castellation. The form of the ridge

was a segment of a circle, with the higher points inland to the west. In the centre rose the Castle, on the

highest point of all. Between the various rocky excrescences were groups of trees of various sizes and

heights, amongst some of which were what, in the early morning light, looked like ruins. Thesewhatever

they werewere of massive grey stone, probably limestone rudely cutif indeed they were not shaped

naturally. The fall of the ground was steep all along the ridge, so steep that here and there both trees and

rocks and buildings seemed to overhang the plain far below, through which ran many streams.

Sir Nathaniel stopped and looked around, as though to lose nothing of the effect. The sun had climbed the

eastern sky and was making all details clear. He pointed with a sweeping gesture, as though calling Adam's

attention to the extent of the view. Having done so, he covered the ground more slowly, as though inviting

attention to detail. Adam was a willing and attentive pupil, and followed his motions exactly, missingor

"I have brought you here, Adam, because it seems to me that this is the spot on which to begin our

investigations. You have now in front of you almost the whole of the ancient kingdom of Mercia. In fact, we

see the whole of it except that furthest part, which is covered by the Welsh Marches and those parts which are

hidden from where we stand by the high ground of the immediate west. We can seetheoreticallythe

whole of the eastern bound of the kingdom, which ran south from the Humber to the Wash. I want you to

bear in mind the trend of the ground, for some time, sooner or later, we shall do well to have it in our mind's

eye when we are considering the ancient traditions and superstitions, and are trying to find the RATIONALE

of them. Each legend, each superstition which we receive, will help in the understanding and possible

elucidation of the others. And as all such have a local basis, we can come closer to the truthor the

probabilityby knowing the local conditions as we go along. It will help us to bring to our aid such

geological truth as we may have between us. For instance, the building materials used in various ages can

afford their own lessons to understanding eyes. The very heights and shapes and materials of these hills

nay, even of the wide plain that lies between us and the seahave in themselves the materials of

"Well, look at those hills which surround the main one where the site for the Castle was wisely chosenon

the highest ground. Take the others. There is something ostensible in each of them, and in all probability

"Let us take them SERIATIM. That to the east, where the trees are, lower downthat was once the location

of a Roman temple, possibly founded on a preexisting Druidical one. Its name implies the former, and the

"The old name translated means 'Diana's Grove.' Then the next one higher than it, but just beyond it, is called

'MERCY'in all probability a corruption or familiarisation of the word MERCIA, with a Roman pun

included. We learn from early manuscripts that the place was called VILULA MISERICORDIAE. It was

originally a nunnery, founded by Queen Bertha, but done away with by King Penda, the reactionary to

Paganism after St. Augustine. Then comes your uncle's placeLesser Hill. Though it is so close to the

Castle, it is not connected with it. It is a freehold, and, so far as we know, of equal age. It has always

"That is all; but its history contains the histories of all the othersin fact, the whole history of early

"The history of the Castle has no beginning so far as we know. The furthest records or surmises or inferences

simply accept it as existing. Some of theseguesses, let us call themseem to show that there was some

sort of structure there when the Romans came, therefore it must have been a place of importance in Druid

timesif indeed that was the beginning. Naturally the Romans accepted it, as they did everything of the kind

that was, or might be, useful. The change is shown or inferred in the name Castra. It was the highest protected

ground, and so naturally became the most important of their camps. A study of the map will show you that it

must have been a most important centre. It both protected the advances already made to the north, and helped

to dominate the sea coast. It sheltered the western marches, beyond which lay savage Walesand danger. It

provided a means of getting to the Severn, round which lay the great Roman roads then coming into

existence, and made possible the great waterway to the heart of Englandthrough the Severn and its

tributaries. It brought the east and the west together by the swiftest and easiest ways known to those times.

And, finally, it provided means of descent on London and all the expanse of country watered by the Thames.

"With such a centre, already known and organised, we can easily see that each fresh wave of invasionthe

Angles, the Saxons, the Danes, and the Normansfound it a desirable possession and so ensured its

upholding. In the earlier centuries it was merely a vantage ground. But when the victorious Romans brought

with them the heavy solid fortifications impregnable to the weapons of the time, its commanding position

alone ensured its adequate building and equipment. Then it was that the fortified camp of the Caesars

developed into the castle of the king. As we are as yet ignorant of the names of the first kings of Mercia, no

historian has been able to guess which of them made it his ultimate defence; and I suppose we shall never

know now. In process of time, as the arts of war developed, it increased in size and strength, and although

recorded details are lacking, the history is written not merely in the stone of its building, but is inferred in the

changes of structure. Then the sweeping changes which followed the Norman Conquest wiped out all lesser

records than its own. Today we must accept it as one of the earliest castles of the Conquest, probably not

later than the time of Henry I. Roman and Norman were both wise in their retention of places of approved

strength or utility. So it was that these surrounding heights, already established and to a certain extent proved,

were retained. Indeed, such characteristics as already pertained to them were preserved, and today afford to

"So much for the fortified heights; but the hollows too have their own story. But how the time passes! We

He started with long steps towards Lesser Hill, and Adam was soon furtively running in order to keep up with

"Now, there is no hurry, but so soon as you are both ready we shall start," Mr. Salton said when breakfast had

begun. "I want to take you first to see a remarkable relic of Mercia, and then we'll go to Liverpool through

what is called 'The Great Vale of Cheshire.' You may be disappointed, but take care not to prepare your

mind"this to Adam"for anything stupendous or heroic. You would not think the place a vale at all,

unless you were told so beforehand, and had confidence in the veracity of the teller. We should get to the

Landing Stage in time to meet the WEST AFRICAN, and catch Mr. Caswall as he comes ashore. We want to

do him honourand, besides, it will be more pleasant to have the introductions over before we go to his

The carriage was ready, the same as had been used the previous day, but there were different

horsesmagnificent animals, and keen for work. Breakfast was soon over, and they shortly took their places.

The postillions had their orders, and were quickly on their way at an exhilarating pace.

Presently, in obedience to Mr. Salton's signal, the carriage drew up opposite a great heap of stones by the

"Here, Adam," he said, "is something that you of all men should not pass by unnoticed. That heap of stones

brings us at once to the dawn of the Anglian kingdom. It was begun more than a thousand years agoin the

latter part of the seventh centuryin memory of a murder. Wulfere, King of Mercia, nephew of Penda, here

murdered his two sons for embracing Christianity. As was the custom of the time, each passerby added a

stone to the memorial heap. Penda represented heathen reaction after St. Augustine's mission. Sir Nathaniel

can tell you as much as you want about this, and put you, if you wish, on the track of such accurate

Whilst they were looking at the heap of stones, they noticed that another carriage had drawn up beside them,

and the passengerthere was only onewas regarding them curiously. The carriage was an old heavy

travelling one, with arms blazoned on it gorgeously. The men took off their hats, as the occupant, a lady,

"How do you do, Sir Nathaniel? How do you do, Mr. Salton? I hope you have not met with any accident.

As she spoke she pointed to where one of the heavy springs was broken across, the broken metal showing

"You!" She looked incredulously at the dapper young gentleman who spoke. "Youwhy, it's a workman's

"All right, I am a workmanthough that is not the only sort of work I do. I am an Australian, and, as we

have to move about fast, we are all trained to farriery and such mechanics as come into travel I am quite at

"I hardly know how to thank you for your kindness, of which I gladly avail myself. I don't know what else I

can do, as I wish to meet Mr. Caswall of Castra Regis, who arrives home from Africa today. It is a notable

homecoming; all the countryside want to do him honour." She looked at the old men and quickly made up

her mind as to the identity of the stranger. "You must be Mr. Adam Salton of Lesser Hill. I am Lady Arabella

March of Diana's Grove." As she spoke she turned slightly to Mr. Salton, who took the hint and made a

So soon as this was done, Adam took some tools from his uncle's carriage, and at once began work on the

broken spring. He was an expert workman, and the breach was soon made good. Adam was gathering the

tools which he had been usingwhich, after the manner of all workmen, had been scattered aboutwhen he

noticed that several black snakes had crawled out from the heap of stones and were gathering round him. This

naturally occupied his mind, and he was not thinking of anything else when he noticed Lady Arabella, who

had opened the door of the carriage, slip from it with a quick gliding motion. She was already among the

snakes when he called out to warn her. But there seemed to be no need of warning. The snakes had turned

and were wriggling back to the mound as quickly as they could. He laughed to himself behind his teeth as he

whispered, "No need to fear there. They seem much more afraid of her than she of them." All the same he

began to beat on the ground with a stick which was lying close to him, with the instinct of one used to such

vermin. In an instant he was alone beside the mound with Lady Arabella, who appeared quite unconcerned at

the incident. Then he took a long look at her, and her dress alone was sufficient to attract attention. She was

clad in some kind of soft white stuff, which clung close to her form, showing to the full every movement of

her sinuous figure. She wore a closefitting cap of some fine fur of dazzling white. Coiled round her white

throat was a large necklace of emeralds, whose profusion of colour dazzled when the sun shone on them. Her

voice was peculiar, very low and sweet, and so soft that the dominant note was of sibilation. Her hands, too,

were peculiarlong, flexible, white, with a strange movement as of waving gently to and fro.

She appeared quite at ease, and, after thanking Adam, said that if any of his uncle's party were going to

"Whilst you are staying here, Mr. Salton, you must look on the grounds of Diana's Grove as your own, so that

you may come and go just as you do in Lesser Hill. There are some fine views, and not a few natural

curiosities which are sure to interest you, if you are a student of natural historyspecially of an earlier kind,

The heartiness with which she spoke, and the warmth of her words not of her manner, which was cold and

distantmade him suspicious. In the meantime both his uncle and Sir Nathaniel had thanked her for the

invitationof which, however, they said they were unable to avail themselves. Adam had a suspicion that,

though she answered regretfully, she was in reality relieved. When he had got into the carriage with the two

old men, and they had driven off, he was not surprised when Sir Nathaniel spoke.

"I could not but feel that she was glad to be rid of us. She can play her game better alone!"

"All the county knows it, my boy. Caswall is a very rich man. Her husband was rich when she married

himor seemed to be. When he committed suicide, it was found that he had nothing left, and the estate was

mortgaged up to the hilt. Her only hope is in a rich marriage. I suppose I need not draw any conclusion; you

Adam remained silent nearly all the time they were travelling through the alleged Vale of Cheshire. He

thought much during that journey and came to several conclusions, though his lips were unmoved. One of

these conclusions was that he would be very careful about paying any attention to Lady Arabella. He was

himself a rich man, how rich not even his uncle had the least idea, and would have been surprised had he

The remainder of the journey was uneventful, and upon arrival at Liverpool they went aboard the WEST

AFRICAN, which had just come to the landingstage. There his uncle introduced himself to Mr. Caswall,

and followed this up by introducing Sir Nathaniel and then Adam. The newcomer received them graciously,

and said what a pleasure it was to be coming home after so long an absence of his family from their old seat.

Adam was pleased at the warmth of the reception; but he could not avoid a feeling of repugnance at the man's

face. He was trying hard to overcome this when a diversion was caused by the arrival of Lady Arabella. The

diversion was welcome to all; the two Saltons and Sir Nathaniel were shocked at Caswall's faceso hard, so

ruthless, so selfish, so dominant. "God help any," was the common thought, "who is under the domination of

Presently his African servant approached him, and at once their thoughts changed to a larger toleration.

Caswall looked indeed a savagebut a cultured savage. In him were traces of the softening civilisation of

agesof some of the higher instincts and education of man, no matter how rudimentary these might be. But

the face of Oolanga, as his master called him, was unreformed, unsoftened savage, and inherent in it were all

the hideous possibilities of a lost, devilridden child of the forest and the swampthe lowest of all created

things that could be regarded as in some form ostensibly human. Lady Arabella and Oolanga arrived almost

simultaneously, and Adam was surprised to notice what effect their appearance had on each other. The

woman seemed as if she would notcould not condescend to exhibit any concern or interest in such a

creature. On the other hand, the negro's bearing was such as in itself to justify her pride. He treated her not

merely as a slave treats his master, but as a worshipper would treat a deity. He knelt before her with his hands

outstretched and his forehead in the dust. So long as she remained he did not move; it was only when she

went over to Caswall that he relaxed his attitude of devotion and stood by respectfully.

Adam spoke to his own man, Davenport, who was standing by, having arrived with the bailiff of Lesser Hill,

who had followed Mr. Salton in a pony trap. As he spoke, he pointed to an attentive ship's steward, and

"I think we ought to be moving," Mr. Salton said to Adam. "I have some things to do in Liverpool, and I am

sure that both Mr. Caswall and Lady Arabella would like to get under weigh for Castra Regis."

"I too, sir, would like to do something," replied Adam. "I want to find out where Ross, the animal merchant,

livesI want to take a small animal home with me, if you don't mind. He is only a little thing, and will be no

"Well, of course I want a good one. But I see no need for anything special. It is for ordinary use."

"I can let you have a choice of ordinary ones. I only asked, because I have in stock a very special one which I

got lately from Nepaul. He has a record of his own. He killed a king cobra that had been seen in the Rajah's

garden. But I don't suppose we have any snakes of the kind in this cold climateI daresay an ordinary one

When Adam got back to the carriage, carefully carrying the box with the mongoose, Sir Nathaniel said:

"Nothing directly that I know of. But we shall see." Adam waited, and the old man went on: "Have you by

"It was called Look here, this subject wants a lot of talking over. Suppose we wait till we are alone and

"All right, sir." Adam was filled with curiosity, but he thought it better not to hurry matters. All would come

in good time. Then the three men returned home, leaving Mr. Caswall to spend the night in Liverpool.

The following day the Lesser Hill party set out for Castra Regis, and for the time Adam thought no more of

The guests were crowding in, and special places were marked for important people. Adam, seeing so many

persons of varied degree, looked round for Lady Arabella, but could not locate her. It was only when he saw

the oldfashioned travelling carriage approach and heard the sound of cheering which went with it, that he

realised that Edgar Caswall had arrived. Then, on looking more closely, he saw that Lady Arabella, dressed

as he had seen her last, was seated beside him. When the carriage drew up at the great flight of steps, the host

It was evident to all that she was the chief guest at the festivities. It was not long before the seats on the dais

were filled, while the tenants and guests of lesser importance had occupied all the coigns of vantage not

reserved. The order of the day had been carefully arranged by a committee. There were some speeches,

happily neither many nor long; and then festivities were suspended till the time for feasting arrived. In the

interval Caswall walked among his guests, speaking to all in a friendly manner and expressing a general

welcome. The other guests came down from the dais and followed his example, so there was unceremonious

Adam Salton naturally followed with his eyes all that went on within their scope, taking note of all who

seemed to afford any interest. He was young and a man and a stranger from a far distance; so on all these

accounts he naturally took stock rather of the women than of the men, and of these, those who were young

and attractive. There were lots of pretty girls among the crowd, and Adam, who was a handsome young man

and well set up, got his full share of admiring glances. These did not concern him much, and he remained

unmoved until there came along a group of three, by their dress and bearing, of the farmer class. One was a

sturdy old man; the other two were goodlooking girls, one of a little over twenty, the other not quite so old.

So soon as Adam's eyes met those of the younger girl, who stood nearest to him, some sort of electricity

flashedthat divine spark which begins by recognition, and ends in obedience. Men call it "Love."

Both his companions noticed how much Adam was taken by the pretty girl, and spoke of her to him in a way

"Did you notice that party that passed? The old man is Michael Watford, one of the tenants of Mr. Caswall.

He occupies Mercy Farm, which Sir Nathaniel pointed out to you today. The girls are his granddaughters,

the elder, Lilla, being the only child of his elder son, who died when she was less than a year old. His wife

died on the same day. She is a good girlas good as she is pretty. The other is her first cousin, the daughter

of Watford's second son. He went for a soldier when he was just over twenty, and was drafted abroad. He was

not a good correspondent, though he was a good enough son. A few letters came, and then his father heard

from the colonel of his regiment that he had been killed by dacoits in Burmah. He heard from the same source

that his boy had been married to a Burmese, and that there was a daughter only a year old. Watford had the

child brought home, and she grew up beside Lilla. The only thing that they heard of her birth was that her

name was Mimi. The two children adored each other, and do to this day. Strange how different they are! Lilla

all fair, like the old Saxon stock from which she is sprung; Mimi showing a trace of her mother's race. Lilla is

as gentle as a dove, but Mimi's black eyes can glow whenever she is upset. The only thing that upsets her is

when anything happens to injure or threaten or annoy Lilla. Then her eyes glow as do the eyes of a bird when

Mr. Salton introduced Adam to Mr. Watford and his granddaughters, and they all moved on together. Of

course neighbours in the position of the Watfords knew all about Adam Salton, his relationship,

circumstances, and prospects. So it would have been strange indeed if both girls did not dream of possibilities

of the future. In agricultural England, eligible men of any class are rare. This particular man was specially

eligible, for he did not belong to a class in which barriers of caste were strong. So when it began to be noticed

that he walked beside Mimi Watford and seemed to desire her society, all their friends endeavoured to give

the promising affair a helping hand. When the gongs sounded for the banquet, he went with her into the tent

where her grandfather had seats. Mr. Salton and Sir Nathaniel noticed that the young man did not come to

claim his appointed place at the dais table; but they understood and made no remark, or indeed did not seem

Lady Arabella sat as before at Edgar Caswall's right hand. She was certainly a striking and unusual woman,

and to all it seemed fitting from her rank and personal qualities that she should be the chosen partner of the

heir on his first appearance. Of course nothing was said openly by those of her own class who were present;

but words were not necessary when so much could be expressed by nods and smiles. It seemed to be an

accepted thing that at last there was to be a mistress of Castra Regis, and that she was present amongst them.

There were not lacking some who, whilst admitting all her charm and beauty, placed her in the second rank,

Lilla Watford being marked as first. There was sufficient divergence of type, as well as of individual beauty,

to allow of fair comment; Lady Arabella represented the aristocratic type, and Lilla that of the commonalty.

When the dusk began to thicken, Mr. Salton and Sir Nathaniel walked homethe trap had been sent away

early in the dayleaving Adam to follow in his own time. He came in earlier than was expected, and seemed

upset about something. Neither of the elders made any comment. They all lit cigarettes, and, as dinnertime

Adam had evidently been thinking in the interval. He joined the others in the drawingroom, looking ruffled

and impatienta condition of things seen for the first time. The others, with the patienceor the

experienceof age, trusted to time to unfold and explain things. They had not long to wait. After sitting

"That fellow seems to think he owns the earth. Can't he let people alone! He seems to think that he has only

This outburst was in itself enlightening. Only thwarted affection in some guise could produce this feeling in

an amiable young man. Sir Nathaniel, as an old diplomatist, had a way of understanding, as if by

foreknowledge, the true inwardness of things, and asked suddenly, but in a matteroffact, indifferent voice:

"Yes, and the fellow didn't lose any time either. Almost as soon as they met, he began to butter her up, and

tell her how beautiful she was. Why, before he left her side, he had asked himself to tea tomorrow at Mercy

Farm. Stupid ass! He might see that the girl isn't his sort! I never saw anything like it. It was just like a hawk

As he spoke, Sir Nathaniel turned and looked at Mr. Saltona keen look which implied a full understanding.

"Tell us all about it, Adam. There are still a few minutes before dinner, and we shall all have better appetites

"There is nothing to tell, sir; that is the worst of it. I am bound to say that there was not a word said that a

human being could object to. He was very civil, and all that was properjust what a landlord might be to a

tenant's daughter. . . Yetyetwell, I don't know how it was, but it made my blood boil."

"How did the hawk and the pigeon come in?" Sir Nathaniel's voice was soft and soothing, nothing of

contradiction or overdone curiosity in ita tone eminently suited to win confidence.

"I can hardly explain. I can only say that he looked like a hawk and she like a doveand, now that I think of

it, that is what they each did look like; and do look like in their normal condition."

"Perhaps that early Roman look of his set me off. But I wanted to protect her; she seemed in danger."

"She seems in danger, in a way, from all you young men. I couldn't help noticing the way that even you

"I hope both you young men will keep your heads cool," put in Mr. Salton. "You know, Adam, it won't do to

have any quarrel between you, especially so soon after his homecoming and your arrival here. We must

"I hope so, sir. I assure you that, whatever may happen, or even threaten, I shall obey your wishes in this as in

"Hush!" whispered Sir Nathaniel, who heard the servants in the passage bringing dinner.

After dinner, over the walnuts and the wine, Sir Nathaniel returned to the subject of the local legends.

"It will perhaps be a less dangerous topic for us to discuss than more recent ones."

"All right, sir," said Adam heartily. "I think you may depend on me now with regard to any topic. I can even

discuss Mr. Caswall. Indeed, I may meet him tomorrow. He is going, as I said, to call at Mercy Farm at

The two old men once more looked at each other steadily. Then, lest the mood of his listener should change

"I don't propose to tell you all the legends of Mercia, or even to make a selection of them. It will be better, I

think, for our purpose if we consider a few factsrecorded or unrecordedabout this neighbourhood. I

think we might begin with Diana's Grove. It has roots in the different epochs of our history, and each has its

special crop of legend. The Druid and the Roman are too far off for matters of detail; but it seems to me the

Saxon and the Angles are near enough to yield material for legendary lore. We find that this particular place

had another name besides Diana's Grove. This was manifestly of Roman origin, or of Grecian accepted as

Roman. The other is more pregnant of adventure and romance than the Roman name. In Mercian tongue it

was 'The Lair of the White Worm.' This needs a word of explanation at the beginning.

"In the dawn of the language, the word 'worm' had a somewhat different meaning from that in use today. It

was an adaptation of the AngloSaxon 'wyrm,' meaning a dragon or snake; or from the Gothic 'waurms,' a

serpent; or the Icelandic 'ormur,' or the German 'wurm.' We gather that it conveyed originally an idea of size

and power, not as now in the diminutive of both these meanings. Here legendary history helps us. We have

the wellknown legend of the 'Worm Well' of Lambton Castle, and that of the 'Laidly Worm of Spindleston

Heugh' near Bamborough. In both these legends the 'worm' was a monster of vast size and powera

veritable dragon or serpent, such as legend attributes to vast fens or quags where there was illimitable room

for expansion. A glance at a geological map will show that whatever truth there may have been of the

actuality of such monsters in the early geologic periods, at least there was plenty of possibility. In England

there were originally vast plains where the plentiful supply of water could gather. The streams were deep and

slow, and there were holes of abysmal depth, where any kind and size of antediluvian monster could find a

habitat. In places, which now we can see from our windows, were mudholes a hundred or more feet deep.

Who can tell us when the age of the monsters which flourished in slime came to an end? There must have

been places and conditions which made for greater longevity, greater size, greater strength than was usual.

Such overlappings may have come down even to our earlier centuries. Nay, are there not now creatures of a

vastness of bulk regarded by the generality of men as impossible? Even in our own day there are seen the

traces of animals, if not the animals themselves, of stupendous sizeveritable survivals from earlier ages,

preserved by some special qualities in their habitats. I remember meeting a distinguished man in India, who

had the reputation of being a great shikaree, who told me that the greatest temptation he had ever had in his

life was to shoot a giant snake which he had come across in the Terai of Upper India. He was on a

tigershooting expedition, and as his elephant was crossing a nullah, it squealed. He looked down from his

howdah and saw that the elephant had stepped across the body of a snake which was dragging itself through

the jungle. 'So far as I could see,' he said, 'it must have been eighty or one hundred feet in length. Fully forty

or fifty feet was on each side of the track, and though the weight which it dragged had thinned it, it was as

thick round as a man's body. I suppose you know that when you are after tiger, it is a point of honour not to

shoot at anything else, as life may depend on it. I could easily have spined this monster, but I felt that I must

"Just imagine such a monster anywhere in this country, and at once we could get a sort of idea of the 'worms,'

which possibly did frequent the great morasses which spread round the mouths of many of the great European

"I haven't the least doubt, sir, that there may have been such monsters as you have spoken of still existing at a

much later period than is generally accepted," replied Adam. "Also, if there were such things, that this was

the very place for them. I have tried to think over the matter since you pointed out the configuration of the

ground. But it seems to me that there is a hiatus somewhere. Are there not mechanical difficulties?"

"Well, our antique monster must have been mighty heavy, and the distances he had to travel were long and

the ways difficult. From where we are now sitting down to the level of the mudholes is a distance of several

hundred feetI am leaving out of consideration altogether any lateral distance. Is it possible that there was a

way by which a monster could travel up and down, and yet no chance recorder have ever seen him? Of course

we have the legends; but is not some more exact evidence necessary in a scientific investigation?"

"My dear Adam, all you say is perfectly right, and, were we starting on such an investigation, we could not

do better than follow your reasoning. But, my dear boy, you must remember that all this took place thousands

of years ago. You must remember, too, that all records of the kind that would help us are lacking. Also, that

the places to be considered were desert, so far as human habitation or population are considered. In the vast

desolation of such a place as complied with the necessary conditions, there must have been such profusion of

natural growth as would bar the progress of men formed as we are. The lair of such a monster would not have

been disturbed for hundredsor thousandsof years. Moreover, these creatures must have occupied places

quite inaccessible to man. A snake who could make himself comfortable in a quagmire, a hundred feet deep,

would be protected on the outskirts by such stupendous morasses as now no longer exist, or which, if they

exist anywhere at all, can be on very few places on the earth's surface. Far be it from me to say that in more

elemental times such things could not have been. The condition belongs to the geologic agethe great birth

and growth of the world, when natural forces ran riot, when the struggle for existence was so savage that no

vitality which was not founded in a gigantic form could have even a possibility of survival. That such a time

existed, we have evidences in geology, but there only; we can never expect proofs such as this age demands.

