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 self-restraint. Determination had become
indifference.

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
obsession to him.

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 idle-
handed all day, he began to apply to what he considered the service of
the kite some of his spare time, and found a new pleasure--a new object
in life--in 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