We can only imagine or surmise such thingsor such conditions and such forces as overcame them."

At breakfasttime next morning Sir Nathaniel and Mr. Salton were seated when Adam came hurriedly into

"Mongoose," said Adam, and then added explanatorily: "I was out with the mongoose just after three."

"Four snakes in one morning! Why, I didn't know there were so many on the Brow"the local name for the

"But, God bless my soul, you didn't expect to get a snake like the Lambton worm, did you? Why, a

mongoose, to tackle a monster like thatif there were onewould have to be bigger than a haystack."

"Well, it's pleasant to be rid of them, big or little. That is a good mongoose, I am sure; he'll clear out all such

Adam went quietly on with his breakfast. Killing a few snakes in a morning was no new experience to him.

He left the room the moment breakfast was finished and went to the study that his uncle had arranged for

him. Both Sir Nathaniel and Mr. Salton took it that he wanted to be by himself, so as to avoid any questioning

or talk of the visit that he was to make that afternoon. They saw nothing further of him till about

halfanhour before dinnertime. Then he came quietly into the smokingroom, where Mr. Salton and Sir

"I suppose there is no use waiting. We had better get it over at once," remarked Adam.

There was a sign of shyness about him at this. He stammered a little at first, but his voice became more even

"I suppose you both know that I was much interested yesterday in the Watfords?" There was no denial or

fending off the question. Both the old men smiled acquiescence. Adam went on: "I meant you to see itboth

of you. You, uncle, because you are my uncle and the nearest of my own kin, and, moreover, you couldn't

have been more kind to me or made me more welcome if you had been my own father." Mr. Salton said

nothing. He simply held out his hand, and the other took it and held it for a few seconds. "And you, sir,

because you have shown me something of the same affection which in my wildest dreams of home I had no

"You are right, my boy; quite right. That is the proper way to look at it. And I may tell you that we old men,

who have no children of our own, feel our hearts growing warm when we hear words like those."

Then Adam hurried on, speaking with a rush, as if he wanted to come to the crucial point.

"Mr. Watford had not come in, but Lilla and Mimi were at home, and they made me feel very welcome. They

have all a great regard for my uncle. I am glad of that any way, for I like them allmuch. We were having

tea, when Mr. Caswall came to the door, attended by the negro. Lilla opened the door herself. The window of

the livingroom at the farm is a large one, and from within you cannot help seeing anyone coming. Mr.

Caswall said he had ventured to call, as he wished to make the acquaintance of all his tenants, in a less formal

way, and more individually, than had been possible to him on the previous day. The girls made him

welcomethey are very sweet girls those, sir; someone will be very happy some day therewith either of

A sad look came over the young man's eyes, and the fire his uncle had seen there died out. Likewise the

"Such might crown my life. But that happiness, I fear, is not for meor not without pain and loss and woe."

"Yesterdaya few hours agothat remark would have given me new hopenew courage; but since then I

The old man, skilled in the human heart, did not attempt to argue in such a matter.

"I am not of a givingin kind," replied the young man earnestly. "But, after all, it is wise to realise a truth.

And when a man, though he is young, feels as I doas I have felt ever since yesterday, when I first saw

There was silence in the room, during which the twilight stole on imperceptibly. It was Adam who again

"Because," he answered slowly, "I have a conviction which seems to answer all the conditions of second

"And then the usual inevitable. What in the Hebrides and other places, where the Sight is a culta beliefis

called 'the doom' the court from which there is no appeal. I have often heard of second sightwe have

many western Scots in Australia; but I have realised more of its true inwardness in an instant of this afternoon

than I did in the whole of my life previouslya granite wall stretching up to the very heavens, so high and so

dark that the eye of God Himself cannot see beyond. Well, if the Doom must come, it must. That is all."

"For most things, yes, but for the Doom, no. What a man can do I shall do. There will bemust bea fight.

When and where and how I know not, but a fight there will be. But, after all, what is a man in such a case?"

"Adam, there are three of us." Salton looked at his old friend as he spoke, and that old friend's eyes blazed.

There was again a pause, and Sir Nathaniel endeavoured to get back to less emotional and more neutral

"Tell us of the rest of the meeting. Remember we are all pledged to this. It is a fight E L'OUTRANCE, and

"We shall throw away or lose nothing that we can help. We fight to win, and the stake is a lifeperhaps

more than onewe shall see." Then he went on in a conversational tone, such as he had used when he spoke

of the coming to the farm of Edgar Caswall: "When Mr. Caswall came in, the negro went a short distance

away and there remained. It gave me the idea that he expected to be called, and intended to remain in sight, or

within hail. Then Mimi got another cup and made fresh tea, and we all went on together."

"Was there anything uncommonwere you all quite friendly?" asked Sir Nathaniel quietly.

"Quite friendly. There was nothing that I could notice out of the commonexcept," he went on, with a slight

hardening of the voice, "except that he kept his eyes fixed on Lilla, in a way which was quite intolerable to

"You did. Miss Watford herself, who was the victim, and Mr. Caswall, who was the offender, are out of

"What kind of look was it? Overardent or too admiring, or what? Was it the look of a lover, or one who fain

"Yes, sir, I quite understand. Anything of that sort I should of course notice. It would be part of my

"It was not amatory. Even if it was, such was to be expected. I should be the last man in the world to object,

since I am myself an offender in that respect. Moreover, not only have I been taught to fight fair, but by

nature I believe I am just. I would be as tolerant of and as liberal to a rival as I should expect him to be to me.

No, the look I mean was nothing of that kind. And so long as it did not lack proper respect, I should not of

"No, when he is following his instincts! Or, better still," Adam went on, "the eyes of a bird of prey when he is

following his instincts. Not when he is swooping, but merely when he is watching his quarry?"

"That was the look. Certainly not amatory or anything of that kind yet it was, it struck me, more

"I think it would be well if we all thought over this by ourselves. Then we can renew the subject."

Mr. Salton had an appointment for six o'clock at Liverpool. When he had driven off, Sir Nathaniel took

"May I come with you for a while to your study? I want to speak to you privately without your uncle

knowing about it, or even what the subject is. You don't mind, do you? It is not idle curiosity. No, no. It is on

"It is not necessary; but it is advisable. It is for his sake that I asked. My friend is an old man, and it might

concern him unduly even alarm him. I promise you there shall be nothing that could cause him anxiety in

"You see, your uncle is now an old man. I know it, for we were boys together. He has led an uneventful and

somewhat selfcontained life, so that any such condition of things as has now arisen is apt to perplex him

from its very strangeness. In fact, any new matter is trying to old people. It has its own disturbances and its

own anxieties, and neither of these things are good for lives that should be restful. Your uncle is a strong

man, with a very happy and placid nature. Given health and ordinary conditions of life, there is no reason

why he should not live to be a hundred. You and I, therefore, who both love him, though in different ways,

should make it our business to protect him from all disturbing influences. I am sure you will agree with me

that any labour to this end would be well spent. All right, my boy! I see your answer in your eyes; so we need

say no more of that. And now," here his voice changed, "tell me all that took place at that interview. There

are strange things in front of ushow strange we cannot at present even guess. Doubtless some of the

difficult things to understand which lie behind the veil will in time be shown to us to see and to understand.

In the meantime, all we can do is to work patiently, fearlessly, and unselfishly, to an end that we think is

right. You had got so far as where Lilla opened the door to Mr. Caswall and the negro. You also observed

that Mimi was disturbed in her mind at the way Mr. Caswall looked at her cousin."

"Can you remember well enough to describe Caswall's eyes, and how Lilla looked, and what Mimi said and

"I'll do what I can, sir. All the time Mr. Caswall was staring, he kept his eyes fixed and motionlessbut not

as if he was in a trance. His forehead was wrinkled up, as it is when one is trying to see through or into

something. At the best of times his face has not a gentle expression; but when it was screwed up like that it

was almost diabolical. It frightened poor Lilla so that she trembled, and after a bit got so pale that I thought

she had fainted. However, she held up and tried to stare back, but in a feeble kind of way. Then Mimi came

close and held her hand. That braced her up, andstill, never ceasing her return stareshe got colour again

"More than ever. The weaker Lilla seemed, the stronger he became, just as if he were feeding on her strength.

All at once she turned round, threw up her hands, and fell down in a faint. I could not see what else happened

just then, for Mimi had thrown herself on her knees beside her and hid her from me. Then there was

something like a black shadow between us, and there was the nigger, looking more like a malignant devil

than ever. I am not usually a patient man, and the sight of that ugly devil is enough to make one's blood boil.

When he saw my face, he seemed to realise dangerimmediate danger and slunk out of the room as

noiselessly as if he had been blown out. I learned one thing, howeverhe is an enemy, if ever a man had

"Then Caswall slunk out, much as the nigger had done. When he had gone, Lilla recovered at once."

"Now," said Sir Nathaniel, anxious to restore peace, "have you found out anything yet regarding the negro? I

am anxious to be posted regarding him. I fear there will be, or may be, grave trouble with him."

"Yes, sir, I've heard a good deal about himof course it is not official; but hearsay must guide us at first.

You know my man Davenportprivate secretary, confidential man of business, and general factotum. He is

devoted to me, and has my full confidence. I asked him to stay on board the WEST AFRICAN and have a

good look round, and find out what he could about Mr. Caswall. Naturally, he was struck with the aboriginal

savage. He found one of the ship's stewards, who had been on the regular voyages to South Africa. He knew

Oolanga and had made a study of him. He is a man who gets on well with niggers, and they open their hearts

to him. It seems that this Oolanga is quite a great person in the nigger world of the African West Coast. He

has the two things which men of his own colour respect: he can make them afraid, and he is lavish with

money. I don't know whose moneybut that does not matter. They are always ready to trumpet his

greatness. Evil greatness it is but neither does that matter. Briefly, this is his history. He was originally a

witchfinderabout as low an occupation as exists amongst aboriginal savages. Then he got up in the world

and became an Obiman, which gives an opportunity to wealth VIA blackmail. Finally, he reached the

highest honour in hellish service. He became a user of Voodoo, which seems to be a service of the utmost

baseness and cruelty. I was told some of his deeds of cruelty, which are simply sickening. They made me

long for an opportunity of helping to drive him back to hell. You might think to look at him that you could

measure in some way the extent of his vileness; but it would be a vain hope. Monsters such as he is belong to

an earlier and more rudimentary stage of barbarism. He is in his way a clever fellowfor a nigger; but is

none the less dangerous or the less hateful for that. The men in the ship told me that he was a collector: some

of them had seen his collections. Such collections! All that was potent for evil in bird or beast, or even in fish.

Beaks that could break and rend and tearall the birds represented were of a predatory kind. Even the fishes

are those which are born to destroy, to wound, to torture. The collection, I assure you, was an object lesson in

human malignity. This being has enough evil in his face to frighten even a strong man. It is little wonder that

Adam was up in the early morning and took a smart walk round the Brow. As he was passing Diana's Grove,

he looked in on the short avenue of trees, and noticed the snakes killed on the previous morning by the

mongoose. They all lay in a row, straight and rigid, as if they had been placed by hands. Their skins seemed

damp and sticky, and they were covered all over with ants and other insects. They looked loathsome, so after

A little later, when his steps took him, naturally enough, past the entrance to Mercy Farm, he was passed by

the negro, moving quickly under the trees wherever there was shadow. Laid across one extended arm, looking

like dirty towels across a rail, he had the horridlooking snakes. He did not seem to see Adam. No one was to

be seen at Mercy except a few workmen in the farmyard, so, after waiting on the chance of seeing Mimi,

Once more he was passed on the way. This time it was by Lady Arabella, walking hurriedly and so furiously

angry that she did not recognise him, even to the extent of acknowledging his bow.

When Adam got back to Lesser Hill, he went to the coachhouse where the box with the mongoose was kept,

and took it with him, intending to finish at the Mound of Stone what he had begun the previous morning with

regard to the extermination. He found that the snakes were even more easily attacked than on the previous

day; no less than six were killed in the first halfhour. As no more appeared, he took it for granted that the

morning's work was over, and went towards home. The mongoose had by this time become accustomed to

him, and was willing to let himself be handled freely. Adam lifted him up and put him on his shoulder and

walked on. Presently he saw a lady advancing towards him, and recognised Lady Arabella.

Hitherto the mongoose had been quiet, like a playful affectionate kitten; but when the two got close, Adam

was horrified to see the mongoose, in a state of the wildest fury, with every hair standing on end, jump from

his shoulder and run towards Lady Arabella. It looked so furious and so intent on attack that he called a

Lady Arabella looked more than ever disdainful and was passing on; the mongoose jumped at her in a furious

attack. Adam rushed forward with his stick, the only weapon he had. But just as he got within striking

distance, the lady drew out a revolver and shot the animal, breaking his backbone. Not satisfied with this, she

poured shot after shot into him till the magazine was exhausted. There was no coolness or hauteur about her

now; she seemed more furious even than the animal, her face transformed with hate, and as determined to kill

as he had appeared to be. Adam, not knowing exactly what to do, lifted his hat in apology and hurried on to

At breakfast Sir Nathaniel noticed that Adam was put out about something, but he said nothing. The lesson of

silence is better remembered in age than in youth. When they were both in the study, where Sir Nathaniel

followed him, Adam at once began to tell his companion of what had happened. Sir Nathaniel looked graver

and graver as the narration proceeded, and when Adam had stopped he remained silent for several minutes,

"This is very grave. I have not formed any opinion yet; but it seems to me at first impression that this is worse

"Why, sir?" said Adam. "Is the killing of a mongooseno matter by whomso serious a thing as all that?"

"When I have properly thought it over I may moderate my opinion, but in the meantime it seems to me that

there is something dreadful behind all thissomething that may affect all our livesthat may mean the

"Do tell me, sir, what is in your mindif, of course, you have no objection, or do not think it better to

"I have no objection, Adamin fact, if I had, I should have to overcome it. I fear there can be no more

"Adam, I greatly fear that the time has come for usfor you and me, at all eventsto speak out plainly to

"I have thought so, sir, all along. The only difficulty one has is what one is to think and where to begin."

"Let us begin with what you have told me. First take the conduct of the mongoose. He was quiet, even

friendly and affectionate with you. He only attacked the snakes, which is, after all, his business in life."

"May it not be that a mongoose may have merely the instinct to attack, that nature does not allow or provide

"Of course that may be so. But, on the other hand, should we not satisfy ourselves why he does wish to attack

anything? If for centuries, this particular animal is known to attack only one kind of other animal, are we not

justified in assuming that when one of them attacks a hitherto unclassed animal, he recognises in that animal

"That is a good argument, sir," Adam went on, "but a dangerous one. If we followed it out, it would lead us to

"We must be sure, before going to such an end, that there is no point as yet unconsidered which would

"Well, suppose the instinct works on some physical basisfor instance, smell. If there were anything in

recent juxtaposition to the attacked which would carry the scent, surely that would supply the missing cause."

"Now, from what you tell me, the negro had just come from the direction of Diana's Grove, carrying the dead

snakes which the mongoose had killed the previous morning. Might not the scent have been carried that

"Of course it might, and probably was. I never thought of that. Is there any possible way of guessing

approximately how long a scent will remain? You see, this is a natural scent, and may derive from a place

where it has been effective for thousands of years. Then, does a scent of any kind carry with it any form or

quality of another kind, either good or evil? I ask you because one ancient name of the house lived in by the

lady who was attacked by the mongoose was 'The Lair of the White Worm.' If any of these things be so, our

difficulties have multiplied indefinitely. They may even change in kind. We may get into moral

entanglements; before we know it, we may be in the midst of a struggle between good and evil."

"With regard to the first questionso far as I know, there are no fixed periods for which a scent may be

activeI think we may take it that that period does not run into thousands of years. As to whether any moral

change accompanies a physical one, I can only say that I have met no proof of the fact. At the same time, we

must remember that 'good' and 'evil' are terms so wide as to take in the whole scheme of creation, and all that

is implied by them and by their mutual action and reaction. Generally, I would say that in the scheme of a

First Cause anything is possible. So long as the inherent forces or tendencies of any one thing are veiled from

"There is one other question on which I should like to ask your opinion. Suppose that there are any permanent

forces appertaining to the past, what we may call 'survivals,' do these belong to good as well as to evil? For

instance, if the scent of the primaeval monster can so remain in proportion to the original strength, can the

"We must be careful not to confuse the physical and the moral. I can see that already you have switched on

the moral entirely, so perhaps we had better follow it up first. On the side of the moral, we have certain

justification for belief in the utterances of revealed religion. For instance, 'the effectual fervent prayer of a

righteous man availeth much' is altogether for good. We have nothing of a similar kind on the side of evil.

But if we accept this dictum we need have no more fear of 'mysteries': these become thenceforth merely

"And now, sir, may I turn for a few minutes to purely practical things, or rather to matters of historical fact?"

"We have already spoken of the history, so far as it is known, of some of the places round us'Castra Regis,'

'Diana's Grove,' and 'The Lair of the White Worm.' I would like to ask if there is anything not necessarily of

"Here we turn," said Sir Nathaniel, "to the other side, the light side of things. Let us take Mercy Farm first.

When Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory to Christianise England, in the time of the Romans, he was

received and protected by Ethelbert, King of Kent, whose wife, daughter of Charibert, King of Paris, was a

Christian, and did much for Augustine. She founded a nunnery in memory of Columba, which was named

SEDES MISERICORDIOE, the House of Mercy, and, as the region was Mercian, the two names became

involved. As Columba is the Latin for dove, the dove became a sort of signification of the nunnery. She

seized on the idea and made the newlyfounded nunnery a house of doves. Someone sent her a

freshlydiscovered dove, a sort of carrier, but which had in the white feathers of its head and neck the form of

a religious cowl. The nunnery flourished for more than a century, when, in the time of Penda, who was the

reactionary of heathendom, it fell into decay. In the meantime the doves, protected by religious feeling, had

increased mightily, and were known in all Catholic communities. When King Offa ruled in Mercia, about a

hundred and fifty years later, he restored Christianity, and under its protection the nunnery of St. Columba

was restored and its doves flourished again. In process of time this religious house again fell into desuetude;

but before it disappeared it had achieved a great name for good works, and in especial for the piety of its

members. If deeds and prayers and hopes and earnest thinking leave anywhere any moral effect, Mercy Farm

"Thank you, sir," said Adam earnestly, and was silent. Sir Nathaniel understood.

After lunch that day, Adam casually asked Sir Nathaniel to come for a walk with him. The keenwitted old

diplomatist guessed that there must be some motive behind the suggestion, and he at once agreed.

"I am afraid, sir, that there is more going on in this neighbourhood than most people imagine. I was out this

morning, and on the edge of the small wood, I came upon the body of a child by the roadside. At first, I

thought she was dead, and while examining her, I noticed on her neck some marks that looked like those of

"Possibly, sir, though I think notbut listen to the rest of my news. I glanced around, and to my surprise, I

noticed something white moving among the trees. I placed the child down carefully, and followed, but I could

not find any further traces. So I returned to the child and resumed my examination, and, to my delight, I

discovered that she was still alive. I chafed her hands and gradually she revived, but to my disappointment

she remembered nothingexcept that something had crept up quietly from behind, and had gripped her

"No, sir, that is my difficulty, and explains why I brought you out here, where we cannot possibly be

overheard. You have noticed, of course, the peculiar sinuous way in which Lady Arabella moveswell, I

feel certain that the white thing that I saw in the wood was the mistress of Diana's Grove!"

"Yes, sir, I fully realise the gravity of my accusation, but I feel convinced that the marks on the child's throat

"Adam, my boy," he said at last, "this matter appears to me to be far more serious even than you think. It

forces me to break confidence with my old friend, your unclebut, in order to spare him, I must do so. For

some time now, things have been happening in this district that have been worrying him dreadfullyseveral

people have disappeared, without leaving the slightest trace; a dead child was found by the roadside, with no

visible or ascertainable cause of deathsheep and other animals have been found in the fields, bleeding from

open wounds. There have been other mattersmany of them apparently trivial in themselves. Some sinister

influence has been at work, and I admit that I have suspected Lady Arabellathat is why I questioned you so

closely about the mongoose and its strange attack upon Lady Arabella. You will think it strange that I should

suspect the mistress of Diana's Grove, a beautiful woman of aristocratic birth. Let me explainthe family

seat is near my own place, Doom Tower, and at one time I knew the family well. When still a young girl,

Lady Arabella wandered into a small wood near her home, and did not return. She was found unconscious

and in a high feverthe doctor said that she had received a poisonous bite, and the girl being at a delicate

and critical age, the result was seriousso much so that she was not expected to recover. A great London

physician came down but could do nothingindeed, he said that the girl would not survive the night. All

hope had been abandoned, when, to everyone's surprise, Lady Arabella made a sudden and startling recovery.

Within a couple of days she was going about as usual! But to the horror of her people, she developed a

terrible craving for cruelty, maiming and injuring birds and small animals even killing them. This was put

down to a nervous disturbance due to her age, and it was hoped that her marriage to Captain March would put

this right. However, it was not a happy marriage, and eventually her husband was found shot through the

head. I have always suspected suicide, though no pistol was found near the body. He may have discovered

somethingGod knows what!so possibly Lady Arabella may herself have killed him. Putting together

many small matters that have come to my knowledge, I have come to the conclusion that the foul White

Worm obtained control of her body, just as her soul was leaving its earthly tenementthat would explain the

sudden revival of energy, the strange and inexplicable craving for maiming and killing, as well as many other

matters with which I need not trouble you now, Adam. As I said just now, God alone knows what poor

Captain March discoveredit must have been something too ghastly for human endurance, if my theory is

correct that the once beautiful human body of Lady Arabella is under the control of this ghastly White

"We can do nothing, my boythat is the important part of it. It would be impossible to take actionall we

can do is to keep careful watch, especially as regards Lady Arabella, and be ready to act, promptly and

Adam Salton, though he talked little, did not let the grass grow under his feet in any matter which he had

undertaken, or in which he was interested. He had agreed with Sir Nathaniel that they should not do anything

with regard to the mystery of Lady Arabella's fear of the mongoose, but he steadily pursued his course in

being PREPARED to act whenever the opportunity might come. He was in his own mind perpetually casting

about for information or clues which might lead to possible lines of action. Baffled by the killing of the

mongoose, he looked around for another line to follow. He was fascinated by the idea of there being a

mysterious link between the woman and the animal, but he was already preparing a second string to his bow.

His new idea was to use the faculties of Oolanga, so far as he could, in the service of discovery. His first

move was to send Davenport to Liverpool to try to find the steward of the WEST AFRICAN, who had told

him about Oolanga, and if possible secure any further information, and then try to induce (by bribery or other

means) the nigger to come to the Brow. So soon as he himself could have speech of the Voodooman he

would be able to learn from him something useful. Davenport was successful in his missions, for he had to

get another mongoose, and he was able to tell Adam that he had seen the steward, who told him much that he

wanted to know, and had also arranged for Oolanga to come to Lesser Hill the following day. At this point

Adam saw his way sufficiently clear to admit Davenport to some extent into his confidence. He had come to

the conclusion that it would be bettercertainly at firstnot himself to appear in the matter, with which

Davenport was fully competent to deal. It would be time for himself to take a personal part when matters had

If what the nigger said was in any wise true, the man had a rare gift which might be useful in the quest they

were after. He could, as it were, "smell death." If any one was dead, if any one had died, or if a place had

been used in connection with death, he seemed to know the broad fact by intuition. Adam made up his mind

that to test this faculty with regard to several places would be his first task. Naturally he was anxious, and the

time passed slowly. The only comfort was the arrival the next morning of a strong packing case, locked, from

Ross, the key being in the custody of Davenport. In the case were two smaller boxes, both locked. One of

them contained a mongoose to replace that killed by Lady Arabella; the other was the special mongoose

which had already killed the kingcobra in Nepaul. When both the animals had been safely put under lock

and key, he felt that he might breathe more freely. No one was allowed to know the secret of their existence

in the house, except himself and Davenport. He arranged that Davenport should take Oolanga round the

neighbourhood for a walk, stopping at each of the places which he designated. Having gone all along the

Brow, he was to return the same way and induce him to touch on the same subjects in talking with Adam,

who was to meet them as if by chance at the farthest partthat beyond Mercy Farm.

The incidents of the day proved much as Adam expected. At Mercy Farm, at Diana's Grove, at Castra Regis,

and a few other spots, the negro stopped and, opening his wide nostrils as if to sniff boldly, said that he

smelled death. It was not always in the same form. At Mercy Farm he said there were many small deaths. At

Diana's Grove his bearing was different. There was a distinct sense of enjoyment about him, especially when

he spoke of many great deaths. Here, too, he sniffed in a strange way, like a bloodhound at check, and looked

puzzled. He said no word in either praise or disparagement, but in the centre of the Grove, where, hidden

amongst ancient oak stumps, was a block of granite slightly hollowed on the top, he bent low and placed his

forehead on the ground. This was the only place where he showed distinct reverence. At the Castle, though he

There was evidently something about Diana's Grove which both interested and baffled him. Before leaving,

he moved all over the place unsatisfied, and in one spot, close to the edge of the Brow, where there was a

deep hollow, he appeared to be afraid. After returning several times to this place, he suddenly turned and ran

in a panic of fear to the higher ground, crossing as he did so the outcropping rock. Then he seemed to breathe

All this seemed to satisfy Adam's expectations. He went back to Lesser Hill with a serene and settled calm

"By the way, I forgot to ask you details about one thing. When that extraordinary staring episode of Mr.

"She looked frightened, and trembled just as I have seen a pigeon with a hawk, or a bird with a serpent."

"Thanks. It is just as I expected. There have been circumstances in the Caswall family which lead one to

believe that they have had from the earliest times some extraordinary mesmeric or hypnotic faculty. Indeed, a

skilled eye could read so much in their physiognomy. That shot of yours, whether by instinct or intention, of

the hawk and the pigeon was peculiarly apposite. I think we may settle on that as a fixed trait to be accepted

When dusk had fallen, Adam took the new mongoosenot the one from Nepauland, carrying the box

slung over his shoulder, strolled towards Diana's Grove. Close to the gateway he met Lady Arabella, clad as

To his intense astonishment the mongoose allowed her to pet him, take him up in her arms and fondle him.

Round the roadway between the entrances of Diana's Grove and Lesser Hill were many trees, with not much

foliage except at the top. In the dusk this place was shadowy, and the view was hampered by the clustering

trunks. In the uncertain, tremulous light which fell through the treetops, it was hard to distinguish anything

clearly, and at last, somehow, he lost sight of her altogether, and turned back on his track to find her.

Presently he came across her close to her own gate. She was leaning over the paling of split oak branches

which formed the paling of the avenue. He could not see the mongoose, so he asked her where it had gone.

"He slipt out of my arms while I was petting him," she answered, "and disappeared under the hedges."

They found him at a place where the avenue widened so as to let carriages pass each other. The little creature

seemed quite changed. He had been ebulliently active; now he was dull and spiritlessseemed to be dazed.

He allowed himself to be lifted by either of the pair; but when he was alone with Lady Arabella he kept

looking round him in a strange way, as though trying to escape. When they had come out on the roadway

Adam held the mongoose tight to him, and, lifting his hat to his companion, moved quickly towards Lesser

When Adam got home, he put the mongoose in his box, and locked the door of the room. The other

mongoosethe one from Nepaulwas safely locked in his own box, but he lay quiet and did not stir. When

"I have come," he said, "while we have an opportunity of being alone, to tell you something of the Caswall

family which I think will interest you. There is, or used to be, a belief in this part of the world that the

Caswall family had some strange power of making the wills of other persons subservient to their own. There

are many allusions to the subject in memoirs and other unimportant works, but I only know of one where the

subject is spoken of definitely. It is MERCIA AND ITS WORTHIES, written by Ezra Toms more than a

hundred years ago. The author goes into the question of the close association of the then Edgar Caswall with

Mesmer in Paris. He speaks of Caswall being a pupil and the fellow worker of Mesmer, and states that

though, when the latter left France, he took away with him a vast quantity of philosophical and electric

instruments, he was never known to use them again. He once made it known to a friend that he had given

them to his old pupil. The term he used was odd, for it was 'bequeathed,' but no such bequest of Mesmer was

ever made known. At any rate the instruments were missing, and never turned up."

A servant came into the room to tell Adam that there was some strange noise coming from the locked room

into which he had gone when he came in. He hurried off to the place at once, Sir Nathaniel going with him.

Having locked the door behind them, Adam opened the packingcase where the boxes of the two mongooses

were locked up. There was no sound from one of them, but from the other a queer restless struggling. Having

opened both boxes, he found that the noise was from the Nepaul animal, which, however, became quiet at

once. In the other box the new mongoose lay dead, with every appearance of having been strangled!

He was home just as the clocks were striking six. He was pale and upset, but otherwise looked strong and

alert. The old man summed up his appearance and manner thus: "Braced up for battle."

"Now!" said Sir Nathaniel, and settled down to listen, looking at Adam steadily and listening attentively that

"I found Lilla and Mimi at home. Watford had been detained by business on the farm. Miss Watford received

me as kindly as before; Mimi, too, seemed glad to see me. Mr. Caswall came so soon after I arrived, that he,

or someone on his behalf, must have been watching for me. He was followed closely by the negro, who was

puffing hard as if he had been runningso it was probably he who watched. Mr. Caswall was very cool and

collected, but there was a more than usually iron look about his face that I did not like. However, we got on

very well. He talked pleasantly on all sorts of questions. The nigger waited a while and then disappeared as

on the other occasion. Mr. Caswall's eyes were as usual fixed on Lilla. True, they seemed to be very deep and

earnest, but there was no offence in them. Had it not been for the drawing down of the brows and the stern set

of the jaws, I should not at first have noticed anything. But the stare, when presently it began, increased in

intensity. I could see that Lilla began to suffer from nervousness, as on the first occasion; but she carried

herself bravely. However, the more nervous she grew, the harder Mr. Caswall stared. It was evident to me

that he had come prepared for some sort of mesmeric or hypnotic battle. After a while he began to throw

glances round him and then raised his hand, without letting either Lilla or Mimi see the action. It was

evidently intended to give some sign to the negro, for he came, in his usual stealthy way, quietly in by the

hall door, which was open. Then Mr. Caswall's efforts at staring became intensified, and poor Lilla's

nervousness grew greater. Mimi, seeing that her cousin was distressed, came close to her, as if to comfort or

strengthen her with the consciousness of her presence. This evidently made a difficulty for Mr. Caswall, for

his efforts, without appearing to get feebler, seemed less effective. This continued for a little while, to the

gain of both Lilla and Mimi. Then there was a diversion. Without word or apology the door opened, and Lady

Arabella March entered the room. I had seen her coming through the great window. Without a word she

crossed the room and stood beside Mr. Caswall. It really was very like a fight of a peculiar kind; and the

longer it was sustained the more earnestthe fiercerit grew. That combination of forcesthe overlord,

the white woman, and the black manwould have cost some probably all of themtheir lives in the

Southern States of America. To us it was simply horrible. But all that you can understand. This time, to go on

in sporting phrase, it was understood by all to be a 'fight to a finish,' and the mixed group did not slacken a

moment or relax their efforts. On Lilla the strain began to tell disastrously. She grew palea patchy pallor,

which meant that her nerves were out of order. She trembled like an aspen, and though she struggled bravely,

I noticed that her legs would hardly support her. A dozen times she seemed about to collapse in a faint, but

each time, on catching sight of Mimi's eyes, she made a fresh struggle and pulled through.

"By now Mr. Caswall's face had lost its appearance of passivity. His eyes glowed with a fiery light. He was

still the old Roman in inflexibility of purpose; but grafted on to the Roman was a new Berserker fury. His

companions in the baleful work seemed to have taken on something of his feeling. Lady Arabella looked like

a soulless, pitiless being, not human, unless it revived old legends of transformed human beings who had lost

their humanity in some transformation or in the sweep of natural savagery. As for the negrowell, I can only

say that it was solely due to the selfrestraint which you impressed on me that I did not wipe him out as he

stoodwithout warning, without fair playwithout a single one of the graces of life and death. Lilla was

silent in the helpless concentration of deadly fear; Mimi was all resolve and selfforgetfulness, so intent on the

soulstruggle in which she was engaged that there was no possibility of any other thought. As for myself, the

bonds of will which held me inactive seemed like bands of steel which numbed all my faculties, except sight

and hearing. We seemed fixed in an IMPASSE. Something must happen, though the power of guessing was

inactive. As in a dream, I saw Mimi's hand move restlessly, as if groping for something. Mechanically it

touched that of Lilla, and in that instant she was transformed. It was as if youth and strength entered afresh

into something already dead to sensibility and intention. As if by inspiration, she grasped the other's band

with a force which blenched the knuckles. Her face suddenly flamed, as if some divine light shone through it.

Her form expanded till it stood out majestically. Lifting her right hand, she stepped forward towards Caswall,

and with a bold sweep of her arm seemed to drive some strange force towards him. Again and again was the

gesture repeated, the man falling back from her at each movement. Towards the door he retreated, she

following. There was a sound as of the cooing sob of doves, which seemed to multiply and intensify with

each second. The sound from the unseen source rose and rose as he retreated, till finally it swelled out in a

triumphant peal, as she with a fierce sweep of her arm, seemed to hurl something at her foe, and he, moving

his hands blindly before his face, appeared to be swept through the doorway and out into the open sunlight.

"All at once my own faculties were fully restored; I could see and hear everything, and be fully conscious of

what was going on. Even the figures of the baleful group were there, though dimly seen as through a veila

shadowy veil. I saw Lilla sink down in a swoon, and Mimi throw up her arms in a gesture of triumph. As I

saw her through the great window, the sunshine flooded the landscape, which, however, was momentarily

By the next morning, daylight showed the actual danger which threatened. From every part of the eastern

counties reports were received concerning the enormous immigration of birds. Experts were sendingon

their own account, on behalf of learned societies, and through local and imperial governing bodiesreports

The reports closer to home were even more disturbing. All day long it would seem that the birds were coming

thicker from all quarters. Doubtless many were going as well as coming, but the mass seemed never to get

less. Each bird seemed to sound some note of fear or anger or seeking, and the whirring of wings never

ceased nor lessened. The air was full of a muttered throb. No window or barrier could shut out the sound, till

the ears of any listener became dulled by the ceaseless murmur. So monotonous it was, so cheerless, so

disheartening, so melancholy, that all longed, but in vain, for any variety, no matter how terrible it might be.

The second morning the reports from all the districts round were more alarming than ever. Farmers began to

dread the coming of winter as they saw the dwindling of the timely fruitfulness of the earth. And as yet it was

only a warning of evil, not the evil accomplished; the ground began to look bare whenever some passing

Edgar Caswall tortured his brain for a long time unavailingly, to think of some means of getting rid of what

he, as well as his neighbours, had come to regard as a plague of birds. At last he recalled a circumstance

which promised a solution of the difficulty. The experience was of some years ago in China, far upcountry,

towards the headwaters of the Yangtzekiang, where the smaller tributaries spread out in a sort of natural

irrigation scheme to supply the wilderness of paddyfields. It was at the time of the ripening rice, and the

myriads of birds which came to feed on the coming crop was a serious menace, not only to the district, but to

the country at large. The farmers, who were more or less afflicted with the same trouble every season, knew

how to deal with it. They made a vast kite, which they caused to be flown over the centre spot of the

incursion. The kite was shaped like a great hawk; and the moment it rose into the air the birds began to cower

and seek protectionand then to disappear. So long as that kite was flying overhead the birds lay low and

the crop was saved. Accordingly Caswall ordered his men to construct an immense kite, adhering as well as

they could to the lines of a hawk. Then he and his men, with a sufficiency of cord, began to fly it high

overhead. The experience of China was repeated. The moment the kite rose, the birds hid or sought shelter.

The following morning, the kite was still flying high, no bird was to be seen as far as the eye could reach

from Castra Regis. But there followed in turn what proved even a worse evil. All the birds were cowed; their

sounds stopped. Neither song nor chirp was heardsilence seemed to have taken the place of the normal

The fear and restraint which brooded amongst the denizens of the air began to affect all life. Not only did the

birds cease song or chirp, but the lowing of the cattle ceased in the fields and the varied sounds of life died

away. In place of these things was only a soundless gloom, more dreadful, more disheartening, more

soulkilling than any concourse of sounds, no matter how full of fear and dread. Pious individuals put up

constant prayers for relief from the intolerable solitude. After a little there were signs of universal depression

which those who ran might read. One and all, the faces of men and women seemed bereft of vitality, of

interest, of thought, and, most of all, of hope. Men seemed to have lost the power of expression of their

thoughts. The soundless air seemed to have the same effect as the universal darkness when men gnawed their

From this infliction of silence there was no relief. Everything was affected; gloom was the predominant note.

Joy appeared to have passed away as a factor of life, and this creative impulse had nothing to take its place.

That giant spot in high air was a plague of evil influence. It seemed like a new misanthropic belief which had

After a few days, men began to grow desperate; their very words as well as their senses seemed to be in

chains. Edgar Caswall again tortured his brain to find any antidote or palliative of this greater evil than

before. He would gladly have destroyed the kite, or caused its flying to cease; but the instant it was pulled

down, the birds rose up in even greater numbers; all those who depended in any way on agriculture sent

It was strange indeed what influence that weird kite seemed to exercise. Even human beings were affected by

it, as if both it and they were realities. As for the people at Mercy Farm, it was like a taste of actual death.

Lilla felt it most. If she had been indeed a real dove, with a real kite hanging over her in the air, she could not

Of course, some of those already drawn into the vortex noticed the effect on individuals. Those who were

interested took care to compare their information. Strangely enough, as it seemed to the others, the person

who took the ghastly silence least to heart was the negro. By nature he was not sensitive to, or afflicted by,

nerves. This alone would not have produced the seeming indifference, so they set their minds to discover the

real cause. Adam came quickly to the conclusion that there was for him some compensation that the others

did not share; and he soon believed that that compensation was in one form or another the enjoyment of the

Lady Arabella's cold nature rendered her immune to anything in the way of pain or trouble concerning others.

Edgar Caswall was far too haughty a person, and too stern of nature, to concern himself about poor or

helpless people, much less the lower order of mere animals. Mr. Watford, Mr. Salton, and Sir Nathaniel were

all concerned in the issue, partly from kindness of heartfor none of them could see suffering, even of wild

birds, unmovedand partly on account of their property, which had to be protected, or ruin would stare them

Lilla suffered acutely. As time went on, her face became pinched, and her eyes dull with watching and

crying. Mimi suffered too on account of her cousin's suffering. But as she could do nothing, she resolutely

made up her mind to selfrestraint and patience. Adam's frequent visits comforted her.

After a couple of weeks had passed, the kite seemed to give Edgar Caswall a new zest for life. He was never

tired of looking at its movements. He had a comfortable armchair put out on the tower, wherein he sat

sometimes all day long, watching as though the kite was a new toy and he a child lately come into possession

of it. He did not seem to have lost interest in Lilla, for he still paid an occasional visit at Mercy Farm.

Indeed, his feeling towards her, whatever it had been at first, had now so far changed that it had become a

distinct affection of a purely animal kind. Indeed, it seemed as though the man's nature had become

corrupted, and that all the baser and more selfish and more reckless qualities had become more conspicuous.

There was not so much sternness apparent in his nature, because there was less selfrestraint. Determination

The visible change in Edgar was that he grew morbid, sad, silent; the neighbours thought he was going mad.

He became absorbed in the kite, and watched it not only by day, but often all night long. It became an

Caswall took a personal interest in the keeping of the great kite flying. He had a vast coil of cord efficient for

the purpose, which worked on a roller fixed on the parapet of the tower. There was a winch for the pulling in

of the slack; the outgoing line being controlled by a racket. There was invariably one man at least, day and

night, on the tower to attend to it. At such an elevation there was always a strong wind, and at times the kite

rose to an enormous height, as well as travelling for great distances laterally. In fact, the kite became, in a

short time, one of the curiosities of Castra Regis and all around it. Edgar began to attribute to it, in his own

mind, almost human qualities. It became to him a separate entity, with a mind and a soul of its own. Being

idlehanded all day, he began to apply to what he considered the service of the kite some of his spare time,

and found a new pleasurea new object in lifein the old schoolboy game of sending up "runners" to the

kite. The way this is done is to get round pieces of paper so cut that there is a hole in the centre, through

which the string of the kite passes. The natural action of the windpressure takes the paper along the string,

In the early days of this amusement Edgar Caswall spent hours. Hundreds of such messengers flew along the

string, until soon he bethought him of writing messages on these papers so that he could make known his

ideas to the kite. It may be that his brain gave way under the opportunities given by his illusion of the entity

of the toy and its power of separate thought. From sending messages he came to making direct speech to the

kitewithout, however, ceasing to send the runners. Doubtless, the height of the tower, seated as it was on

the hilltop, the rushing of the ceaseless wind, the hypnotic effect of the lofty altitude of the speck in the sky

at which he gazed, and the rushing of the paper messengers up the string till sight of them was lost in

distance, all helped to further affect his brain, undoubtedly giving way under the strain of beliefs and

circumstances which were at once stimulating to the imagination, occupative of his mind, and absorbing.

The next step of intellectual decline was to bring to bear on the main idea of the conscious identity of the kite

all sorts of subjects which had imaginative force or tendency of their own. He had, in Castra Regis, a large

collection of curious and interesting things formed in the past by his forebears, of similar tastes to his own.

There were all sorts of strange anthropological specimens, both old and new, which had been collected

through various travels in strange places: ancient Egyptian relics from tombs and mummies; curios from

Australia, New Zealand, and the South Seas; idols and imagesfrom Tartar ikons to ancient Egyptian,

Persian, and Indian objects of worship; objects of death and torture of American Indians; and, above all, a

vast collection of lethal weapons of every kind and from every placeChinese "high pinders," double

knives, Afghan doubleedged scimitars made to cut a body in two, heavy knives from all the Eastern

countries, ghost daggers from Thibet, the terrible kukri of the Ghourka and other hill tribes of India, assassins'

weapons from Italy and Spain, even the knife which was formerly carried by the slavedrivers of the

Mississippi region. Death and pain of every kind were fully represented in that gruesome collection.

That it had a fascination for Oolanga goes without saying. He was never tired of visiting the museum in the

tower, and spent endless hours in inspecting the exhibits, till he was thoroughly familiar with every detail of

all of them. He asked permission to clean and polish and sharpen thema favour which was readily granted.

In addition to the above objects, there were many things of a kind to awaken human fear. Stuffed serpents of

the most objectionable and horrid kind; giant insects from the tropics, fearsome in every detail; fishes and

crustaceans covered with weird spikes; dried octopuses of great size. Other things, too, there were, not less

deadly though seemingly innocuousdried fungi, traps intended for birds, beasts, fishes, reptiles, and

insects; machines which could produce pain of any kind and degree, and the only mercy of which was the

Caswall, who had never before seen any of these things, except those which he had collected himself, found a

constant amusement and interest in them. He studied them, their uses, their mechanism where there was

suchand their places of origin, until he had an ample and real knowledge of all concerning them. Many

were secret and intricate, but he never rested till he found out all the secrets. When once he had become

interested in strange objects, and the way to use them, he began to explore various likely places for similar

finds. He began to inquire of his household where strange lumber was kept. Several of the men spoke of old

Simon Chester as one who knew everything in and about the house. Accordingly, he sent for the old man,

who came at once. He was very old, nearly ninety years of age, and very infirm. He had been born in the

Castle, and had served its succession of masterspresent or absent ever since. When Edgar began to

question him on the subject regarding which he had sent for him, old Simon exhibited much perturbation. In

fact, he became so frightened that his master, fully believing that he was concealing something, ordered him

to tell at once what remained unseen, and where it was hidden away. Face to face with discovery of his secret,

the old man, in a pitiable state of concern, spoke out even more fully than Mr. Caswall had expected.

"Indeed, indeed, sir, everything is here in the tower that has ever been put away in my time

exceptexcept" here he began to shake and tremble it"except the chest which Mr. Edgarhe who was

Mr. Edgar when I first took servicebrought back from France, after he had been with Dr. Mesmer. The

"That I do not know. Moreover, it is a peculiar trunk, without any visible means of opening."

The trunk, a heavy one with steel bands round it, but no lock or keyhole, was carried in by two men. Shortly

afterwards old Simon attended his master. When he came into the room, Mr. Caswall himself went and

"Most certainly I say so, your honour. How could I? It was entrusted to me with the other things by my

"Quite remarkable! Leave it with me. Close the door behind you. Staydid no one ever tell you about

"Oh, sir, I entreat you not to touch it. That trunk probably contains secrets which Dr. Mesmer told my master.

"Sir, he it was who, men said, sold his soul to the Evil One; I had thought that that time and the evil of it had

"That will do. Go away; but remain in your own room, or within call. I may want you."

Left alone in the turretroom, Edgar Caswall carefully locked the door and hung a handkerchief over the

keyhole. Next, he inspected the windows, and saw that they were not overlooked from any angle of the main

building. Then he carefully examined the trunk, going over it with a magnifying glass. He found it intact: the

steel bands were flawless; the whole trunk was compact. After sitting opposite to it for some time, and the

shades of evening beginning to melt into darkness, he gave up the task and went to his bedroom, after locking

He woke in the morning at daylight, and resumed his patient but unavailing study of the metal trunk. This he

continued during the whole day with the same resulthumiliating disappointment, which overwrought his

nerves and made his head ache. The result of the long strain was seen later in the afternoon, when he sat

locked within the turretroom before the still baffling trunk, distrait, listless and yet agitated, sunk in a settled

gloom. As the dusk was falling he told the steward to send him two men, strong ones. These he ordered to

take the trunk to his bedroom. In that room he then sat on into the night, without pausing even to take any

food. His mind was in a whirl, a fever of excitement. The result was that when, late in the night, he locked

himself in his room his brain was full of odd fancies; he was on the high road to mental disturbance. He lay

down on his bed in the dark, still brooding over the mystery of the closed trunk.

Gradually he yielded to the influences of silence and darkness. After lying there quietly for some time, his

mind became active again. But this time there were round him no disturbing influences; his brain was active

and able to work freely and to deal with memory. A thousand forgottenor only halfknownincidents,

fragments of conversations or theories long ago guessed at and long forgotten, crowded on his mind. He

seemed to hear again around him the legions of whirring wings to which he had been so lately accustomed.

Even to himself he knew that that was an effort of imagination founded on imperfect memory. But he was

content that imagination should work, for out of it might come some solution of the mystery which

surrounded him. And in this frame of mind, sleep made another and more successful essay. This time he

enjoyed peaceful slumber, restful alike to his wearied body and his overwrought brain.

In his sleep he arose, and, as if in obedience to some influence beyond and greater than himself, lifted the

great trunk and set it on a strong table at one side of the room, from which he had previously removed a

quantity of books. To do this, he had to use an amount of strength which was, he knew, far beyond him in his

normal state. As it was, it seemed easy enough; everything yielded before his touch. Then he became

conscious that somehowhow, he never could rememberthe chest was open. He unlocked his door, and,

taking the chest on his shoulder, carried it up to the turretroom, the door of which also he unlocked. Even at

the time he was amazed at his own strength, and wondered whence it had come. His mind, lost in conjecture,

was too far off to realise more immediate things. He knew that the chest was enormously heavy. He seemed,

in a sort of vision which lit up the absolute blackness around, to see the two sturdy servant men staggering

under its great weight. He locked himself again in the turretroom, and laid the opened chest on a table, and

in the darkness began to unpack it, laying out the contents, which were mainly of metal and glassgreat

pieces in strange formson another table. He was conscious of being still asleep, and of acting rather in

obedience to some unseen and unknown command than in accordance with any reasonable plan, to be

followed by results which he understood. This phase completed, he proceeded to arrange in order the

component parts of some large instruments, formed mostly of glass. His fingers seemed to have acquired a

new and exquisite subtlety and even a volition of their own. Then weariness of brain came upon him; his

head sank down on his breast, and little by little everything became wrapped in gloom.

He awoke in the early morning in his bedroom, and looked around him, now clearheaded, in amazement. In

its usual place on the strong table stood the great steelhooped chest without lock or key. But it was now

locked. He arose quietly and stole to the turretroom. There everything was as it had been on the previous

evening. He looked out of the window where high in air flew, as usual, the giant kite. He unlocked the wicket

gate of the turret stair and went out on the roof. Close to him was the great coil of cord on its reel. It was

humming in the morning breeze, and when he touched the string it sent a quick thrill through hand and arm.

There was no sign anywhere that there had been any disturbance or displacement of anything during the

Utterly bewildered, he sat down in his room to think. Now for the first time he FELT that he was asleep and

dreaming. Presently he fell asleep again, and slept for a long time. He awoke hungry and made a hearty meal.

Then towards evening, having locked himself in, he fell asleep again. When he woke he was in darkness, and

was quite at sea as to his whereabouts. He began feeling about the dark room, and was recalled to the

consequences of his position by the breaking of a large piece of glass. Having obtained a light, he discovered

this to be a glass wheel, part of an elaborate piece of mechanism which he must in his sleep have taken from

the chest, which was now opened. He had once again opened it whilst asleep, but he had no recollection of

Caswall came to the conclusion that there had been some sort of dual action of his mind, which might lead to

some catastrophe or some discovery of his secret plans; so he resolved to forgo for a while the pleasure of

making discoveries regarding the chest. To this end, he applied himself to quite another matteran

investigation of the other treasures and rare objects in his collections. He went amongst them in simple, idle

curiosity, his main object being to discover some strange item which he might use for experiment with the

kite. He had already resolved to try some runners other than those made of paper. He had a vague idea that

with such a force as the great kite straining at its leash, this might be used to lift to the altitude of the kite

itself heavier articles. His first experiment with articles of little but increasing weight was eminently

successful. So he added by degrees more and more weight, until he found out that the lifting power of the kite

was considerable. He then determined to take a step further, and send to the kite some of the articles which

lay in the steelhooped chest. The last time he had opened it in sleep, it had not been shut again, and he had

inserted a wedge so that he could open it at will. He made examination of the contents, but came to the

conclusion that the glass objects were unsuitable. They were too light for testing weight, and they were so

So he looked around for something more solid with which to experiment. His eye caught sight of an object

which at once attracted him. This was a small copy of one of the ancient Egyptian godsthat of Bes, who

represented the destructive power of nature. It was so bizarre and mysterious as to commend itself to his mad

humour. In lifting it from the cabinet, he was struck by its great weight in proportion to its size. He made

accurate examination of it by the aid of some instruments, and came to the conclusion that it was carved from

a lump of lodestone. He remembered that he had read somewhere of an ancient Egyptian god cut from a

similar substance, and, thinking it over, he came to the conclusion that he must have read it in Sir Thomas

Brown's POPULAR ERRORS, a book of the seventeenth century. He got the book from the library, and

"A great example we have from the observation of our learned friend Mr. Graves, in an AEgyptian idol cut

out of Loadstone and found among the Mummies; which still retains its attraction, though probably taken out

The strangeness of the figure, and its being so close akin to his own nature, attracted him. He made from thin

wood a large circular runner, and in front of it placed the weighty god, sending it up to the flying kite along

During the last few days Lady Arabella had been getting exceedingly impatient. Her debts, always pressing,

were growing to an embarrassing amount. The only hope she had of comfort in life was a good marriage; but

the good marriage on which she had fixed her eye did not seem to move quickly enoughindeed, it did not

seem to move at allin the right direction. Edgar Caswall was not an ardent wooer. From the very first he

seemed DIFFICILE, but he had been keeping to his own room ever since his struggle with Mimi Watford. On

that occasion Lady Arabella had shown him in an unmistakable way what her feelings were; indeed, she had

made it known to him, in a more overt way than pride should allow, that she wished to help and support him.

The moment when she had gone across the room to stand beside him in his mesmeric struggle, had been the

very limit of her voluntary action. It was quite bitter enough, she felt, that he did not come to her, but now

that she had made that advance, she felt that any withdrawal on his part would, to a woman of her class, be

nothing less than a flaming insult. Had she not classed herself with his nigger servant, an unreformed savage?

Had she not shown her preference for him at the festival of his homecoming? Had she not. . . Lady Arabella

was coldblooded, and she was prepared to go through all that might be necessary of indifference, and even

insult, to become chatelaine of Castra Regis. In the meantime, she would show no hurryshe must wait. She

might, in an unostentatious way, come to him again. She knew him now, and could make a keen guess at his

desires with regard to Lilla Watford. With that secret in her possession, she could bring pressure to bear on

Caswall which would make it no easy matter for him to evade her. The great difficulty was how to get near

him. He was shut up within his Castle, and guarded by a defence of convention which she could not pass

without danger of ill repute to herself. Over this question she thought and thought for days and nights. At last

she decided that the only way would be to go to him openly at Castra Regis. Her rank and position would

make such a thing possible, if carefully done. She could explain matters afterwards if necessary. Then when

they were alone, she would use her arts and her experience to make him commit himself. After all, he was

only a man, with a man's dislike of difficult or awkward situations. She felt quite sufficient confidence in her

From Diana's Grove she heard each day the luncheongong from Castra Regis sound, and knew the hour

when the servants would be in the back of the house. She would enter the house at that hour, and, pretending

that she could not make anyone hear her, would seek him in his own rooms. The tower was, she knew, away

from all the usual sounds of the house, and moreover she knew that the servants had strict orders not to

interrupt him when he was in the turret chamber. She had found out, partly by the aid of an operaglass and

partly by judicious questioning, that several times lately a heavy chest had been carried to and from his room,

and that it rested in the room each night. She was, therefore, confident that he had some important work on

Meanwhile, another member of the household at Castra Regis had schemes which he thought were working

to fruition. A man in the position of a servant has plenty of opportunity of watching his betters and forming

opinions regarding them. Oolanga was in his way a clever, unscrupulous rogue, and he felt that with things

moving round him in this great household there should be opportunities of selfadvancement. Being

unscrupulous and stealthyand a savagehe looked to dishonest means. He saw plainly enough that Lady

Arabella was making a dead set at his master, and he was watchful of the slightest sign of anything which

might enhance this knowledge. Like the other men in the house, he knew of the carrying to and fro of the

great chest, and had got it into his head that the care exercised in its porterage indicated that it was full of

treasure. He was for ever lurking around the turretrooms on the chance of making some useful discovery.

But he was as cautious as he was stealthy, and took care that no one else watched him.

It was thus that the negro became aware of Lady Arabella's venture into the house, as she thought, unseen. He

took more care than ever, since he was watching another, that the positions were not reversed. More than ever

he kept his eyes and ears open and his mouth shut. Seeing Lady Arabella gliding up the stairs towards his

master's room, he took it for granted that she was there for no good, and doubled his watching intentness and

Oolanga was disappointed, but he dared not exhibit any feeling lest it should betray that he was hiding.

Therefore he slunk downstairs again noiselessly, and waited for a more favourable opportunity of furthering

his plans. It must be borne in mind that he thought that the heavy trunk was full of valuables, and that he

believed that Lady Arabella had come to try to steal it. His purpose of using for his own advantage the

combination of these two ideas was seen later in the day. Oolanga secretly followed her home. He was an

expert at this game, and succeeded admirably on this occasion. He watched her enter the private gate of

Diana's Grove, and then, taking a roundabout course and keeping out of her sight, he at last overtook her in a

Lady Arabella was much surprised. She had not seen the negro for several days, and had almost forgotten his

existence. Oolanga would have been startled had he known and been capable of understanding the real value

placed on him, his beauty, his worthiness, by other persons, and compared it with the value in these matters

in which he held himself. Doubtless Oolanga had his dreams like other men. In such cases he saw himself as

a young sungod, as beautiful as the eye of dusky or even white womanhood had ever dwelt upon. He would

have been filled with all noble and captivating qualitiesor those regarded as such in West Africa. Women

would have loved him, and would have told him so in the overt and fervid manner usual in affairs of the heart

Oolanga came close behind Lady Arabella, and in a hushed voice, suitable to the importance of his task, and

in deference to the respect he had for her and the place, began to unfold the story of his love. Lady Arabella

was not usually a humorous person, but no man or woman of the white race could have checked the laughter

which rose spontaneously to her lips. The circumstances were too grotesque, the contrast too violent, for

subdued mirth. The man a debased specimen of one of the most primitive races of the earth, and of an

ugliness which was simply devilish; the woman of high degree, beautiful, accomplished. She thought that her

first moment's consideration of the outrageit was nothing less in her eyeshad given her the full material

for thought. But every instant after threw new and varied lights on the affront. Her indignation was too great

for passion; only irony or satire would meet the situation. Her cold, cruel nature helped, and she did not

Oolanga was dimly conscious that he was being flouted; but his anger was no less keen because of the

measure of his ignorance. So he gave way to it, as does a tortured beast. He ground his great teeth together,

raved, stamped, and swore in barbarous tongues and with barbarous imagery. Even Lady Arabella felt that it

was well she was within reach of help, or he might have offered her brutal violence even have killed her.

"Am I to understand," she said with cold disdain, so much more effective to wound than hot passion, "that

For reply he nodded his head. The scorn of her voice, in a sort of baleful hiss, soundedand feltlike the

"And you dared! youa savagea slavethe basest thing in the world of vermin! Take care! I don't value

your worthless life more than I do that of a rat or a spider. Don't let me ever see your hideous face here again,

As she was speaking, she had taken out her revolver and was pointing it at him. In the immediate presence of

death his impudence forsook him, and he made a weak effort to justify himself. His speech was short,

consisting of single words. To Lady Arabella it sounded mere gibberish, but it was in his own dialect, and

meant love, marriage, wife. From the intonation of the words, she guessed, with her woman's quick intuition,

at their meaning; but she quite failed to follow, when, becoming more pressing, he continued to urge his suit

in a mixture of the grossest animal passion and ridiculous threats. He warned her that he knew she had tried

to steal his master's treasure, and that he had caught her in the act. But if she would be his, he would share the

treasure with her, and they could live in luxury in the African forests. But if she refused, he would tell his

master, who would flog and torture her and then give her to the police, who would kill her.

The consequences of that meeting in the dusk of Diana's Grove were acute and farreaching, and not only to

the two engaged in it. From Oolanga, this might have been expected by anyone who knew the character of the

tropical African savage. To such, there are two passions that are inexhaustible and insatiablevanity and

that which they are pleased to call love. Oolanga left the Grove with an absorbing hatred in his heart. His lust

and greed were afire, while his vanity had been wounded to the core. Lady Arabella's icy nature was not so

deeply stirred, though she was in a seething passion. More than ever she was set upon bringing Edgar

Caswall to her feet. The obstacles she had encountered, the insults she had endured, were only as fuel to the

As she sought her own rooms in Diana's Grove, she went over the whole subject again and again, always

finding in the face of Lilla Watford a key to a problem which puzzled herthe problem of a way to turn

When in her boudoir, she wrote a note, taking so much trouble over it that she destroyed, and rewrote, till her

dainty wastebasket was halffull of torn sheets of notepaper. When quite satisfied, she copied out the last

sheet afresh, and then carefully burned all the spoiled fragments. She put the copied note in an emblazoned

envelope, and directed it to Edgar Caswall at Castra Regis. This she sent off by one of her grooms. The letter

"I want to have a chat with you on a subject in which I believe you are interested. Will you kindly call for me

one day after lunch say at three or four o'clock, and we can walk a little way together. Only as far as Mercy

Farm, where I want to see Lilla and Mimi Watford. We can take a cup of tea at the Farm. Do not bring your

African servant with you, as I am afraid his face frightens the girls. After all, he is not pretty, is he? I have an

At halfpast three next day, Edgar Caswall called at Diana's Grove. Lady Arabella met him on the roadway

outside the gate. She wished to take the servants into her confidence as little as possible. She turned when she

saw him coming, and walked beside him towards Mercy Farm, keeping step with him as they walked. When

they got near Mercy, she turned and looked around her, expecting to see Oolanga or some sign of him. He

was, however, not visible. He had received from his master peremptory orders to keep out of sightan order

for which the African scored a new offence up against her. They found Lilla and Mimi at home and

seemingly glad to see them, though both the girls were surprised at the visit coming so soon after the other.

The proceedings were a repetition of the battle of souls of the former visit. On this occasion, however, Edgar

Caswall had only the presence of Lady Arabella to support himOolanga being absent; but Mimi lacked the

support of Adam Salton, which had been of such effective service before. This time the struggle for

supremacy of will was longer and more determined. Caswall felt that if he could not achieve supremacy he

had better give up the idea, so all his pride was enlisted against Mimi. When they had been waiting for the

door to be opened, Lady Arabella, believing in a sudden attack, had said to him in a low voice, which

"This time you should win. Mimi is, after all, only a woman. Show her no mercy. That is weakness. Fight

her, beat her, trample on herkill her if need be. She stands in your way, and I hate her. Never take your

eyes off her. Never mind Lillashe is afraid of you. You are already her master. Mimi will try to make you

look at her cousin. There lies defeat. Let nothing take your attention from Mimi, and you will win. If she is

overcoming you, take my hand and hold it hard whilst you are looking into her eyes. If she is too strong for

you, I shall interfere. I'll make a diversion, and under cover of it you must retire unbeaten, even if not

The two girls came to the door together. Strange sounds were coming up over the Brow from the west. It was

the rustling and crackling of the dry reeds and rushes from the low lands. The season had been an unusually

dry one. Also the strong east wind was helping forward enormous flocks of birds, most of them pigeons with

white cowls. Not only were their wings whirring, but their cooing was plainly audible. From such a multitude

of birds the mass of sound, individually small, assumed the volume of a storm. Surprised at the influx of

birds, to which they had been strangers so long, they all looked towards Castra Regis, from whose high tower

the great kite had been flying as usual. But even as they looked, the cord broke, and the great kite fell

headlong in a series of sweeping dives. Its own weight, and the aerial force opposed to it, which caused it to

rise, combined with the strong easterly breeze, had been too much for the great length of cord holding it.

Somehow, the mishap to the kite gave new hope to Mimi. It was as though the side issues had been shorn

away, so that the main struggle was thenceforth on simpler lines. She had a feeling in her heart, as though

some religious chord had been newly touched. It may, of course, have been that with the renewal of the bird

voices a fresh courage, a fresh belief in the good issue of the struggle came too. In the misery of silence, from

which they had all suffered for so long, any new train of thought was almost bound to be a boon. As the

inrush of birds continued, their wings beating against the crackling rushes, Lady Arabella grew pale, and

To Mimi, born and bred in Siam, the sound was strangely like an exaggeration of the sound produced by a

Edgar Caswall was the first to recover from the interruption of the falling kite. After a few minutes he seemed

to have quite recovered his SANG FROID, and was able to use his brains to the end which he had in view.

Mimi too quickly recovered herself, but from a different cause. With her it was a deep religious conviction

that the struggle round her was of the powers of Good and Evil, and that Good was triumphing. The very

appearance of the snowy birds, with the cowls of Saint Columba, heightened the impression. With this

conviction strong upon her, she continued the strange battle with fresh vigour. She seemed to tower over

Caswall, and he to give back before her oncoming. Once again her vigorous passes drove him to the door. He

was just going out backward when Lady Arabella, who had been gazing at him with fixed eyes, caught his

hand and tried to stop his movement. She was, however, unable to do any good, and so, holding hands, they

passed out together. As they did so, the strange music which had so alarmed Lady Arabella suddenly stopped.

Instinctively they all looked towards the tower of Castra Regis, and saw that the workmen had refixed the

kite, which had risen again and was beginning to float out to its former station.

As they were looking, the door opened and Michael Watford came into the room. By that time all had

recovered their selfpossession, and there was nothing out of the common to attract his attention. As he came

"The new influx of birds is only the annual migration of pigeons from Africa. I am told that it will soon be

The second victory of Mimi Watford made Edgar Caswall more moody than ever. He felt thrown back on

himself, and this, added to his absorbing interest in the hope of a victory of his mesmeric powers, became a

deep and settled purpose of revenge. The chief object of his animosity was, of course, Mimi, whose will had

overcome his, but it was obscured in greater or lesser degree by all who had opposed him. Lilla was next to

Mimi in his hateLilla, the harmless, tenderhearted, sweetnatured girl, whose heart was so full of love for

all things that in it was no room for the passions of ordinary lifewhose nature resembled those doves of St.

Columba, whose colour she wore, whose appearance she reflected. Adam Salton came nextafter a gap; for

against him Caswall had no direct animosity. He regarded him as an interference, a difficulty to be got rid of

or destroyed. The young Australian had been so discreet that the most he had against him was his knowledge

of what had been. Caswall did not understand him, and to such a nature as his, ignorance was a cause of

Caswall resumed his habit of watching the great kite straining at its cord, varying his vigils in this way by a

further examination of the mysterious treasures of his house, especially Mesmer's chest. He sat much on the

roof of the tower, brooding over his thwarted passion. The vast extent of his possessions, visible to him at

that altitude, might, one would have thought, have restored some of his complacency. But the very extent of

his ownership, thus perpetually brought before him, created a fresh sense of grievance. How was it, he

thought, that with so much at command that others wished for, he could not achieve the dearest wishes of his

In this state of intellectual and moral depravity, he found a solace in the renewal of his experiments with the

mechanical powers of the kite. For a couple of weeks he did not see Lady Arabella, who was always on the

watch for a chance of meeting him; neither did he see the Watford girls, who studiously kept out of his way.

Adam Salton simply marked time, keeping ready to deal with anything that might affect his friends. He called

at the farm and heard from Mimi of the last battle of wills, but it had only one consequence. He got from

Ross several more mongooses, including a second kingcobrakiller, which he generally carried with him in

Mr. Caswall's experiments with the kite went on successfully. Each day he tried the lifting of greater weight,

and it seemed almost as if the machine had a sentience of its own, which was increasing with the obstacles

placed before it. All this time the kite hung in the sky at an enormous height. The wind was steadily from the

north, so the trend of the kite was to the south. All day long, runners of increasing magnitude were sent up.

These were only of paper or thin cardboard, or leather, or other flexible materials. The great height at which

the kite hung made a great concave curve in the string, so that as the runners went up they made a flapping

sound. If one laid a finger on the string, the sound answered to the flapping of the runner in a sort of hollow

intermittent murmur. Edgar Caswall, who was now wholly obsessed by the kite and all belonging to it, found

a distinct resemblance between that intermittent rumble and the snakecharming music produced by the

One day he made a discovery in Mesmer's chest which he thought he would utilise with regard to the runners.

This was a great length of wire, "fine as human hair," coiled round a finely made wheel, which ran to a

wondrous distance freely, and as lightly. He tried this on runners, and found it work admirably. Whether the

runner was alone, or carried something much more weighty than itself, it worked equally well. Also it was

strong enough and light enough to draw back the runner without undue strain. He tried this a good many

times successfully, but it was now growing dusk and he found some difficulty in keeping the runner in sight.

So he looked for something heavy enough to keep it still. He placed the Egyptian image of Bes on the fine

wire, which crossed the wooden ledge which protected it. Then, the darkness growing, he went indoors and

He had a strange feeling of uneasiness that nightnot sleeplessness, for he seemed conscious of being

asleep. At daylight he rose, and as usual looked out for the kite. He did not see it in its usual position in the

sky, so looked round the points of the compass. He was more than astonished when presently he saw the

missing kite struggling as usual against the controlling cord. But it had gone to the further side of the tower,

and now hung and strained AGAINST THE WIND to the north. He thought it so strange that he determined

In his many travels, Edgar Caswall had been accustomed to use the sextant, and was now an expert in the

matter. By the aid of this and other instruments, he was able to fix the position of the kite and the point over

which it hung. He was startled to find that exactly under itso far as he could ascertainwas Diana's

Grove. He had an inclination to take Lady Arabella into his confidence in the matter, but he thought better of

it and wisely refrained. For some reason which he did not try to explain to himself, he was glad of his silence,

when, on the following morning, he found, on looking out, that the point over which the kite then hovered

was Mercy Farm. When he had verified this with his instruments, he sat before the window of the tower,

looking out and thinking. The new locality was more to his liking than the other; but the why of it puzzled

him, all the same. He spent the rest of the day in the turretroom, which he did not leave all day. It seemed to

him that he was now drawn by forces which he could not controlof which, indeed, he had no

knowledgein directions which he did not understand, and which were without his own volition. In sheer

helpless inability to think the problem out satisfactorily, he called up a servant and told him to tell Oolanga

that he wanted to see him at once in the turretroom. The answer came back that the African had not been seen

Caswall was now so irritable that even this small thing upset him. As he was distrait and wanted to talk to

somebody, he sent for Simon Chester, who came at once, breathless with hurrying and upset by the

unexpected summons. Caswall bade him sit down, and when the old man was in a less uneasy frame of mind,

he again asked him if he had ever seen what was in Mesmer's chest or heard it spoken about.

Chester admitted that he had once, in the time of "the then Mr. Edgar," seen the chest open, which, knowing

something of its history and guessing more, so upset him that he had fainted. When he recovered, the chest

When Caswall asked him to describe what he had seen when the chest was open, he got very agitated, and,

despite all his efforts to remain calm, he suddenly went off into a faint. Caswall summoned servants, who

applied the usual remedies. Still the old man did not recover. After the lapse of a considerable time, the

doctor who had been summoned made his appearance. A glance was sufficient for him to make up his mind.

Still, he knelt down by the old man, and made a careful examination. Then he rose to his feet, and in a hushed

Those who had seen Edgar Caswall familiarly since his arrival, and had already estimated his coldblooded

nature at something of its true value, were surprised that he took so to heart the death of old Chester. The fact

was that not one of them had guessed correctly at his character. They thought, naturally enough, that the

concern which he felt was that of a master for a faithful old servant of his family. They little thought that it

was merely the selfish expression of his disappointment, that he had thus lost the only remaining clue to an

interesting piece of family historyone which was now and would be for ever wrapped in mystery. Caswall

knew enough about the life of his ancestor in Paris to wish to know more fully and more thoroughly all that

had been. The period covered by that ancestor's life in Paris was one inviting every form of curiosity.

Lady Arabella, who had her own game to play, saw in the METIER of sympathetic friend, a series of

meetings with the man she wanted to secure. She made the first use of the opportunity the day after old

Chester's death; indeed, as soon as the news had filtered in through the back door of Diana's Grove. At that

meeting, she played her part so well that even Caswall's cold nature was impressed.

Oolanga was the only one who did not credit her with at least some sense of fine feeling in the matter. In

emotional, as in other matters, Oolanga was distinctly a utilitarian, and as he could not understand anyone

feeling grief except for his own suffering, pain, or for the loss of money, he could not understand anyone

simulating such an emotion except for show intended to deceive. He thought that she had come to Castra

Regis again for the opportunity of stealing something, and was determined that on this occasion the chance of

pressing his advantage over her should not pass. He felt, therefore, that the occasion was one for extra

carefulness in the watching of all that went on. Ever since he had come to the conclusion that Lady Arabella

was trying to steal the treasurechest, he suspected nearly everyone of the same design, and made it a point to

watch all suspicious persons and places. As Adam was engaged on his own researches regarding Lady

Arabella, it was only natural that there should be some crossing of each other's tracks. This is what did

Adam had gone for an early morning survey of the place in which he was interested, taking with him the

mongoose in its box. He arrived at the gate of Diana's Grove just as Lady Arabella was preparing to set out

for Castra Regis on what she considered her mission of comfort. Seeing Adam from her window going

through the shadows of the trees round the gate, she thought that he must be engaged on some purpose

similar to her own. So, quickly making her toilet, she quietly left the house, and, taking advantage of every

Oolanga, the experienced tracker, followed her, but succeeded in hiding his movements better than she did.

He saw that Adam had on his shoulder a mysterious box, which he took to contain something valuable.

Seeing that Lady Arabella was secretly following Adam, he was confirmed in this idea. His mindsuch as it

waswas fixed on her trying to steal, and he credited her at once with making use of this new opportunity.

In his walk, Adam went into the grounds of Castra Regis, and Oolanga saw her follow him with great

secrecy. He feared to go closer, as now on both sides of him were enemies who might make discovery. When

he realised that Lady Arabella was bound for the Castle, he devoted himself to following her with singleness

of purpose. He therefore missed seeing that Adam branched off the track and returned to the high road.

That night Edgar Caswall had slept badly. The tragic occurrence of the day was on his mind, and he kept

waking and thinking of it. After an early breakfast, he sat at the open window watching the kite and thinking

of many things. From his room he could see all round the neighbourhood, but the two places that interested

him most were Mercy Farm and Diana's Grove. At first the movements about those spots were of a humble

kindthose that belong to domestic service or agricultural needsthe opening of doors and windows, the

From his high windowwhose height made it a screen from the observation of othershe saw the chain of

watchers move into his own grounds, and then presently break upAdam Salton going one way, and Lady

Arabella, followed by the nigger, another. Then Oolanga disappeared amongst the trees; but Caswall could

see that he was still watching. Lady Arabella, after looking around her, slipped in by the open door, and he

Presently, however, he heard a light tap at his door, then the door opened slowly, and he could see the flash of

Caswall was genuinely surprised when he saw Lady Arabella, though he need not have been, after what had

already occurred in the same way. The look of surprise on his face was so much greater than Lady Arabella

had expectedthough she thought she was prepared to meet anything that might occurthat she stood still,

in sheer amazement. Coldblooded as she was and ready for all social emergencies, she was nonplussed how

to go on. She was plucky, however, and began to speak at once, although she had not the slightest idea what

"I came to offer you my very warm sympathy with the grief you have so lately experienced."

"Oh, he was only a servant; and he had overstayed his threescore and ten years by something like twenty

"I never interfere with servants. He was kept on here merely because he had been so long on the premises. I

suppose the steward thought it might make him unpopular if the old fellow had been dismissed."

How on earth was she to proceed on such a task as hers if this was the utmost geniality she could expect? So

"I am sorry I disturbed you. I am really not unconventionalthough certainly no slave to convention. Still

there are limits. . . it is bad enough to intrude in this way, and I do not know what you can say or think of the

After all, Edgar Caswall was a gentleman by custom and habit, so he rose to the occasion.

"I can only say, Lady Arabella, that you are always welcome at any time you may deign to honour my house

"Thank you SO much. You DO put one at ease. My breach of convention makes me glad rather than sorry. I

Forthwith she proceeded to tell him about Oolanga and his strange suspicions of her honesty. Caswall

laughed and made her explain all the details. His final comment was enlightening.

"Let me give you a word of advice: If you have the slightest fault to find with that infernal nigger, shoot him

at sight. A swelledheaded nigger, with a bee in his bonnet, is one of the worst difficulties in the world to deal

"Oh, the law doesn't concern itself much about dead niggers. A few more or less do not matter. To my mind

"I'm afraid of you," was her only comment, made with a sweet smile and in a soft voice.

"All right," he said, "let us leave it at that. Anyhow, we shall be rid of one of them!"

"I don't love niggers any more than you do," she replied, "and I suppose one mustn't be too particular where

that sort of cleaning up is concerned." Then she changed in voice and manner, and asked genially: "And now

As he spoke, seeing that she had moved to go, he came to the door with her, and in the most natural way

accompanied her downstairs. He passed through the hall with her and down the avenue. As he went back to

"Well, that is all right. I don't think the morning has been altogether thrown away."

Adam Salton followed the line of the Brow, and refreshed his memory as to the various localities. He got

home to Lesser Hill just as Sir Nathaniel was beginning lunch. Mr. Salton had gone to Walsall to keep an

early appointment; so he was all alone. When the meal was overseeing in Adam's face that he had

"I have remembered an interesting fact about Diana's Grovethere is, I have long understood, some strange

mystery about that house. It may be of some interest, or it may be trivial, in such a tangled skein as we are

"Please tell me all you know' or suspect. To begin, then, of what sort is the mysteryphysical, mental,

"Quite right. I shall try to tell you what I think; but I have not put my thoughts on the subject in sequence, so

you must forgive me if due order is not observed in my narration. I suppose you have seen the house at

"The outside of it; but I have that in my mind's eye, and I can fit into my memory whatever you may

"The house is very oldprobably the first house of some sort that stood there was in the time of the Romans.

This was probably renewedperhaps several times at later periods. The house stands, or, rather, used to

stand here when Mercia was a kingdomI do not suppose that the basement can be later than the Norman

Conquest. Some years ago, when I was President of the Mercian Archaeological Society, I went all over it

very carefully. This was when it was purchased by Captain March. The house had then been done up, so as to

be suitable for the bride. The basement is very strong,almost as strong and as heavy as if it had been

intended as a fortress. There are a whole series of rooms deep underground. One of them in particular struck

me. The room itself is of considerable size, but the masonry is more than massive. In the middle of the room

is a sunk well, built up to floor level and evidently going deep underground. There is no windlass nor any

trace of there ever having been anyno ropenothing. Now, we know that the Romans had wells of

immense depth, from which the water was lifted by the 'old rag rope'; that at Woodhull used to be nearly a

thousand feet. Here, then, we have simply an enormously deep wellhole. The door of the room was massive,

and was fastened with a lock nearly a foot square. It was evidently intended for some kind of protection to

someone or something; but no one in those days had ever heard of anyone having been allowed even to see

the room. All this is E PROPOS of a suggestion on my part that the wellhole was a way by which the White

Worm (whatever it was) went and came. At that time I would have had a search madeeven excavation if

necessaryat my own expense, but all suggestions were met with a prompt and explicit negative. So, of

course, I took no further step in the matter. Then it died out of recollectioneven of mine."

"Do you remember, sir," asked Adam, "what was the appearance of the room where the wellhole was? Was

"The only thing I remember was a sort of green lightvery clouded, very dimwhich came up from the

well. Not a fixed light, but intermittent and irregularquite unlike anything I had ever seen."

"Do you remember how you got into the wellroom? Was there a separate door from outside, or was there

"I think there must have been some room with a way into it. I remember going up some steep steps; they must

have been worn smooth by long use or something of the kind, for I could hardly keep my feet as I went up.

"Queer smellyes! Like bilge or a rank swamp. It was distinctly nauseating; when I came out I felt as if I

had just been going to be sick. I shall try back on my visit and see if I can recall any more of what I saw or

"Then perhaps, sir, later in the day you will tell me anything you may chance to recollect."

"I shall be delighted, Adam. If your uncle has not returned by then, I'll join you in the study after dinner, and

That afternoon Adam decided to do a little exploring. As he passed through the wood outside the gate of

Diana's Grove, he thought he saw the African's face for an instant. So he went deeper into the undergrowth,

and followed along parallel to the avenue to the house. He was glad that there was no workman or servant

about, for he did not care that any of Lady Arabella's people should find him wandering about her grounds.

Taking advantage of the denseness of the trees, he came close to the house and skirted round it. He was

repaid for his trouble, for on the far side of the house, close to where the rocky frontage of the cliff fell away,

he saw Oolanga crouched behind the irregular trunk of a great oak. The man was so intent on watching

someone, or something, that he did not guard against being himself watched. This suited Adam, for he could

The thick wood, though the trees were mostly of small girth, threw a heavy shadow, so that the steep

declension, in front of which grew the tree behind which the African lurked, was almost in darkness. Adam

drew as close as he could, and was amazed to see a patch of light on the ground before him; when he realised

what it was, he was determined, more than ever to follow on his quest. The nigger had a dark lantern in his

hand, and was throwing the light down the steep incline. The glare showed a series of stone steps, which

ended in a lowlying heavy iron door fixed against the side of the house. All the strange things he had heard

from Sir Nathaniel, and all those, little and big, which he had himself noticed, crowded into his mind in a

chaotic way. Instinctively he took refuge behind a thick oak stem, and set himself down, to watch what might

After a short time it became apparent that the African was trying to find out what was behind the heavy door.

There was no way of looking in, for the door fitted tight into the massive stone slabs. The only opportunity

for the entrance of light was through a small hole between the great stones above the door. This hole was too

high up to look through from the ground level. Oolanga, having tried standing tiptoe on the highest point

near, and holding the lantern as high as he could, threw the light round the edges of the door to see if he could

find anywhere a hole or a flaw in the metal through which he could obtain a glimpse. Foiled in this, he

brought from the shrubbery a plank, which he leant against the top of the door and then climbed up with great

dexterity. This did not bring him near enough to the windowhole to look in, or even to throw the light of the

lantern through it, so he climbed down and carried the plank back to the place from which he had got it. Then

he concealed himself near the iron door and waited, manifestly with the intent of remaining there till someone

came near. Presently Lady Arabella, moving noiselessly through the shade, approached the door. When he

saw her close enough to touch it, Oolanga stepped forward from his concealment, and spoke in a whisper,

She turned on him with blazing eyes, the green tint in them glowing like emeralds.

"Come, none of that. If there is anything sensible which you wish to say to me, you can see me here, just

He made no reply in words, but, putting the backs of his hands together, bent lower and lower till his

Adam Salton, from his hidingplace, saw and wondered. In a few minutes he moved from his place and went

home to Lesser Hill, fully determined that seven o'clock would find him in some hidden place behind Diana's

At a little before seven Adam stole softly out of the house and took the backway to the rear of Diana's

Grove. The place seemed silent and deserted, so he took the opportunity of concealing himself near the spot

whence he had seen Oolanga trying to investigate whatever was concealed behind the iron door. He waited,

perfectly still, and at last saw a gleam of white passing soundlessly through the undergrowth. He was not

surprised when he recognised the colour of Lady Arabella's dress. She came close and waited, with her face

to the iron door. From some place of concealment near at hand Oolanga appeared, and came close to her.

Adam noticed, with surprised amusement, that over his shoulder was the box with the mongoose. Of course

the African did not know that he was seen by anyone, least of all by the man whose property he had with him.

Silentfooted as he was, Lady Arabella heard him coming, and turned to meet him. It was somewhat hard to

see in the gloom, for, as usual, he was all in black, only his collar and cuffs showing white. Lady Arabella

"Is that a coffin you have with you? If so, you are wasting your time. It would not hold me."

When a nigger suspects he is being laughed at, all the ferocity of his nature comes to the front; and this man

"Dis ain't no coffin for nobody. Dis box is for you. Somefin you lub. Me give him to you!"

Still anxious to keep off the subject of affection, on which she believed him to have become crazed, she made

"Is this why you want to see me?" He nodded. "Then come round to the other door. But be quiet. I have no

desire to be seen so close to my own house in conversation with aaa nigger like you!"

She had chosen the word deliberately. She wished to meet his passion with another kind. Such would, at all

events, help to keep him quiet. In the deep gloom she could not see the anger which suffused his face. Rolling

eyeballs and grinding teeth are, however, sufficient signs of anger to be decipherable in the dark. She moved

round the corner of the house to her right. Oolanga was following her, when she stopped him by raising her

"No, not that door," she said; "that is not for niggers. The other door will do well enough for you!"

Lady Arabella took in her hand a small key which hung at the end of her watchchain, and moved to a small

door, low down, round the corner, and a little downhill from the edge of the Brow. Oolanga, in obedience to

her gesture, went back to the iron door. Adam looked carefully at the mongoose box as the African went by,

and was glad to see that it was intact. Unconsciously, as he looked, he fingered the key that was in his

waistcoat pocket. When Oolanga was out of sight, Adam hurried after Lady Arabella.

"One moment whilst we are alone. You had better not trust that nigger!" he whispered.

"Forewarned is forearmed. Tell me if you willit is for your own protection. Why do you mistrust him?"

"My friend, you have no idea of that man's impudence. Would you believe that he wants me to marry him?"

"Yes, and wanted to bribe me to do it by sharing a chest of treasureat least, he thought it wasstolen from

"Did you notice that box he had slung on his shoulder? That belongs to me. I left it in the gunroom when I

went to lunch. He must have crept in and stolen it. Doubtless he thinks that it, too, is full of treasure."

"A little while ago he offered to give it to meanother bribe to accept him. Faugh! I am ashamed to tell you

Whilst they had been speaking, she had opened the door, a narrow iron one, well hung, for it opened easily

and closed tightly without any creaking or sound of any kind. Within all was dark; but she entered as freely

and with as little misgiving or restraint as if it had been broad daylight. For Adam, there was just sufficient

green light from somewhere for him to see that there was a broad flight of heavy stone steps leading upward;

but Lady Arabella, after shutting the door behind her, when it closed tightly without a clang, tripped up the

steps lightly and swiftly. For an instant all was dark, but there came again the faint green light which enabled

him to see the outlines of things. Another iron door, narrow like the first and fairly high, led into another

large room, the walls of which were of massive stones, so closely joined together as to exhibit only one

smooth surface. This presented the appearance of having at one time been polished. On the far side, also

smooth like the walls, was the reverse of a wide, but not high, iron door. Here there was a little more light, for

Lady Arabella took from her girdle another small key, which she inserted in a keyhole in the centre of a

massive lock. The great bolt seemed wonderfully hung, for the moment the small key was turned, the bolts of

the great lock moved noiselessly and the iron doors swung open. On the stone steps outside stood Oolanga,

with the mongoose box slung over his shoulder. Lady Arabella stood a little on one side, and the African,

accepting the movement as an invitation, entered in an obsequious way. The moment, however, that he was

He sniffed round as if he was enjoying the scent. The matter and manner of his speech were so revolting that

instinctively Adam's hand wandered to his revolver, and, with his finger on the trigger, he rested satisfied that

There was certainly opportunity for the nigger's enjoyment, for the open wellhole was almost under his

nose, sending up such a stench as almost made Adam sick, though Lady Arabella seemed not to mind it at all.

It was like nothing that Adam had ever met with. He compared it with all the noxious experiences he had ever

hadthe drainage of war hospitals, of slaughterhouses, the refuse of dissecting rooms. None of these was

like it, though it had something of them all, with, added, the sourness of chemical waste and the poisonous

effluvium of the bilge of a waterlogged ship whereon a multitude of rats had been drowned.

Then, quite unexpectedly, the negro noticed the presence of a third personAdam Salton! He pulled out a

pistol and shot at him, happily missing. Adam was himself usually a quick shot, but this time his mind had

been on something else and he was not ready. However, he was quick to carry out an intention, and he was

not a coward. In another moment both men were in grips. Beside them was the dark wellhole, with that

Adam and Oolanga both had pistols; Lady Arabella, who had not one, was probably the most ready of them

all in the theory of shooting, but that being impossible, she made her effort in another way. Gliding forward,

she tried to seize the African; but he eluded her grasp, just missing, in doing so, falling into the mysterious

hole. As he swayed back to firm foothold, he turned his own gun on her and shot. Instinctively Adam leaped

Lady Arabella's anger, now fully awake, was all for Oolanga. She moved towards him with her hands

extended, and had just seized him when the catch of the locked boxdue to some movement from within

flew open, and the kingcobrakiller flew at her with a venomous fury impossible to describe. As it seized

her throat, she caught hold of it, and, with a fury superior to its own, tore it in two just as if it had been a sheet

of paper. The strength used for such an act must have been terrific. In an instant, it seemed to spout blood and

entrails, and was hurled into the wellhole. In another instant she had seized Oolanga, and with a swift rush

had drawn him, her white arms encircling him, down with her into the gaping aperture.

Adam saw a medley of green and red lights blaze in a whirling circle, and as it sank down into the well, a pair

of blazing green eyes became fixed, sank lower and lower with frightful rapidity, and disappeared, throwing

upward the green light which grew more and more vivid every moment. As the light sank into the noisome

depths, there came a shriek which chilled Adam's blooda prolonged agony of pain and terror which

Adam Salton felt that he would never be able to free his mind from the memory of those dreadful moments.

The gloom which surrounded that horrible charnel pit, which seemed to go down to the very bowels of the

earth, conveyed from far down the sights and sounds of the nethermost hell. The ghastly fate of the African as

he sank down to his terrible doom, his black face growing grey with terror, his white eyeballs, now like

veined bloodstone, rolling in the helpless extremity of fear. The mysterious green light was in itself a milieu

of horror. And through it all the awful cry came up from that fathomless pit, whose entrance was flooded with

spots of fresh blood. Even the death of the fearless little snakekillerso fierce, so frightful, as if stained

with a ferocity which told of no living force above earth, but only of the devils of the pitwas only an

incident. Adam was in a state of intellectual tumult, which had no parallel in his experience. He tried to rush

away from the horrible place; even the baleful green light, thrown up through the gloomy wellshaft, was

dying away as its source sank deeper into the primeval ooze. The darkness was closing in on him in

He made a wild rush forwardslipt on the steps in some sticky, acridsmelling mass that felt and smelt like

blood, and, falling forward, felt his way into the inner room, where the wellshaft was not.

Then he rubbed his eyes in sheer amazement. Up the stone steps from the narrow door by which he had

entered, glided the whiteclad figure of Lady Arabella, the only colour to be seen on her being bloodmarks

on her face and hands and throat. Otherwise, she was calm and unruffled, as when earlier she stood aside for

Adam Salton went for a walk before returning to Lesser Hill; he felt that it might be well, not only to steady

his nerves, shaken by the horrible scene, but to get his thoughts into some sort of order, so as to be ready to

enter on the matter with Sir Nathaniel. He was a little embarrassed as to telling his uncle, for affairs had so

vastly progressed beyond his original view that he felt a little doubtful as to what would be the old

gentleman's attitude when he should hear of the strange events for the first time. Mr. Salton would certainly

not be satisfied at being treated as an outsider with regard to such things, most of which had points of contact

with the inmates of his own house. It was with an immense sense of relief that Adam heard that his uncle had

telegraphed to the housekeeper that he was detained by business at Walsall, where he would remain for the

When Adam got home after his walk, he found Sir Nathaniel just going to bed. He did not say anything to

him then of what had happened, but contented himself with arranging that they would walk together in the

Strangely enough he slept well, and awoke at dawn with his mind clear and his nerves in their usual unshaken

condition. The maid brought up, with his early morning cup of tea, a note which had been found in the

letterbox. It was from Lady Arabella, and was evidently intended to put him on his guard as to what he

He read it over carefully several times, before he was satisfied that he had taken in its full import.

"I cannot go to bed until I have written to you, so you must forgive me if I disturb you, and at an unseemly

time. Indeed, you must also forgive me if, in trying to do what is right, I err in saying too much or too little.

The fact is that I am quite upset and unnerved by all that has happened in this terrible night. I find it difficult

even to write; my hands shake so that they are not under control, and I am trembling all over with memory of

the horrors we saw enacted before our eyes. I am grieved beyond measure that I should be, however

remotely, a cause of this horror coming on you. Forgive me if you can, and do not think too hardly of me.

This I ask with confidence, for since we shared together the dangerthe very pangsof death, I feel that we

should be to one another something more than mere friends, that I may lean on you and trust you, assured that

your sympathy and pity are for me. You really must let me thank you for the friendliness, the help, the

confidence, the real aid at a time of deadly danger and deadly fear which you showed me. That awful manI

shall see him for ever in my dreams. His black, malignant face will shut out all memory of sunshine and

happiness. I shall eternally see his evil eyes as he threw himself into that wellhole in a vain effort to escape

from the consequences of his own misdoing. The more I think of it, the more apparent it seems to me that he

"Perhaps you have noticed a fur collar I occasionally wear. It is one of my most valued treasuresan ermine

collar studded with emeralds. I had often seen the nigger's eyes gleam covetously when he looked at it.

Unhappily, I wore it yesterday. That may have been the cause that lured the poor man to his doom. On the

very brink of the abyss he tore the collar from my neckthat was the last I saw of him. When he sank into

the hole, I was rushing to the iron door, which I pulled behind me. When I heard that soulsickening yell,

which marked his disappearance in the chasm, I was more glad than I can say that my eyes were spared the

"When I tore myself out of the negro's grasp as he sank into the wellhole; I realised what freedom meant.

Freedom! Freedom! Not only from that noisome prisonhouse, which has now such a memory, but from the

more noisome embrace of that hideous monster. Whilst I live, I shall always thank you for my freedom. A

woman must sometimes express her gratitude; otherwise it becomes too great to bear. I am not a sentimental

girl, who merely likes to thank a man; I am a woman who knows all, of bad as well as good, that life can

give. I have known what it is to love and to lose. But you must not let me bring any unhappiness into your

life. I must live onas I have livedalone, and, in addition, bear with other woes the memory of this latest

insult and horror. In the meantime, I must get away as quickly as possible from Diana's Grove. In the

morning I shall go up to town, where I shall remain for a weekI cannot stay longer, as business affairs

demand my presence here. I think, however, that a week in the rush of busy London, surrounded with

multitudes of commonplace people, will help to softenI cannot expect total obliterationthe terrible

images of the bygone night. When I can sleep easilywhich will be, I hope, after a day or two I shall be

fit to return home and take up again the burden which will, I suppose, always be with me.

"I shall be most happy to see you on my returnor earlier, if my good fortune sends you on any errand to

London. I shall stay at the Mayfair Hotel. In that busy spot we may forget some of the dangers and horrors we

have shared together. Adieu, and thank you, again and again, for all your kindness and consideration to me.

Adam was surprised by this effusive epistle, but he determined to say nothing of it to Sir Nathaniel until he

should have thought it well over. When Adam met Sir Nathaniel at breakfast, he was glad that he had taken

time to turn things over in his mind. The result had been that not only was he familiar with the facts in all

their bearings, but he had already so far differentiated them that he was able to arrange them in his own mind

according to their values. Breakfast had been a silent function, so it did not interfere in any way with the

"That is so, sir. I suppose I had better begin by telling you all I knowall that has happened since I left you

Accordingly Adam gave him details of all that had happened during the previous evening. He confined

himself rigidly to the narration of circumstances, taking care not to colour events by any comment of his own,

or any opinion of the meaning of things which he did not fully understand. At first, Sir Nathaniel seemed

disposed to ask questions, but shortly gave this up when he recognised that the narration was concise and

selfexplanatory. Thenceforth, he contented himself with quick looks and glances, easily interpreted, or by

some acquiescent motions of his hands, when such could be convenient, to emphasise his idea of the

correctness of any inference. Until Adam ceased speaking, having evidently come to an end of what he had to

say with regard to this section of his story, the elder man made no comment whatever. Even when Adam took

from his pocket Lady Arabella's letter, with the manifest intention of reading it, he did not make any

comment. Finally, when Adam folded up the letter and put it, in its envelope, back in his pocket, as an

intimation that he had now quite finished, the old diplomatist carefully made a few notes in his pocketbook.

"Your narrative, my dear Adam, is altogether admirable. I think I may now take it that we are both well

versed in the actual facts, and that our conference had better take the shape of a mutual exchange of ideas. Let

us both ask questions as they may arise; and I do not doubt that we shall arrive at some enlightening

"Will you kindly begin, sir? I do not doubt that, with your longer experience, you will be able to dissipate

some of the fog which envelops certain of the things which we have to consider."

"I hope so, my dear boy. For a beginning, then, let me say that Lady Arabella's letter makes clear some things

which she intended and also some things which she did not intend. But, before I begin to draw deductions,

let me ask you a few questions. Adam, are you heartwhole, quite heartwhole, in the matter of Lady

His companion answered at once, each looking the other straight in the eyes during question and answer.

"Lady Arabella, sir, is a charming woman, and I should have deemed it a privilege to meet herto talk to

herevensince I am in the confessionalto flirt a little with her. But if you mean to ask if my affections

are in any way engaged, I can emphatically answer 'No!'as indeed you will understand when presently I

give you the reason. Apart from that, there are the unpleasant details we discussed the other day."

"Could youwould you mind giving me the reason now? It will help us to understand what is before us, in

"Certainly, sir. My reason, on which I can fully depend, is that I love another woman!"

"That clinches it. May I offer my good wishes, and, I hope, my congratulations?"

"I am proud of your good wishes, sir, and I thank you for them. But it is too soon for congratulationsthe

lady does not even know my hopes yet. Indeed, I hardly knew them myself, as definite, till this moment."

"I take it then, Adam, that at the right time I may be allowed to know who the lady is?"

"There need not be an hour's, a minute's delay. I shall be glad to share my secret with you, sir. The lady, sir,

whom I am so happy as to love, and in whom my dreams of lifelong happiness are centred, is Mimi

"Then, my dear Adam, I need not wait to offer congratulations. She is indeed a very charming young lady. I

do not think I ever saw a girl who united in such perfection the qualities of strength of character and

sweetness of disposition. With all my heart, I congratulate you. Then I may take it that my question as to your

"Certainly! I asked because it seems to me that we are coming to a point where my questions might be painful

"It is not merely that I love Mimi, but I have reason to look on Lady Arabella as her enemy," Adam

Sir Nathaniel went to the door, looked outside it and returned, locking it carefully behind him.

"Am I looking grave?" asked Sir Nathaniel inconsequently when he reentered the room.

"We little thought when first we met that we should be drawn into such a vortex. Already we are mixed up in

robbery, and probably murder, buta thousand times worse than all the crimes in the calendarin an affair

of ghastly mystery which has no bottom and no endwith forces of the most unnerving kind, which had

their origin in an age when the world was different from the world which we know. We are going back to the

origin of superstitionto an age when dragons tore each other in their slime. We must fear nothingno

conclusion, however improbable, almost impossible it may be. Life and death is hanging on our judgment,

not only for ourselves, but for others whom we love. Remember, I count on you as I hope you count on me."

"Then," said Sir Nathaniel, "let us think justly and boldly and fear nothing, however terrifying it may seem. I

suppose I am to take as exact in every detail your account of all the strange things which happened whilst you

"So far as I know, yes. Of course I may be mistaken in recollection of some detail or another, but I am certain

"You feel sure that you saw Lady Arabella seize the negro round the neck, and drag him down with her into

"We have, then, an account of what happened from an eyewitness whom we trustthat is yourself. We

have also another account, written by Lady Arabella under her own hand. These two accounts do not agree.

"We must, therefore, try to find a reason for her lying. She has nothing to fear from Oolanga, who is dead.

Therefore the only reason which could actuate her would be to convince someone else that she was

blameless. This 'someone' could not be you, for you had the evidence of your own eyes. There was no one

"There is only one other person whose good opinion she could wish to keepEdgar Caswall. He is the only

one who fills the bill. Her lies point to other things besides the death of the African. She evidently wanted it

to be accepted that his falling into the well was his own act. I cannot suppose that she expected to convince

you, the eyewitness; but if she wished later on to spread the story, it was wise of her to try to get your

"Then there were other matters of untruth. That, for instance, of the ermine collar embroidered with emeralds.

If an understandable reason be required for this, it would be to draw attention away from the green lights

which were seen in the room, and especially in the wellhole. Any unprejudiced person would accept the

green lights to be the eyes of a great snake, such as tradition pointed to living in the wellhole. In fine,

therefore, Lady Arabella wanted the general belief to be that there was no snake of the kind in Diana's Grove.

For my own part, I don't believe in a partial liarthis art does not deal in veneer; a liar is a liar right through.

Selfinterest may prompt falsity of the tongue; but if one prove to be a liar, nothing that he says can ever be

believed. This leads us to the conclusion that because she said or inferred that there was no snake, we should

"Now let me digress. I live, and have for many years lived, in Derbyshire, a county more celebrated for its

caves than any other county in England. I have been through them all, and am familiar with every turn of

them; as also with other great caves in Kentucky, in France, in Germany, and a host of other placesin many

of these are tremendously deep caves of narrow aperture, which are valued by intrepid explorers, who

descend narrow gullets of abysmal depthand sometimes never return. In many of the caverns in the Peak I

am convinced that some of the smaller passages were used in primeval times as the lairs of some of the great

serpents of legend and tradition. It may have been that such caverns were formed in the usual geologic

waybubbles or flaws in the earth's crustwhich were later used by the monsters of the period of the

young world. It may have been, of course, that some of them were worn originally by water; but in time they

"This brings us to another point, more difficult to accept and understand than any other requiring belief in a

base not usually accepted, or indeed entered onwhether such abnormal growths could have ever changed in

their nature. Some day the study of metabolism may progress so far as to enable us to accept structural

changes proceeding from an intellectual or moral base. We may lean towards a belief that great animal

strength may be a sound base for changes of all sorts. If this be so, what could be a more fitting subject than

primeval monsters whose strength was such as to allow a survival of thousands of years? We do not know yet

if brain can increase and develop independently of other parts of the living structure.

"After all, the mediaeval belief in the Philosopher's Stone which could transmute metals, has its counterpart

in the accepted theory of metabolism which changes living tissue. In an age of investigation like our own,

when we are returning to science as the base of wondersalmost of miracleswe should be slow to refuse

"Let us suppose a monster of the early days of the worlda dragon of the primeof vast age running into

thousands of years, to whom had been conveyed in some wayit matters nota brain just sufficient for the

beginning of growth. Suppose the monster to be of incalculable size and of a strength quite abnormala

veritable incarnation of animal strength. Suppose this animal is allowed to remain in one place, thus being

removed from accidents of interrupted development; might not, would not this creature, in process of

timeages, if necessaryhave that rudimentary intelligence developed? There is no impossibility in this; it

is only the natural process of evolution. In the beginning, the instincts of animals are confined to

alimentation, selfprotection, and the multiplication of their species. As time goes on and the needs of life

become more complex, power follows need. We have been long accustomed to consider growth as applied

almost exclusively to size in its various aspects. But Nature, who has no doctrinaire ideas, may equally apply

it to concentration. A developing thing may expand in any given way or form. Now, it is a scientific law that

increase implies gain and loss of various kinds; what a thing gains in one direction it may lose in another.

May it not be that Mother Nature may deliberately encourage decrease as well as increasethat it may be an

axiom that what is gained in concentration is lost in size? Take, for instance, monsters that tradition has

accepted and localised, such as the Worm of Lambton or that of Spindleston Heugh. If such a creature were,

by its own process of metabolism, to change much of its bulk for intellectual growth, we should at once arrive

at a new class of creaturemore dangerous, perhaps, than the world has ever had any experience ofa force

which can think, which has no soul and no morals, and therefore no acceptance of responsibility. A snake

would be a good illustration of this, for it is coldblooded, and therefore removed from the temptations which

often weaken or restrict warmblooded creatures. If, for instance, the Worm of Lambtonif such ever

existedwere guided to its own ends by an organised intelligence capable of expansion, what form of

creature could we imagine which would equal it in potentialities of evil? Why, such a being would devastate

a whole country. Now, all these things require much thought, and we want to apply the knowledge usefully,

and we should therefore be exact. Would it not be well to resume the subject later in the day?"

"I quite agree, sir. I am in a whirl already; and want to attend carefully to what you say; so that I may try to

Both men seemed fresher and better for the "easy," and when they met in the afternoon each of them had

something to contribute to the general stock of information. Adam, who was by nature of a more militant

disposition than his elderly friend, was glad to see that the conference at once assumed a practical trend. Sir

Nathaniel recognised this, and, like an old diplomatist, turned it to present use.

"Tell me now, Adam, what is the outcome, in your own mind, of our conversation?"

"That the whole difficulty already assumes practical shape; but with added dangers, that at first I did not

"What is the practical shape, and what are the added dangers? I am not disputing, but only trying to clear my

"In the past, in the early days of the world, there were monsters who were so vast that they could exist for

thousands of years. Some of them must have overlapped the Christian era. They may have progressed

intellectually in process of time. If they had in any way so progressed, or even got the most rudimentary form

of brain, they would be the most dangerous things that ever were in the world. Tradition says that one of

these monsters lived in the Marsh of the East, and came up to a cave in Diana's Grove, which was also called

the Lair of the White Worm. Such creatures may have grown down as well as up. They MAY have grown

into, or something like, human beings. Lady Arabella March is of snake nature. She has committed crimes to

our knowledge. She retains something of the vast strength of her primal beingcan see in the darkhas the

eyes of a snake. She used the nigger, and then dragged him through the snake's hole down to the swamp; she

"Bravo! That is a true and fearless conclusion. At whatever cost, it must be carried out."

"Soon, at all events. That creature's very existence is a danger. Her presence in this neighbourhood makes the

As he spoke, Sir Nathaniel's mouth hardened and his eyebrows came down till they met. There was no

doubting his concurrence in the resolution, or his readiness to help in carrying it out. But he was an elderly

man with much experience and knowledge of law and diplomacy. It seemed to him to be a stern duty to

prevent anything irrevocable taking place till it had been thought out and all was ready. There were all sorts

of legal cruxes to be thought out, not only regarding the taking of life, even of a monstrosity in human form,

but also of property. Lady Arabella, be she woman or snake or devil, owned the ground she moved in,

according to British law, and the law is jealous and swift to avenge wrongs done within its ken. All such

difficulties should bemust beavoided for Mr. Salton's sake, for Adam's own sake, and, most of all, for

Before he spoke again, Sir Nathaniel had made up his mind that he must try to postpone decisive action until

the circumstances on which they dependedwhich, after all, were only problematical should have been

tested satisfactorily, one way or another. When he did speak, Adam at first thought that his friend was

wavering in his intention, or "funking" the responsibility. However, his respect for Sir Nathaniel was so great

that he would not act, or even come to a conclusion on a vital point, without his sanction.

"We will prepare our plans to combat and destroy this horrible menace, after we have cleared up some of the

more baffling points. Meanwhile, we must wait for the nightI hear my uncle's footsteps echoing down the

When old Mr. Salton had retired for the night, Adam and Sir Nathaniel returned to the study. Things went

with great regularity at Lesser Hill, so they knew that there would be no interruption to their talk.

"I hope, Adam, that you do not think me either slack or changeable of purpose. I mean to go through this

business to the bitter end whatever it may be. Be satisfied that my first care is, and shall be, the protection

of Mimi Watford. To that I am pledged; my dear boy, we who are interested are all in the same danger. That

semihuman monster out of the pit hates and means to destroy us allyou and me certainly, and probably

your uncle. I wanted especially to talk with you tonight, for I cannot help thinking that the time is fast

comingif it has not come alreadywhen we must take your uncle into our confidence. It was one thing

when fancied evils threatened, but now he is probably marked for death, and it is only right that he should

"I am with you, sir. Things have changed since we agreed to keep him out of the trouble. Now we dare not;

consideration for his feelings might cost his life. It is a dutyand no light or pleasant one, either. I have not a

shadow of doubt that he will want to be one with us in this. But remember, we are his guests; his name, his

"All shall be as you wish, Adam. And now as to what we are to do? We cannot murder Lady Arabella

offhand. Therefore we shall have to put things in order for the killing, and in such a way that we cannot be

"It seems to me, sir, that we are in an exceedingly tight place. Our first difficulty is to know where to begin. I

never thought this fighting an antediluvian monster would be such a complicated job. This one is a woman,

with all a woman's wit, combined with the heartlessness of a COCOTTE. She has the strength and

impregnability of a diplodocus. We may be sure that in the fight that is before us there will be no semblance

"That is sobut being feminine, she will probably overreach herself. Now, Adam, it strikes me that, as we

have to protect ourselves and others against feminine nature, our strong game will be to play our masculine

against her feminine. Perhaps we had better sleep on it. She is a thing of the night; and the night may give us

Adam knocked at Sir Nathaniel's door in the grey of the morning, and, on being bidden, came into the room.

"I should like to read you a few letters, but, of course, I shall not send them unless you approve. In

fact"with a smile and a blush"there are several things which I want to do; but I hold my hand and my

"Go on!" said the other kindly. "Tell me all, and count at any rate on my sympathy, and on my approval and

"When I told you the conclusions at which I had arrived, I put in the foreground that Mimi Watford should,

for the sake of her own safety, be removedand that the monster which had wrought all the harm should be

"To carry this into practice, sir, one preliminary is required unless harm of another kind is to be faced.

Mimi should have some protector whom all the world would recognise. The only form recognised by

"And the marriage should be immediate and secretor, at least, not spoken of outside ourselves. Would the

"A sudden resolution, sir, but not a sudden idea. If she agrees, all is well and good. The sequence is obvious."

"I want no secret, sir, except for Mimi's good. For myself, I should like to shout it from the housetops! But

we must be discreet; untimely knowledge to our enemy might work incalculable harm."

"And how would you suggest, Adam, that we could combine the momentous question with secrecy?"

"God bless my soul! This is a new kind of duty to take onat my time of life. Adam, I hope you know that

"I have already counted on you, sir, when I ventured to make such a suggestion. I can only ask," he added,

"that you will be more than ever kind to meto usand look on the painful duty as a voluntary act of grace,

"It is a strange job for an early morning! Well, we all live and learn. I suppose the sooner I go the better. You

had better write a line for me to take with me. For, you see, this is to be a somewhat unusual transaction, and

it may be embarrassing to the lady, even to myself. So we ought to have some sort of warrant, something to

show that we have been mindful of her feelings. It will not do to take acquiescence for grantedalthough we

"Sir Nathaniel, you are a true friend; I am sure that both Mimi and I shall be grateful to you for all our

So the two talked it over and agreed as to points to be borne in mind by the ambassador. It was striking ten

As the young man followed him with wistful eyesalmost jealous of the privilege which his kind deed was

The memory of that morning was like a dream to all those concerned in it. Sir Nathaniel had a confused

recollection of detail and sequence, though the main facts stood out in his memory boldly and clearly. Adam

Salton's recollection was of an illimitable wait, filled with anxiety, hope, and chagrin, all dominated by a

sense of the slow passage of time and accompanied by vague fears. Mimi could not for a long time think at

all, or recollect anything, except that Adam loved her and was saving her from a terrible danger. When she

had time to think, later on, she wondered when she had any ignorance of the fact that Adam loved her, and

that she loved him with all her heart. Everything, every recollection however small, every feeling, seemed to

fit into those elemental facts as though they had all been moulded together. The main and crowning

recollection was her saying goodbye to Sir Nathaniel, and entrusting to him loving messages, straight from

her heart, to Adam Salton, and of his bearing when with an impulse which she could not checkshe put

her lips to his and kissed him. Later, when she was alone and had time to think, it was a passing grief to her

that she would have to be silent, for a time, to Lilla on the happy events of that strange mission.

She had, of course, agreed to keep all secret until Adam should give her leave to speak.

The advice and assistance of Sir Nathaniel was a great help to Adam in carrying out his idea of marrying

Mimi Watford without publicity. He went with him to London, and, with his influence, the young man

obtained the license of the Archbishop of Canterbury for a private marriage. Sir Nathaniel then persuaded old

Mr. Salton to allow his nephew to spend a few weeks with him at Doom Tower, and it was here that Mimi

became Adam's wife. But that was only the first step in their plans; before going further, however, Adam

took his bride off to the Isle of Man. He wished to place a stretch of sea between Mimi and the White Worm,

while things matured. On their return, Sir Nathaniel met them and drove them at once to Doom, taking care to

Sir Nathaniel had taken care to have the doors and windows shut and lockedall but the door used for their

entry. The shutters were up and the blinds down. Moreover, heavy curtains were drawn across the windows.

"Wait till we are alone, and I'll tell you why this is done; in the meantime not a word or a sign. You will

They said no more on the subject till after dinner, when they were ensconced in Sir Nathaniel's study, which

was on the top storey. Doom Tower was a lofty structure, situated on an eminence high up in the Peak. The

top commanded a wide prospect, ranging from the hills above the Ribble to the near side of the Brow, which

marked the northern bound of ancient Mercia. It was of the early Norman period, less than a century younger

than Castra Regis. The windows of the study were barred and locked, and heavy dark curtains closed them in.

When this was done not a gleam of light from the tower could be seen from outside.

When they were alone, Sir Nathaniel explained that he had taken his old friend, Mr. Salton, into full

"It is important for you to be extremely careful. In spite of the fact that our marriage was kept secret, as also

Adam noticed that from now on, his friend never spoke of Lady Arabella otherwise, except when he wished

Sir Nathaniel switched off the electric light, and when the room was pitch dark, he came to Adam, took him

by the hand, and led him to a seat set in the southern window. Then he softly drew back a piece of the curtain

Adam did so, and immediately shrank back as though his eyes had opened on pressing danger. His

"It is all right; you may speak, but speak low. There is no danger hereat present!"

Adam leaned forward, taking care, however, not to press his face against the glass. What he saw would not

under ordinary circumstances have caused concern to anybody. With his special knowledge, it was

appallingthough the night was now so dark that in reality there was little to be seen.

On the western side of the tower stood a grove of old trees, of forest dimensions. They were not grouped

closely, but stood a little apart from each other, producing the effect of a row widely planted. Over the tops of

them was seen a green light, something like the danger signal at a railwaycrossing. It seemed at first quite

still; but presently, when Adam's eye became accustomed to it, he could see that it moved as if trembling.

This at once recalled to Adam's mind the light quivering above the wellhole in the darkness of that inner

room at Diana's Grove, Oolanga's awful shriek, and the hideous black face, now grown grey with terror,

disappearing into the impenetrable gloom of the mysterious orifice. Instinctively he laid his hand on his

revolver, and stood up ready to protect his wife. Then, seeing that nothing happened, and that the light and all

outside the tower remained the same, he softly pulled the curtain over the window.

Sir Nathaniel switched on the light again, and in its comforting glow they began to talk freely.

"She has diabolical cunning," said Sir Nathaniel. "Ever since you left, she has ranged along the Brow and

wherever you were accustomed to frequent. I have not heard whence the knowledge of your movements came

to her, nor have I been able to learn any data whereon to found an opinion. She seems to have heard both of

your marriage and your absence; but I gather, by inference, that she does not actually know where you and

Mimi are, or of your return. So soon as the dusk fails, she goes out on her rounds, and before dawn covers the

whole ground round the Brow, and away up into the heart of the Peak. The White Worm, in her own proper

shape, certainly has great facilities for the business on which she is now engaged. She can look into windows

of any ordinary kind. Happily, this house is beyond her reach, if she wishesas she manifestly doesto

remain unrecognised. But, even at this height, it is wise to show no lights, lest she might learn something of

"Would it not be well, sir, if one of us could see this monster in her real shape at close quarters? I am willing

to run the riskfor I take it there would be no slight risk in the doing. I don't suppose anyone of our time has

"Good God, lad, what are you suggesting? Think of your wife, and all that is at stake."

"It is of Mimi that I thinkfor her sake that I am willing to risk whatever is to be risked."

Adam's young bride was proud of her man, but she blanched at the thought of the ghastly White Worm.

"So long as her ladyship does not know whereabout I am, I shall have as much safety as remains to us; bear

Sir Nathaniel realised that Adam was right; the White Worm had no supernatural powers and could not harm

them until she discovered their hiding place. It was agreed, therefore, that the two men should go together.

When the two men slipped out by the back door of the house, they walked cautiously along the avenue which

trended towards the west. Everything was pitch darkso dark that at times they had to feel their way by the

palings and treetrunks. They could still see, seemingly far in front of them and high up, the baleful light

which at the height and distance seemed like a faint line. As they were now on the level of the ground, the

light seemed infinitely higher than it had from the top of the tower. At the sight Adam's heart fell; the danger

of the desperate enterprise which he had undertaken burst upon him. But this feeling was shortly followed by

another which restored him to himselfa fierce loathing, and a desire to kill, such as he had never

They went on for some distance on a level road, fairly wide, from which the green light was visible. Here Sir

"We know nothing whatever of this creature's power of hearing or smelling, though I presume that both are of

no great strength. As to seeing, we may presume the opposite, but in any case we must try to keep in the

Adam only nodded, in case there should be any chance of the monster seeing the movement.

After a time that seemed interminable, they emerged from the circling wood. It was like coming out into

sunlight by comparison with the misty blackness which had been around them. There was light enough to see

by, though not sufficient to distinguish things at a distance. Adam's eyes sought the green light in the sky. It

was still in about the same place, but its surroundings were more visible. It was now at the summit of what

seemed to be a long white pole, near the top of which were two pendant white masses, like rudimentary arms

or fins. The green light, strangely enough, did not seem lessened by the surrounding starlight, but had a

clearer effect and a deeper green. Whilst they were carefully regarding thisAdam with the aid of an

operaglasstheir nostrils were assailed by a horrid stench, something like that which rose from the

By degrees, as their eyes got the right focus, they saw an immense towering mass that seemed snowy white.

It was tall and thin. The lower part was hidden by the trees which lay between, but they could follow the tall

white shaft and the duplicate green lights which topped it. As they looked there was a movementthe shaft

seemed to bend, and the line of green light descended amongst the trees. They could see the green light

Seeing where the head of the monster was, the two men ventured a little further forward, and saw that the

hidden mass at the base of the shaft was composed of vast coils of the great serpent's body, forming a base

from which the upright mass rose. As they looked, this lower mass moved, the glistening folds catching the

moonlight, and they could see that the monster's progress was along the ground. It was coming towards them

at a swift pace, so they turned and ran, taking care to make as little noise as possible, either by their footfalls

or by disturbing the undergrowth close to them. They did not stop or pause till they saw before them the high

Sir Nathaniel was in the library next morning, after breakfast, when Adam came to him carrying a letter.

"Ha!" said Sir Nathaniel, "from the White Worm! I expected something of the kind."

"But," said Adam, "how could she have known we were here? She didn't know last night."

"I don't think we need trouble about that, Adam. There is so much we do not understand. This is only another

mystery. Suffice it that she does knowperhaps it is all the better and safer for us."

"General process of reasoning, my boy; and the experience of some years in the diplomatic world. This

creature is a monster without heart or consideration for anything or anyone. She is not nearly so dangerous in

the open as when she has the dark to protect her. Besides, we know, by our own experience of her

movements, that for some reason she shuns publicity. In spite of her vast bulk and abnormal strength, she is

afraid to attack openly. After all, she is only a snake and with a snake's nature, which is to keep low and

squirm, and proceed by stealth and cunning. She will never attack when she can run away, although she

knows well that running away would probably be fatal to her. What is the letter about?"

Sir Nathaniel's voice was calm and selfpossessed. When he was engaged in any struggle of wits he was all

"She asks Mimi and me to tea this afternoon at Diana's Grove, and hopes that you also will favour her."

"It is an old trick that we learn early in diplomacy, Adamto fight on ground of your own choice. It is true

that she suggested the place on this occasion; but by accepting it we make it ours. Moreover, she will not be

able to understand our reason for doing so, and her own bad conscienceif she has any, bad or goodand

her own fears and doubts will play our game for us. No, my dear boy, let us accept, by all means."

Adam said nothing, but silently held out his hand, which his companion shook: no words were necessary.

"We must make a point of going in state. We want all possible publicity." Mimi looked at him inquiringly.

"Certainly, my dear, in the present circumstances publicity is a part of safety. Do not be surprised if, whilst

"None, my dear. All I have learned at foreign courts, and amongst civilised and uncivilised people, is going to

Sir Nathaniel's voice was full of seriousness, and it brought to Mimi in a convincing way the awful gravity of

In due course, they set out in a carriage drawn by a fine pair of horses, who soon devoured the few miles of

"I have arranged with Adam certain signals which may be necessary if certain eventualities occur. These need

be nothing to do with you directly. But bear in mind that if I ask you or Adam to do anything, do not lose a

second in the doing of it. We must try to pass off such moments with an appearance of unconcern. In all

probability, nothing requiring such care will occur. The White Worm will not try force, though she has so

much of it to spare. Whatever she may attempt today, of harm to any of us, will be in the way of secret plot.

Some other time she may try force, butif I am able to judge such a thingnot today. The messengers

who may ask for any of us will not be witnesses only, they may help to stave off danger." Seeing query in her

face, he went on: "Of what kind the danger may be, I know not, and cannot guess. It will doubtless be some

ordinary circumstance; but none the less dangerous on that account. Here we are at the gate. Now, be careful

There were a number of men in livery in the hall when they arrived. The doors of the drawingroom were

thrown open, and Lady Arabella came forth and offered them cordial welcome. This having been got over,

Adam was acutely watchful and suspicious of everything, and saw on the far side of this room a panelled iron

door of the same colour and configuration as the outer door of the room where was the wellhole wherein

Oolanga had disappeared. Something in the sight alarmed him, and he quietly stood near the door. He made

no movement, even of his eyes, but he could see that Sir Nathaniel was watching him intently, and, he

They all sat near the table spread for tea, Adam still near the door. Lady Arabella fanned herself, complaining

Tea was in progress when Mimi suddenly started up with a look of fright on her face; at the same moment,

the men became cognisant of a thick smoke which began to spread through the rooma smoke which made

those who experienced it gasp and choke. The footmen began to edge uneasily towards the inner door. Denser

and denser grew the smoke, and more acrid its smell. Mimi, towards whom the draught from the open door

wafted the smoke, rose up choking, and ran to the inner door, which she threw open to its fullest extent,

disclosing on the outside a curtain of thin silk, fixed to the doorposts. The draught from the open door swayed

the thin silk towards her, and in her fright, she tore down the curtain, which enveloped her from head to foot.

Then she ran through the still open door, heedless of the fact that she could not see where she was going.

Adam, followed by Sir Nathaniel, rushed forward and joined herAdam catching his wife by the arm and

holding her tight. It was well that he did so, for just before her lay the black orifice of the wellhole, which,

of course, she could not see with the silk curtain round her head. The floor was extremely slippery; something

like thick oil had been spilled where she had to pass; and close to the edge of the hole her feet shot from

When Adam saw Mimi slip, he flung himself backward, still holding her. His weight told, and he dragged her

up from the hole and they fell together on the floor outside the zone of slipperiness. In a moment he had

raised her up, and together they rushed out through the open door into the sunlight, Sir Nathaniel close behind

them. They were all pale except the old diplomatist, who looked both calm and cool. It sustained and cheered

Adam and his wife to see him thus master of himself. Both managed to follow his example, to the

wonderment of the footmen, who saw the three who had just escaped a terrible danger walking together gaily,

as, under the guiding pressure of Sir Nathaniel's hand, they turned to reenter the house.

Lady Arabella, whose face had blanched to a deadly white, now resumed her ministrations at the teaboard

as though nothing unusual had happened. The slopbasin was full of halfburned brown paper, over which

Sir Nathaniel had been narrowly observing his hostess, and took the first opportunity afforded him of

"The real attack is to comeshe is too quiet. When I give my hand to your wife to lead her out, come with

usand caution her to hurry. Don't lose a second, even if you have to make a scene. Hss sh!"

Then they resumed their places close to the table, and the servants, in obedience to Lady Arabella's order,

Thence on, that teaparty seemed to Adam, whose faculties were at their utmost intensity, like a terrible

dream. As for poor Mimi, she was so overwrought both with present and future fear, and with horror at the

danger she had escaped, that her faculties were numb. However, she was braced up for a trial, and she felt

assured that whatever might come she would be able to go through with it. Sir Nathaniel seemed just as

To her husband, it was evident that Mimi was ill at ease. The way she kept turning her head to look around

her, the quick coming and going of the colour of her face, her hurried breathing, alternating with periods of

suspicious calm, were evidences of mental perturbation. To her, the attitude of Lady Arabella seemed

compounded of social sweetness and personal consideration. It would be hard to imagine more thoughtful

When tea was over and the servants had come to clear away the cups, Lady Arabella, putting her arm round

Mimi's waist, strolled with her into an adjoining room, where she collected a number of photographs which

were scattered about, and, sitting down beside her guest, began to show them to her. While she was doing

this, the servants closed all the doors of the suite of rooms, as well as that which opened from the room

outsidethat of the wellhole into the avenue. Suddenly, without any seeming cause, the light in the room

began to grow dim. Sir Nathaniel, who was sitting close to Mimi, rose to his feet, and, crying, "Quick!"

caught hold of her hand and began to drag her from the room. Adam caught her other hand, and between

them they drew her through the outer door which the servants were beginning to close. It was difficult at first

to find the way, the darkness was so great; but to their relief when Adam whistled shrilly, the carriage and

horses, which had been waiting in the angle of the avenue, dashed up. Her husband and Sir Nathaniel

liftedalmost threwMimi into the carriage. The postillion plied whip and spur, and the vehicle, rocking

with its speed, swept through the gate and tore up the road. Behind them was a hubbub servants rushing

about, orders being shouted out, doors shutting, and somewhere, seemingly far back in the house, a strange

noise. Every nerve of the horses was strained as they dashed recklessly along the road. The two men held

Mimi between them, the arms of both of them round her as though protectingly. As they went, there was a

sudden rise in the ground; but the horses, breathing heavily, dashed up it at racing speed, not slackening their

It would be foolish to say that neither Adam nor Mimi had any fear in returning to Doom Tower. Mimi felt it

more keenly than her husband, whose nerves were harder, and who was more inured to danger. Still she bore

up bravely, and as usual the effort was helpful to her. When once she was in the study in the top of the turret,

she almost forgot the terrors which lay outside in the dark. She did not attempt to peep out of the window; but

Adam didand saw nothing. The moonlight showed all the surrounding country, but nowhere was to be

The peaceful night had a good effect on them all; danger, being unseen, seemed far off. At times it was hard

to realise that it had ever been. With courage restored, Adam rose early and walked along the Brow, seeing

no change in the signs of life in Castra Regis. What he did see, to his wonder and concern, on his returning

homeward, was Lady Arabella, in her tightfitting white dress and ermine collar, but without her emeralds;

she was emerging from the gate of Diana's Grove and walking towards the Castle. Pondering on this and

trying to find some meaning in it, occupied his thoughts till he joined Mimi and Sir Nathaniel at breakfast.

They began the meal in silence. What had been had been, and was known to them all. Moreover, it was not a

A fillip was given to the conversation when Adam told of his seeing Lady Arabella, on her way to Castra

Regis. They each had something to say of her, and of what her wishes or intentions were towards Edgar

Caswall. Mimi spoke bitterly of her in every aspect. She had not forgottenand never wouldnever

couldthe occasion when, to harm Lilla, the woman had consorted even with the nigger. As a social matter,

she was disgusted with her for following up the rich landowner"throwing herself at his head so

shamelessly," was how she expressed it. She was interested to know that the great kite still flew from

Caswall's tower. But beyond such matters she did not try to go. The only comment she made was of strongly

expressed surprise at her ladyship's "cheek" in ignoring her own criminal acts, and her impudence in taking it

The more Mimi thought over the late events, the more puzzled she was. What did it all meanwhat could it

mean, except that there was an error of fact somewhere. Could it be possible that some of themall of them

had been mistaken, that there had been no White Worm at all? On either side of her was a belief impossible

of reception. Not to believe in what seemed apparent was to destroy the very foundations of belief. . . yet in

old days there had been monsters on the earth, and certainly some people had believed in just such mysterious

changes of identity. It was all very strange. Just fancy how any strangersay a doctorwould regard her, if

she were to tell him that she had been to a teaparty with an antediluvian monster, and that they had been

Adam had returned, exhilarated by his walk, and more settled in his mind than he had been for some time.

Like Mimi, he had gone through the phase of doubt and inability to believe in the reality of things, though it

had not affected him to the same extent. The idea, however, that his wife was suffering illeffects from her

terrible ordeal, braced him up. He remained with her for a time, then he sought Sir Nathaniel in order to talk

over the matter with him. He knew that the calm common sense and selfreliance of the old man, as well as

Sir Nathaniel had come to the conclusion that, for some reason which he did not understand, Lady Arabella

had changed her plans, and, for the present at all events, was pacific. He was inclined to attribute her changed

demeanour to the fact that her influence over Edgar Caswall was so far increased, as to justify a more fixed

As a matter of fact, she had seen Caswall that morning when she visited Castra Regis, and they had had a

long talk together, during which the possibility of their union had been discussed. Caswall, without being

enthusiastic on the subject, had been courteous and attentive; as she had walked back to Diana's Grove, she

almost congratulated herself on her new settlement in life. That the idea was becoming fixed in her mind, was

shown by a letter which she wrote later in the day to Adam Salton, and sent to him by hand. It ran as follows:

"I wonder if you would kindly advise, and, if possible, help me in a matter of business. I have been for some

time trying to make up my mind to sell Diana's Grove, I have put off and put off the doing of it till now. The

place is my own property, and no one has to be consulted with regard to what I may wish to do about it. It

was bought by my late husband, Captain Adolphus Ranger March, who had another residence, The Crest,

Appleby. He acquired all rights of all kinds, including mining and sporting. When he died, he left his whole

property to me. I shall feel leaving this place, which has become endeared to me by many sacred memories

and affectionsthe recollection of many happy days of my young married life, and the more than happy

memories of the man I loved and who loved me so much. I should be willing to sell the place for any fair

priceso long, of course, as the purchaser was one I liked and of whom I approved. May I say that you

yourself would be the ideal person. But I dare not hope for so much. It strikes me, however, that among your

Australian friends may be someone who wishes to make a settlement in the Old Country, and would care to

fix the spot in one of the most historic regions in England, full of romance and legend, and with a

neverending vista of historical interestan estate which, though small, is in perfect condition and with

illimitable possibilities of development, and many doubtfulor unsettled rights which have existed before

the time of the Romans or even Celts, who were the original possessors. In addition, the house has been kept

up to the DERNIER CRI. Immediate possession can be arranged. My lawyers can provide you, or whoever

you may suggest, with all business and historical details. A word from you of acceptance or refusal is all that

is necessary, and we can leave details to be thrashed out by our agents. Forgive me, won't you, for troubling

Adam read this over several times, and then, his mind being made up, he went to Mimi and asked if she had

any objection. She answered after a shudderthat she was, in this, as in all things, willing to do whatever

"Dearest, I am willing that you should judge what is best for us. Be quite free to act as you see your duty, and

as your inclination calls. We are in the hands of God, and He has hitherto guided us, and will do so to His

From his wife's room Adam Salton went straight to the study in the tower, where he knew Sir Nathaniel

would be at that hour. The old man was alone, so, when he had entered in obedience to the "Come in," which

"God bless my soul!" said the old man, startled, "why on earth would you want to do that?"

"Well, I have vowed to destroy that White Worm, and my being able to do whatever I may choose with the

Sir Nathaniel hesitated longer than usual before speaking. He was thinking deeply.

"Yes, Adam, there is much common sense in your suggestion, though it startled me at first. I think that, for all

reasons, you would do well to buy the property and to have the conveyance settled at once. If you want more

money than is immediately convenient, let me know, so that I may be your banker."

"Thank you, sir, most heartily; but I have more money at immediate call than I shall want. I am glad you

"The property is historic, and as time goes on it will increase in value. Moreover, I may tell you something,

which indeed is only a surmise, but which, if I am right, will add great value to the place." Adam listened.

"Has it ever struck you why the old name, 'The Lair of the White Worm,' was given? We know that there was

"I really don't know, sir; I never thought of it. I simply took it for granted."

"Simply and solely because the snake or worm WAS white. We are near the county of Stafford, where the

great industry of chinaburning was originated and grew. Stafford owes much of its wealth to the large

deposits of the rare china clay found in it from time to time. These deposits become in time pretty well

exhausted; but for centuries Stafford adventurers looked for the special clay, as Ohio and Pennsylvania

farmers and explorers looked for oil. Anyone owning real estate on which china clay can be discovered

"The original 'Worm' socalled, from which the name of the place came, had to find a direct way down to the

marshes and the mudholes. Now, the clay is easily penetrable, and the original hole probably pierced a bed of

china clay. When once the way was made it would become a sort of highway for the Worm. But as much

movement was necessary to ascend such a great height, some of the clay would become attached to its rough

skin by attrition. The downway must have been easy work, but the ascent was different, and when the

monster came to view in the upper world, it would be fresh from contact with the white clay. Hence the

name, which has no cryptic significance, but only fact. Now, if that surmise be trueand I do not see why

"I have it in my bones, sir, that you have struckor rather reasoned outa great truth."

Sir Nathaniel went on cheerfully. "When the world of commerce wakes up to the value of your find, it will be

as well that your title to ownership has been perfectly secured. If anyone ever deserved such a gain, it is you."

With his friend's aid, Adam secured the property without loss of time. Then he went to see his uncle, and told

him about it. Mr. Salton was delighted to find his young relative already constructively the owner of so fine

an estateone which gave him an important status in the county. He made many anxious enquiries about

The next morning, when Adam went to his host in the smokingroom, Sir Nathaniel asked him how he

"It is a difficult matter which you have undertaken. To destroy such a monster is something like one of the

labours of Hercules, in that not only its size and weight and power of using them in littleknown ways are

against you, but the occult side is alone an unsurpassable difficulty. The Worm is already master of all the

elements except fireand I do not see how fire can be used for the attack. It has only to sink into the earth in

its usual way, and you could not overtake it if you had the resources of the biggest coalmine in existence.

But I daresay you have mapped out some plan in your mind," he added courteously.

"Well, sir, this was my argument: At the time of the Chartist trouble, an idea spread amongst financial circles

that an attack was going to be made on the Bank of England. Accordingly, the directors of that institution

consulted many persons who were supposed to know what steps should be taken, and it was finally decided

that the best protection against firewhich is what was fearedwas not water but sand. To carry the

scheme into practice great store of fine seasand the kind that blows about and is used to fill

hourglasses was provided throughout the building, especially at the points liable to attack, from which it

"I propose to provide at Diana's Grove, as soon as it comes into my possession, an enormous amount of such

sand, and shall take an early occasion of pouring it into the wellhole, which it will in time choke. Thus Lady

Arabella, in her guise of the White Worm, will find herself cut off from her refuge. The hole is a narrow one,

and is some hundreds of feet deep. The weight of the sand this can contain would not in itself be sufficient to

obstruct; but the friction of such a body working up against it would be tremendous."

"None, directly; but it would hold the struggling body in place till the rest of my scheme came into practice."

"As the sand is being poured into the wellhole, quantities of dynamite can also be thrown in!"

"Good. But how would the dynamite explodefor, of course, that is what you intend. Would not some sort

"Not in these days, sir. That was proved in New York. A thousand pounds of dynamite, in sealed canisters,

was placed about some workings. At the last a charge of gunpowder was fired, and the concussion exploded

the dynamite. It was most successful. Those who were nonexperts in high explosives expected that every

pane of glass in New York would be shattered. But, in reality, the explosive did no harm outside the area

intended, although sixteen acres of rock had been mined and only the supporting walls and pillars had been

"That seems a good plana very excellent one. But if it has to tear down so many feet of precipice, it may

"And free it for ever from a monster," added Adam, as he left the room to find his wife.

Lady Arabella had instructed her solicitors to hurry on with the conveyance of Diana's Grove, so no time was

lost in letting Adam Salton have formal possession of the estate. After his interview with Sir Nathaniel, he

had taken steps to begin putting his plan into action. In order to accumulate the necessary amount of fine

seasand, he ordered the steward to prepare for an elaborate system of topdressing all the grounds. A great

heap of the sand, brought from bays on the Welsh coast, began to grow at the back of the Grove. No one

seemed to suspect that it was there for any purpose other than what had been given out.

Lady Arabella, who alone could have guessed, was now so absorbed in her matrimonial pursuit of Edgar

Caswall, that she had neither time nor inclination for thought extraneous to this. She had not yet moved from

Adam put up a rough corrugatediron shed behind the Grove, in which he stored his explosives. All being

ready for his great attempt whenever the time should come, he was now content to wait, and, in order to pass

the time, interested himself in other thingseven in Caswall's great kite, which still flew from the high tower

The mound of fine sand grew to proportions so vast as to puzzle the bailiffs and farmers round the Brow. The

hour of the intended cataclysm was approaching apace. Adam wishedbut in vainfor an opportunity,

which would appear to be natural, of visiting Caswall in the turret of Castra Regis. At last, one morning, he

met Lady Arabella moving towards the Castle, so he took his courage E DEUX MAINS and asked to be

allowed to accompany her. She was glad, for her own purposes, to comply with his wishes. So together they

entered, and found their way to the turretroom. Caswall was much surprised to see Adam come to his house,

but lent himself to the task of seeming to be pleased. He played the host so well as to deceive even Adam.

They all went out on the turret roof, where he explained to his guests the mechanism for raising and lowering

the kite, taking also the opportunity of testing the movements of the multitudes of birds, how they answered

As Lady Arabella walked home with Adam from Castra Regis, she asked him if she might make a request.

Permission having been accorded, she explained that before she finally left Diana's Grove, where she had

lived so long, she had a desire to know the depth of the wellhole. Adam was really happy to meet her wishes,

not from any sentiment, but because he wished to give some valid and ostensible reason for examining the

passage of the Worm, which would obviate any suspicion resulting from his being on the premises. He

brought from London a Kelvin sounding apparatus, with a sufficient length of pianowire for testing any

probable depth. The wire passed easily over the running wheel, and when this was once fixed over the hole,

he was satisfied to wait till the most advantageous time for his final experiment.

In the meantime, affairs had been going quietly at Mercy Farm. Lilla, of course, felt lonely in the absence of

her cousin, but the even tenor of life went on for her as for others. After the first shock of parting was over,

things went back to their accustomed routine. In one respect, however, there was a marked difference. So

long as home conditions had remained unchanged, Lilla was content to put ambition far from her, and to

settle down to the life which had been hers as long as she could remember. But Mimi's marriage set her

thinking; naturally, she came to the conclusion that she too might have a mate. There was not for her much

choicethere was little movement in the matrimonial direction at the farmhouse. She did not approve of the

personality of Edgar Caswall, and his struggle with Mimi had frightened her; but he was unmistakably an

excellent PARTI, much better than she could have any right to expect. This weighs much with a woman, and

more particularly one of her class. So, on the whole, she was content to let things take their course, and to

As time went on, she had reason to believe that things did not point to happiness. She could not shut her eyes

to certain disturbing facts, amongst which were the existence of Lady Arabella and her growing intimacy

with Edgar Caswall; as well as his own cold and haughty nature, so little in accord with the ardour which is

the foundation of a young maid's dreams of happiness. How things would, of necessity, alter if she were to

marry, she was afraid to think. All told, the prospect was not happy for her, and she had a secret longing that

When Lilla received a note from Edgar Caswall asking if he might come to tea on the following afternoon,

her heart sank within her. If it was only for her father's sake, she must not refuse him or show any

disinclination which he might construe into incivility. She missed Mimi more than she could say or even

dared to think. Hitherto, she had always looked to her cousin for sympathy, for understanding, for loyal

support. Now she and all these things, and a thousand othersgentle, assuring, supportingwere gone. And

For the whole afternoon and evening, and for the following forenoon, poor Lilla's loneliness grew to be a

positive agony. For the first time she began to realise the sense of her loss, as though all the previous

suffering had been merely a preparation. Everything she looked at, everything she remembered or thought of,

became laden with poignant memory. Then on the top of all was a new sense of dread. The reaction from the

sense of security, which had surrounded her all her life, to a neverquieted apprehension, was at times almost

more than she could bear. It so filled her with fear that she had a haunting feeling that she would as soon die

as live. However, whatever might be her own feelings, duty had to be done, and as she had been brought up

to consider duty first, she braced herself to go through, to the very best of her ability, what was before her.

Still, the severe and prolonged struggle for selfcontrol told upon Lilla. She looked, as she felt, ill and weak.

She was really in a nerveless and prostrate condition, with black circles round her eyes, pale even to her lips,

and with an instinctive trembling which she was quite unable to repress. It was for her a sad mischance that

Mimi was away, for her love would have seen through all obscuring causes, and have brought to light the

girl's unhappy condition of health. Lilla was utterly unable to do anything to escape from the ordeal before

her; but her cousin, with the experience of her former struggles with Mr. Caswall and of the condition in

which these left her, would have taken stepseven peremptory ones, if necessaryto prevent a repetition.

Edgar arrived punctually to the time appointed by herself. When Lilla, through the great window, saw him

approaching the house, her condition of nervous upset was pitiable. She braced herself up, however, and

managed to get through the interview in its preliminary stages without any perceptible change in her normal

appearance and bearing. It had been to her an added terror that the black shadow of Oolanga, whom she

dreaded, would follow hard on his master. A load was lifted from her mind when he did not make his usual

stealthy approach. She had also feared, though in lesser degree, lest Lady Arabella should be present to make

With a woman's natural forethought in a difficult position, she had provided the furnishing of the teatable as

a subtle indication of the social difference between her and her guest. She had chosen the implements of

service, as well as all the provender set forth, of the humblest kind. Instead of arranging the silver teapot and

china cups, she had set out an earthen teapot, such as was in common use in the farm kitchen. The same idea

was carried out in the cups and saucers of thick homely delft, and in the creamjug of similar kind. The bread

was of simple wholemeal, homebaked. The butter was good, since she had made it herself, while the

preserves and honey came from her own garden. Her face beamed with satisfaction when the guest eyed the

appointments with a supercilious glance. It was a shock to the poor girl herself, for she enjoyed offering to a

guest the little hospitalities possible to her; but that had to be sacrificed with other pleasures.

Caswall's face was more set and ironclad than everhis piercing eyes seemed from the very beginning to

look her through and through. Her heart quailed when she thought of what would followof what would be

the end, when this was only the beginning. As some protection, though it could be only of a sentimental kind,

she brought from her own room the photographs of Mimi, of her grandfather, and of Adam Salton, whom by

now she had grown to look on with reliance, as a brother whom she could trust. She kept the pictures near her

heart, to which her hand naturally strayed when her feelings of constraint, distrust, or fear became so

poignant as to interfere with the calm which she felt was necessary to help her through her ordeal.

At first Edgar Caswall was courteous and polite, even thoughtful; but after a little while, when he found her

resistance to his domination grow, he abandoned all forms of selfcontrol and appeared in the same

dominance as he had previously shown. She was prepared, however, for this, both by her former experience

and the natural fighting instinct within her. By this means, as the minutes went on, both developed the power

Without warning, the psychic battle between the two individualities began afresh. This time both the positive

and negative causes were all in favour of the man. The woman was alone and in bad spirits, unsupported;

nothing at all was in her favour except the memory of the two victorious contests; whereas the man, though

unaided, as before, by either Lady Arabella or Oolanga, was in full strength, well rested, and in flourishing

circumstances. It was not, therefore, to be wondered at that his native dominance of character had full

opportunity of asserting itself. He began his preliminary stare with a conscious sense of power, and, as it

appeared to have immediate effect on the girl, he felt an evergrowing conviction of ultimate victory.

After a little Lilla's resolution began to flag. She felt that the contest was unequalthat she was unable to put

forth her best efforts. As she was an unselfish person, she could not fight so well in her own battle as in that

of someone whom she loved and to whom she was devoted. Edgar saw the relaxing of the muscles of face

and brow, and the almost collapse of the heavy eyelids which seemed tumbling downward in sleep. Lilla

made gallant efforts to brace her dwindling powers, but for a time unsuccessfully. At length there came an

interruption, which seemed like a powerful stimulant. Through the wide window she saw Lady Arabella enter

the plain gateway of the farm, and advance towards the hall door. She was clad as usual in tightfitting white,

The sight did for Lilla what no voluntary effort could have done. Her eyes flashed, and in an instant she felt

as though a new life had suddenly developed within her. Lady Arabella's entry, in her usual unconcerned,

haughty, supercilious way, heightened the effect, so that when the two stood close to each other battle was

joined. Mr. Caswall, too, took new courage from her coming, and all his masterfulness and power came back

to him. His looks, intensified, had more obvious effect than had been noticeable that day. Lilla seemed at last

overcome by his dominance. Her face became red and paleviolently red and ghastly paleby rapid turns.

Her strength seemed gone. Her knees collapsed, and she was actually sinking on the floor, when to her

surprise and joy Mimi came into the room, running hurriedly and breathing heavily.

Lilla rushed to her, and the two clasped hands. With that, a new sense of power, greater than Lilla had ever

seen in her, seemed to quicken her cousin. Her hand swept the air in front of Edgar Caswall, seeming to drive

him backward more and more by each movement, till at last he seemed to be actually hurled through the door

which Mimi's entrance had left open, and fell at full length on the gravel path without.

Then came the final and complete collapse of Lilla, who, without a sound, sank down on the floor.

Mimi was greatly distressed when she saw her cousin lying prone. She had a few times in her life seen Lilla

on the verge of fainting, but never senseless; and now she was frightened. She threw herself on her knees

beside Lilla, and tried, by rubbing her hands and other measures commonly known, to restore her. But all her

efforts were unavailing. Lilla still lay white and senseless. In fact, each moment she looked worse; her breast,

that had been heaving with the stress, became still, and the pallor of her face grew like marble.

At these succeeding changes Mimi's fright grew, till it altogether mastered her. She succeeded in controlling

Lady Arabella had followed Caswall, when he had recovered sufficiently to get up and walkthough

stumblinglyin the direction of Castra Regis. When Mimi was quite alone with Lilla and the need for effort

had ceased, she felt weak and trembled. In her own mind, she attributed it to a sudden change in the

She raised Lilla's head and laid it on her warm young breast, but all in vain. The cold of the white features

thrilled through her, and she utterly collapsed when it was borne in on her that Lilla had passed away.

The dusk gradually deepened and the shades of evening closed in, but Mimi did not seem to notice or to care.

She sat on the floor with her arms round the body of the girl whom she loved. Darker and blacker grew the

sky as the coming storm and the closing night joined forces. Still she sat onalonetearlessunable to

think. Mimi did not know how long she sat there. Though it seemed to her that ages had passed, it could not

have been more than halfanhour. She suddenly came to herself, and was surprised to find that her

grandfather had not returned. For a while she lay quiet, thinking of the immediate past. Lilla's hand was still

in hers, and to her surprise it was still warm. Somehow this helped her consciousness, and without any

special act of will she stood up. She lit a lamp and looked at her cousin. There was no doubt that Lilla was

dead; but when the lamplight fell on her eyes, they seemed to look at Mimi with intentwith meaning. In

this state of dark isolation a new resolution came to her, and grew and grew until it became a fixed definite

purpose. She would face Caswall and call him to account for his murder of Lillathat was what she called it

to herself. She would also take stepsshe knew not what or howto avenge the part taken by Lady

In this frame of mind she lit all the lamps in the room, got water and linen from her room, and set about the

decent ordering of Lilla's body. This took some time; but when it was finished, she put on her hat and cloak,

As Mimi drew near the Castle, she saw no lights except those in and around the tower room. The lights

showed her that Mr. Caswall was there, so she entered by the hall door, which as usual was open, and felt her

way in the darkness up the staircase to the lobby of the room. The door was ajar, and the light from within

showed brilliantly through the opening. She saw Edgar Caswall walking restlessly to and fro in the room,

with his hands clasped behind his back. She opened the door without knocking, and walked right into the

room. As she entered, he ceased walking, and stared at her in surprise. She made no remark, no comment, but

For a time silence reigned, and the two stood looking fixedly at each other. Mimi was the first to speak.

"As God sees us, it is true; and you know it. You came to Mercy Farm on purpose to break herif you

could. And the accomplice of your guilt, Lady Arabella March, came for the same purpose."

"Be careful, woman," he said hotly. "Do not use such names in that way, or you shall suffer for it."

"I am suffering for ithave suffered for itshall suffer for it. Not for speaking the truth as I have done, but

because you two, with devilish malignity, did my darling to death. It is you and your accomplice who have to

"Oh, I am not afraid of you or your accomplice," she answered spiritedly. "I am content to stand by every

word I have said, every act I have done. Moreover, I believe in God's justice. I fear not the grinding of His

mills; if necessary I shall set the wheels in motion myself. But you don't care for God, or believe in Him.

Your god is your great kite, which cows the birds of a whole district. But be sure that His hand, when it rises,

always falls at the appointed time. It may be that your name is being called even at this very moment at the

Great Assize. Repent while there is still time. Happy you, if you may be allowed to enter those mighty halls

in the company of the puresouled angel whose voice has only to whisper one word of justice, and you

The sudden death of Lilla caused consternation among Mimi's friends and wellwishers. Such a tragedy was

totally unexpected, as Adam and Sir Nathaniel had been expecting the White Worm's vengeance to fall upon

Adam, leaving his wife free to follow her own desires with regard to Lilla and her grandfather, busied himself

with filling the wellhole with the fine sand prepared for the purpose, taking care to have lowered at stated

intervals quantities of the store of dynamite, so as to be ready for the final explosion. He had under his

immediate supervision a corps of workmen, and was assisted by Sir Nathaniel, who had come over for the

Mr. Salton, too, showed much interest in the job, and was constantly coming in and out, nothing escaping his

Since her marriage to Adam and their coming to stay at Doom Tower, Mimi had been fettered by fear of the

horrible monster at Diana's Grove. But now she dreaded it no longer. She accepted the fact of its assuming at

will the form of Lady Arabella. She had still to tax and upbraid her for her part in the unhappiness which had

One evening, when Mimi entered her own room, she went to the window and threw an eager look round the

whole circle of sight. A single glance satisfied her that the White Worm in PROPRIA PERSONA was not

visible. So she sat down in the windowseat and enjoyed the pleasure of a full view, from which she had

been so long cut off. The maid who waited on her had told her that Mr. Salton had not yet returned home, so

As she looked out of the window, she saw something thin and white move along the avenue. She thought she

recognised the figure of Lady Arabella, and instinctively drew back behind the curtain. When she had

ascertained, by peeping out several times, that the lady had not seen her, she watched more carefully, all her

instinctive hatred flooding back at the sight of her. Lady Arabella was moving swiftly and stealthily, looking

back and around her at intervals, as if she feared to be followed. This gave Mimi an idea that she was up to no

Hastily putting on a dark cloak and hat, she ran downstairs and out into the avenue. Lady Arabella had

moved, but the sheen of her white dress was still to be seen among the young oaks around the gateway.

Keeping in shadow, Mimi followed, taking care not to come so close as to awake the other's suspicion, and

She followed on steadily through the gloom of the trees, depending on the glint of the white dress to keep her

right. The wood began to thicken, and presently, when the road widened and the trees grew farther back, she

lost sight of any indication of her whereabouts. Under the present conditions it was impossible for her to do

any more, so, after waiting for a while, still hidden in the shadow to see if she could catch another glimpse of

the white frock, she determined to go on slowly towards Castra Regis, and trust to the chapter of accidents to

pick up the trail again. She went on slowly, taking advantage of every obstacle and shadow to keep herself

At last she entered on the grounds of the Castle, at a spot from which the windows of the turret were dimly

Meanwhile, during most of the time that Mimi Salton had been moving warily along in the gloom, she was in

reality being followed by Lady Arabella, who had caught sight of her leaving the house and had never again

lost touch with her. It was a case of the hunter being hunted. For a time Mimi's many turnings, with the

natural obstacles that were perpetually intervening, caused Lady Arabella some trouble; but when she was

close to Castra Regis, there was no more possibility of concealment, and the strange double following went

When she saw Mimi close to the hall door of Castra Regis and ascending the steps, she followed. When Mimi

entered the dark hall and felt her way up the staircase, still, as she believed, following Lady Arabella, the

latter kept on her way. When they reached the lobby of the turretrooms, Mimi believed that the object of her

Edgar Caswall sat in the gloom of the great room, occasionally stirred to curiosity when the drifting clouds

allowed a little light to fall from the stormswept sky. But nothing really interested him now. Since he had

heard of Lilla's death, the gloom of his remorse, emphasised by Mimi's upbraiding, had made more hopeless

his cruel, selfish, saturnine nature. He heard no sound, for his normal faculties seemed benumbed.

Mimi, when she came to the door, which stood ajar, gave a light tap. So light was it that it did not reach

Caswall's ears. Then, taking her courage in both hands, she boldly pushed the door and entered. As she did

so, her heart sank, for now she was face to face with a difficulty which had not, in her state of mental

The storm which was coming was already making itself manifest, not only in the wide scope of nature, but in

the hearts and natures of human beings. Electrical disturbance in the sky and the air is reproduced in animals

of all kinds, and particularly in the highest type of them allthe most receptivethe most electrical. So it

was with Edgar Caswall, despite his selfish nature and coldness of blood. So it was with Mimi Salton, despite

her unselfish, unchanging devotion for those she loved. So it was even with Lady Arabella, who, under the

instincts of a primeval serpent, carried the evervarying wishes and customs of womanhood, which is always

Edgar, after he had turned his eyes on Mimi, resumed his apathetic position and sullen silence. Mimi quietly

took a seat a little way apart, whence she could look on the progress of the coming storm and study its

appearance throughout the whole visible circle of the neighbourhood. She was in brighter and better spirits

than she had been for many days past. Lady Arabella tried to efface herself behind the now open door.

Without, the clouds grew thicker and blacker as the stormcentre came closer. As yet the forces, from whose

linking the lightning springs, were held apart, and the silence of nature proclaimed the calm before the storm.

Caswall felt the effect of the gathering electric force. A sort of wild exultation grew upon him, such as he had

sometimes felt just before the breaking of a tropical storm. As he became conscious of this, he raised his head

and caught sight of Mimi. He was in the grip of an emotion greater than himself; in the mood in which he

was he felt the need upon him of doing some desperate deed. He was now absolutely reckless, and as Mimi

was associated with him in the memory which drove him on, he wished that she too should be engaged in this

enterprise. He had no knowledge of the proximity of Lady Arabella, and thought that he was far removed

from all he knew and whose interests he sharedalone with the wild elements, which were being lashed to

fury, and with the woman who had struggled with him and vanquished him, and on whom he would shower

The fact was that Edgar Caswall was, if not mad, close to the borderline. Madness in its first

stagemonomaniais a lack of proportion. So long as this is general, it is not always noticeable, for the

uninspired onlooker is without the necessary means of comparison. But in monomania the errant faculty

protrudes itself in a way that may not be denied. It puts aside, obscures, or takes the place of something

elsejust as the head of a pin placed before the centre of the iris will block out the whole scope of vision.

The most usual form of monomania has commonly the same beginning as that from which Edgar Caswall

sufferedan overlarge idea of selfimportance. Alienists, who study the matter exactly, probably know

more of human vanity and its effects than do ordinary men. Caswall's mental disturbance was not hard to

identify. Every asylum is full of such casesmen and women, who, naturally selfish and egotistical, so

appraise to themselves their own importance that every other circumstance in life becomes subservient to it.

The disease supplies in itself the material for selfmagnification. When the decadence attacks a nature

naturally proud and selfish and vain, and lacking both the aptitude and habit of selfrestraint, the

development of the disease is more swift, and ranges to farther limits. It is such persons who become inbued

with the idea that they have the attributes of the Almightyeven that they themselves are the Almighty.

Mimi had a suspicionor rather, perhaps, an intuitionof the true state of things when she heard him

speak, and at the same time noticed the abnormal flush on his face, and his rolling eyes. There was a certain

want of fixedness of purpose which she had certainly not noticed beforea quick, spasmodic utterance

which belongs rather to the insane than to those of intellectual equilibrium. She was a little frightened, not

Caswall moved to the door leading to the turret stair by which the roof was reached, and spoke in a

She instinctively drew backshe was not accustomed to such words, more especially to such a tone. Her

He did not at once replyanother indication of his overwhelming egotism. She repeated her questions; habit

reasserted itself, and he spoke without thinking the words which were in his heart.

"I want you, if you will be so good, to come with me to the turret roof. I am much interested in certain

experiments with the kite, which would be, if not a pleasure, at least a novel experience to you. You would

"I will come," she answered simply; Edgar moved in the direction of the stair, she following close behind

She did not like to be left alone at such a height, in such a place, in the darkness, with a storm about to break.

Of himself she had no fear; all that had been seemed to have passed away with her two victories over him in

the struggle of wills. Moreover, the more recent apprehensionthat of his madnesshad also ceased. In the

conversation of the last few minutes he seemed so rational, so clear, so unaggressive, that she no longer saw

reason for doubt. So satisfied was she that even when he put out a hand to guide her to the steep, narrow

Lady Arabella, crouching in the lobby behind the door, heard every word that had been said, and formed her

own opinion of it. It seemed evident to her that there had been some rapprochement between the two who had

so lately been hostile to each other, and that made her furiously angry. Mimi was interfering with her plans!

She had made certain of her capture of Edgar Caswall, and she could not tolerate even the lightest and most

contemptuous fancy on his part which might divert him from the main issue. When she became aware that he

wished Mimi to come with him to the roof and that she had acquiesced, her rage got beyond bounds. She

became oblivious to any danger there might be in a visit to such an exposed place at such a time, and to all

lesser considerations, and made up her mind to forestall them. She stealthily and noiselessly crept through the

wicket, and, ascending the stair, stepped out on the roof. It was bitterly cold, for the fierce gusts of the storm

which swept round the turret drove in through every unimpeded way, whistling at the sharp corners and

singing round the trembling flagstaff. The kitestring and the wire which controlled the runners made a

concourse of weird sounds which somehow, perhaps from the violence which surrounded them, acting on

their length, resolved themselves into some kind of harmonya fitting accompaniment to the tragedy which

Mimi's heart beat heavily. Just before leaving the turretchamber she had a shock which she could not shake

off. The lights of the room had momentarily revealed to her, as they passed out, Edgar's face, concentrated as

it was whenever he intended to use his mesmeric power. Now the black eyebrows made a thick line across his

face, under which his eyes shone and glittered ominously. Mimi recognised the danger, and assumed the

defiant attitude that had twice already served her so well. She had a fear that the circumstances and the place

The sky was now somewhat lighter than it had been. Either there was lightning afar off, whose reflections

were carried by the rolling clouds, or else the gathered force, though not yet breaking into lightning, had an

incipient power of light. It seemed to affect both the man and the woman. Edgar seemed altogether under its

influence. His spirits were boisterous, his mind exalted. He was now at his worst; madder than he had been

Mimi, trying to keep as far from him as possible, moved across the stone floor of the turret roof, and found a

Edgar, left thus alone on the centre of the turret roof, found himself altogether his own master in a way which

tended to increase his madness. He knew that Mimi was close at hand, though he had lost sight of her. He

spoke loudly, and the sound of his own voice, though it was carried from him on the sweeping wind as fast as

the words were spoken, seemed to exalt him still more. Even the raging of the elements round him appeared

to add to his exaltation. To him it seemed that these manifestations were obedient to his own will. He had

reached the sublime of his madness; he was now in his own mind actually the Almighty, and whatever might

happen would be the direct carrying out of his own commands. As he could not see Mimi, nor fix whereabout

"Come to me! You shall see now what you are despising, what you are warring against. All that you see is

minethe darkness as well as the light. I tell you that I am greater than any other who is, or was, or shall be.

When the Master of Evil took Christ up on a high place and showed Him all the kingdoms of the earth, he

was doing what he thought no other could do. He was wronghe forgot ME. I shall send you light, up to the

very ramparts of heaven. A light so great that it shall dissipate those black clouds that are rushing up and

piling around us. Look! Look! At the very touch of my hand that light springs into being and mounts

He made his way whilst he was speaking to the corner of the turret whence flew the giant kite, and from

which the runners ascended. Mimi looked on, appalled and afraid to speak lest she should precipitate some

Edgar took up a small wooden box, through a hole in which the wire of the runner ran. This evidently set

some machinery in motion, for a sound as of whirring came. From one side of the box floated what looked

like a piece of stiff ribbon, which snapped and crackled as the wind took it. For a few seconds Mimi saw it as

it rushed along the sagging line to the kite. When close to it, there was a loud crack, and a sudden light

appeared to issue from every chink in the box. Then a quick flame flashed along the snapping ribbon, which

glowed with an intense lighta light so great that the whole of the countryside around stood out against the

background of black driving clouds. For a few seconds the light remained, then suddenly disappeared in the

blackness around. It was simply a magnesium light, which had been fired by the mechanism within the box

and carried up to the kite. Edgar was in a state of tumultuous excitement, shouting and yelling at the top of

This was more than Lady Arabella's curious dual nature could stand the ghoulish element in her rose

triumphant, and she abandoned all idea of marriage with Edgar Caswall, gloating fiendishly over the thought

She must lure him to the White Worm's holebut how? She glanced around and quickly made up her mind.

The man's whole thoughts were absorbed by his wonderful kite, which he was showing off, in order to

On the instant she glided through the darkness to the wheel whereon the string of the kite was wound. With

deft fingers she unshipped this, took it with her, reeling out the wire as she went, thus keeping, in a way, in

touch with the kite. Then she glided swiftly to the wicket, through which she passed, locking the gate behind

Down the turret stair she ran quickly, letting the wire run from the wheel which she carried carefully, and,

passing out of the hall door, hurried down the avenue with all her speed. She soon reached her own gate, ran

She felt well satisfied with herself. All her plans were maturing, or had already matured. The Master of

Castra Regis was within her grasp. The woman whose interference she had feared, Lilla Watford, was dead.

Truly, all was well, and she felt that she might pause a while and rest. She tore off her clothes, with feverish

fingers, and in full enjoyment of her natural freedom, stretched her slim figure in animal delight. Then she lay

down on the sofato await her victim! Edgar Caswall's life blood would more than satisfy her for some time

When Lady Arabella had crept away in her usual noiseless fashion, the two others remained for a while in

their places on the turret roof: Caswall because he had nothing to say, Mimi because she had much to say and

wished to put her thoughts in order. For quite a whilewhich seemed interminablesilence reigned

"Mr. Caswall," she said loudly, so as to make sure of being heard through the blustering of the wind and the

Caswall said something in reply, but his words were carried away on the storm. However, one of her objects

was effected: she knew now exactly whereabout on the roof he was. So she moved close to the spot before

As she spoke, she was quietly fingering a revolver which Adam had given to her in case of emergency and

which now lay in her breast. She felt that she was caged like a rat in a trap, but did not mean to be taken at a

disadvantage, whatever happened. Caswall also felt trapped, and all the brute in him rose to the emergency.

In a voice which was raucous and brutalmuch like that which is heard when a wife is being beaten by her

husband in a slumhe hissed out, his syllables cutting through the roaring of the storm:

"You came of your own accordwithout permission, or even asking it. Now you can stay or go as you

"I am going. Blame yourself if you do not like the time and manner of it. I daresay Adammy

"Let him say, and be damned to him, and to you too! I'll show you a light. You shan't be able to say that you

As he spoke, he was lighting another piece of the magnesium ribbon, which made a blinding glare in which

everything was plainly discernible, down to the smallest detail. This exactly suited Mimi. She took accurate

note of the wicket and its fastening before the glare had died away. She took her revolver out and fired into

the lock, which was shivered on the instant, the pieces flying round in all directions, but happily without

causing hurt to anyone. Then she pushed the wicket open and ran down the narrow stair, and so to the hall

door. Opening this also, she ran down the avenue, never lessening her speed till she stood outside the door of

"He has just come in, a few minutes ago. He has gone up to the study," replied a servant.

She ran upstairs at once and joined him. He seemed relieved when he saw her, but scrutinised her face

keenly. He saw that she had been in some concern, so led her over to the sofa in the window and sat down

She rushed breathlessly through all the details of her adventure on the turret roof. Adam listened attentively,

helping her all he could, and not embarrassing her by any questioning. His thoughtful silence was a great help

"I must go and see Caswall tomorrow, to hear what he has to say on the subject."

"But, dear, for my sake, don't have any quarrel with Mr. Caswall. I have had too much trial and pain lately to

"You shall not, dearif I can help itplease God," he said solemnly, and he kissed her.

Then, in order to keep her interested so that she might forget the fears and anxieties that had disturbed her, he

began to talk over the details of her adventure, making shrewd comments which attracted and held her

"That's a dangerous game Caswall is up to. It seems to me that that young manthough he doesn't appear to

"Kite flying on a night like this from a place like the tower of Castra Regis is, to say the least of it, dangerous.

It is not merely courting death or other accident from lightning, but it is bringing the lightning into where he

lives. Every cloud that is blowing up hereand they all make for the highest pointis bound to develop into

a flash of lightning. That kite is up in the air and is bound to attract the lightning. Its cord makes a road for it

on which to travel to earth. When it does come, it will strike the top of the tower with a weight a hundred

times greater than a whole park of artillery, and will knock Castra Regis into pieces. Where it will go after

that, no one can tell. If there should be any metal by which it can travel, such will not only point the road, but

"Would it be dangerous to be out in the open air when such a thing is taking place?" she asked.

"No, little woman. It would be the safest possible placeso long as one was not in the line of the electric

"Then, do let us go outside. I don't want to run into any foolish dangeror, far more, to ask you to do so. But

Without another word, she put on again the cloak she had thrown off, and a small, tightfitting cap. Adam

too put on his cap, and, after seeing that his revolver was all right, gave her his hand, and they left the house

"I think the best thing we can do will be to go round all the places which are mixed up in this affair."

"All right, dear, I am ready. But, if you don't mind, we might go first to Mercy. I am anxious about

grandfather, and we might see thatas yet, at all eventsnothing has happened there."

So they went on the highhung road along the top of the Brow. The wind here was of great force, and made a

strange booming noise as it swept high overhead; though not the sound of cracking and tearing as it passed

through the woods of high slender trees which grew on either side of the road. Mimi could hardly keep her

feet. She was not afraid; but the force to which she was opposed gave her a good excuse to hold on to her

At Mercy there was no one upat least, all the lights were out. But to Mimi, accustomed to the nightly

routine of the house, there were manifest signs that all was well, except in the little room on the first floor,

where the blinds were down. Mimi could not bear to look at that, to think of it. Adam understood her pain,

for he had been keenly interested in poor Lilla. He bent over and kissed her, and then took her hand and held

it hard. Thus they passed on together, returning to the high road towards Castra Regis.

At the gate of Castra Regis they were extra careful. When drawing near, Adam stumbled upon the wire that

"I don't want to frighten you, Mimi dear, but wherever that wire is there is danger."

"That is the track where the lightning will go; at any moment, even now whilst we are speaking and

searching, a fearful force may be loosed upon us. Run on, dear; you know the way to where the avenue joins

the highroad. If you see any sign of the wire, keep away from it, for God's sake. I shall join you at the

"Yes, dear. One is sufficient for that work. I shall not lose a moment till I am with you."

"Adam, when I came with you into the open, my main wish was that we should be together if anything

"No, dear, not that or any right. Thank God that my wife has such a wish. Come; we will go together. We are

in the hands of God. If He wishes, we shall be together at the end, whenever or wherever that may be."

They picked up the trail of the wire on the steps and followed it down the avenue, taking care not to touch it

with their feet. It was easy enough to follow, for the wire, if not bright, was selfcoloured, and showed clearly.

Here a new gravity clouded Adam's face, though Mimi saw no cause for fresh concern. This was easily

enough explained. Adam knew of the explosive works in progress regarding the wellhole, but the matter had

been kept from his wife. As they stood near the house, Adam asked Mimi to return to the road, ostensibly to

watch the course of the wire, telling her that there might be a branch wire leading somewhere else. She was to

search the undergrowth, and if she found it, was to warn him by the Australian native "Cooee!"

Whilst they were standing together, there came a blinding flash of lightning, which lit up for several seconds

the whole area of earth and sky. It was only the first note of the celestial prelude, for it was followed in quick

succession by numerous flashes, whilst the crash and roll of thunder seemed continuous.

Adam, appalled, drew his wife to him and held her close. As far as he could estimate by the interval between

lightning and thunderclap, the heart of the storm was still some distance off, so he felt no present concern for

their safety. Still, it was apparent that the course of the storm was moving swiftly in their direction. The

lightning flashes came faster and faster and closer together; the thunderroll was almost continuous, not

stopping for a momenta new crash beginning before the old one had ceased. Adam kept looking up in the

direction where the kite strained and struggled at its detaining cord, but, of course, the dull evening light

At length there came a flash so appallingly bright that in its glare Nature seemed to be standing still. So long

did it last, that there was time to distinguish its configuration. It seemed like a mighty tree inverted, pendent

from the sky. The whole country around within the angle of vision was lit up till it seemed to glow. Then a

broad ribbon of fire seemed to drop on to the tower of Castra Regis just as the thunder crashed. By the glare,

Adam could see the tower shake and tremble, and finally fall to pieces like a house of cards. The passing of

the lightning left the sky again dark, but a blue flame fell downward from the tower, and, with inconceivable

rapidity, running along the ground in the direction of Diana's Grove, reached the dark silent house, which in

At the same moment there rose from the house a rending, crashing sound of woodwork, broken or thrown

about, mixed with a quick scream so appalling that Adam, stout of heart as he undoubtedly was, felt his blood

turn into ice. Instinctively, despite the danger and their consciousness of it, husband and wife took hands and

listened, trembling. Something was going on close to them, mysterious, terrible, deadly! The shrieks

continued, though less sharp in sound, as though muffled. In the midst of them was a terrific explosion,

The flames from Castra Regis and from Diana's Grove made all around almost as light as day, and now that

the lightning had ceased to flash, their eyes, unblinded, were able to judge both perspective and detail. The

heat of the burning house caused the iron doors to warp and collapse. Seemingly of their own accord, they

fell open, and exposed the interior. The Saltons could now look through to the room beyond, where the

wellhole yawned, a deep narrow circular chasm. From this the agonised shrieks were rising, growing ever

But it was not only the heartrending sound that almost paralysed poor Mimi with terror. What she saw was

sufficient to fill her with evil dreams for the remainder of her life. The whole place looked as if a sea of blood

had been beating against it. Each of the explosions from below had thrown out from the wellhole, as if it

had been the mouth of a cannon, a mass of fine sand mixed with blood, and a horrible repulsive slime in

which were great red masses of rent and torn flesh and fat. As the explosions kept on, more and more of this

repulsive mass was shot up, the great bulk of it falling back again. Many of the awful fragments were of

something which had lately been alive. They quivered and trembled and writhed as though they were still in

torment, a supposition to which the unending scream gave a horrible credence. At moments some

mountainous mass of flesh surged up through the narrow orifice, as though forced by a measureless power

through an opening infinitely smaller than itself. Some of these fragments were partially covered with white

skin as of a human being, and othersthe largest and most numerouswith scaled skin as of a gigantic

lizard or serpent. Once, in a sort of lull or pause, the seething contents of the hole rose, after the manner of a

bubbling spring, and Adam saw part of the thin form of Lady Arabella, forced up to the top amid a mass of

blood and slime, and what looked as if it had been the entrails of a monster torn into shreds. Several times

some masses of enormous bulk were forced up through the wellhole with inconceivable violence, and,

suddenly expanding as they came into larger space, disclosed sections of the White Worm which Adam and

Sir Nathaniel had seen looking over the trees with its enormous eyes of emeraldgreen flickering like great

At last the explosive power, which was not yet exhausted, evidently reached the main store of dynamite

which had been lowered into the worm hole. The result was appalling. The ground for far around quivered

and opened in long deep chasms, whose edges shook and fell in, throwing up clouds of sand which fell back

and hissed amongst the rising water. The heavily built house shook to its foundations. Great stones were

thrown up as from a volcano, some of them, great masses of hard stone, squared and grooved with

implements wrought by human hands, breaking up and splitting in mid air as though riven by some infernal

power. Trees near the houseand therefore presumably in some way above the hole, which sent up clouds of

dust and steam and fine sand mingled, and which carried an appalling stench which sickened the

spectatorswere torn up by the roots and hurled into the air. By now, flames were bursting violently from all

over the ruins, so dangerously that Adam caught up his wife in his arms, and ran with her from the proximity

Then almost as quickly as it had begun, the whole cataclysm ceased, though a deepdown rumbling

continued intermittently for some time. Then silence brooded over allsilence so complete that it seemed in

itself a sentient thingsilence which seemed like incarnate darkness, and conveyed the same idea to all who

came within its radius. To the young people who had suffered the long horror of that awful night, it brought

reliefrelief from the presence or the fear of all that was horriblerelief which seemed perfected when the

red rays of sunrise shot up over the far eastern sea, bringing a promise of a new order of things with the

His bed saw little of Adam Salton for the remainder of that night. He and Mimi walked hand in hand in the

brightening dawn round by the Brow to Castra Regis and on to Lesser Hill. They did so deliberately, in an

attempt to think as little as possible of the terrible experiences of the night. The morning was bright and

cheerful, as a morning sometimes is after a devastating storm. The clouds, of which there were plenty in

evidence, brought no lingering idea of gloom. All nature was bright and joyous, being in striking contrast to

the scenes of wreck and devastation, the effects of obliterating fire and lasting ruin.

The only evidence of the once stately pile of Castra Regis and its inhabitants was a shapeless huddle of

shattered architecture, dimly seen as the keen breeze swept aside the cloud of acrid smoke which marked the

site of the once lordly castle. As for Diana's Grove, they looked in vain for a sign which had a suggestion of

permanence. The oak trees of the Grove were still to be seensome of them emerging from a haze of

smoke, the great trunks solid and erect as ever, but the larger branches broken and twisted and rent, with bark

stripped and chipped, and the smaller branches broken and dishevelled looking from the constant stress and

Of the house as such, there was, even at the short distance from which they looked, no trace. Adam resolutely

turned his back on the devastation and hurried on. Mimi was not only upset and shocked in many ways, but

she was physically "dog tired," and falling asleep on her feet. Adam took her to her room and made her

undress and get into bed, taking care that the room was well lighted both by sunshine and lamps. The only

obstruction was from a silk curtain, drawn across the window to keep out the glare. He sat beside her, holding

her hand, well knowing that the comfort of his presence was the best restorative for her. He stayed with her

till sleep had overmastered her wearied body. Then he went softly away. He found his uncle and Sir

Nathaniel in the study, having an early cup of tea, amplified to the dimensions of a possible breakfast. Adam

explained that he had not told his wife that he was going over the horrible places again, lest it should frighten

her, for the rest and sleep in ignorance would help her and make a gap of peacefulness between the horrors.

"We know, my boy," he said, "that the unfortunate Lady Arabella is dead, and that the foul carcase of the

Worm has been torn to pieces pray God that its evil soul will never more escape from the nethermost hell."

They visited Diana's Grove first, not only because it was nearer, but also because it was the place where most

description was required, and Adam felt that he could tell his story best on the spot. The absolute destruction

of the place and everything in it seen in the broad daylight was almost inconceivable. To Sir Nathaniel, it was

as a story of horror full and complete. But to Adam it was, as it were, only on the fringes. He knew what was

still to be seen when his friends had got over the knowledge of externals. As yet, they had only seen the

outside of the houseor rather, where the outside of the house once had been. The great horror lay within.

A strange, almost elemental, change in the aspect had taken place in the time which had elapsed since the

dawn. It would almost seem as if Nature herself had tried to obliterate the evil signs of what had occurred.

True, the utter ruin of the house was made even more manifest in the searching daylight; but the more

appalling destruction which lay beneath was not visible. The rent, torn, and dislocated stonework looked

worse than before; the upheaved foundations, the piledup fragments of masonry, the fissures in the torn

earthall were at the worst. The Worm's hole was still evident, a round fissure seemingly leading down into

the very bowels of the earth. But all the horrid mass of blood and slime, of torn, evilsmelling flesh and the

sickening remnants of violent death, were gone. Either some of the later explosions had thrown up from the

deep quantities of water which, though foul and corrupt itself, had still some cleansing power left, or else the

writhing mass which stirred from far below had helped to drag down and obliterate the items of horror. A

grey dust, partly of fine sand, partly of the waste of the falling ruin, covered everything, and, though ghastly

After a few minutes of watching, it became apparent to the three men that the turmoil far below had not yet

ceased. At short irregular intervals the hellbroth in the hole seemed as if boiling up. It rose and fell again

and turned over, showing in fresh form much of the nauseous detail which had been visible earlier. The worst

parts were the great masses of the flesh of the monstrous Worm, in all its red and sickening aspect. Such

fragments had been bad enough before, but now they were infinitely worse. Corruption comes with startling

rapidity to beings whose destruction has been due wholly or in part to lightningthe whole mass seemed to

have become all at once corrupt! The whole surface of the fragments, once alive, was covered with insects,

worms, and vermin of all kinds. The sight was horrible enough, but, with the awful smell added, was simply

unbearable. The Worm's hole appeared to breathe forth death in its most repulsive forms. The friends, with

one impulse, moved to the top of the Brow, where a fresh breeze from the sea was blowing up.

At the top of the Brow, beneath them as they looked down, they saw a shining mass of white, which looked

strangely out of place amongst such wreckage as they had been viewing. It appeared so strange that Adam

"We need not go down; I know what it is," Sir Nathaniel said. "The explosions of last night have blown off

the outside of the cliffs that which we see is the vast bed of china clay through which the Worm originally

found its way down to its lair. I can catch the glint of the water of the deep quags far down below. Well, her

The horrors of the last few hours had played such havoc with Mimi's nerves, that a change of scene was

"I think," said old Mr. Salton, "it is quite time you young people departed for that honeymoon of yours!"