TABITHA'S AUNT




A LOOSE END.

CHAPTER I.


One September morning, many years ago, when the Channel Islands seemed
further off than they do now, and for some of them communication with
the outer world hardly existed, some two hours after the sun had risen
out of the sea, and while the grass and the low-growing bushes were
still fresh with the morning dew, a young girl tripped lightly along the
ridge of a headland which formed the south side of a cove on the coast
of one of the smaller islands in the group. The ridge ascended gradually
till it reached a point on which stood a ruined building, that was said
to have been once a mill, and from which on the right-hand side the path
began to descend to a narrow landing-place in the cove. The girl stood
still for a moment when she reached the highest point, and shading her
eyes looked out to sea. On the opposite side of the cove a huge rock,
formed into an island by a narrow shaft of water, which in the strife of
ages had cleared its way between it and the rocky coast, frowned dark
and solemn in the shadow, its steep and clear-cut sides giving it a
character of power and imperturbability that crowned it a king among
islands. The sea beyond was glittering in the morning sun, but there was
deep purple shadow in the cove, and under the rocks of the projecting
headlands, which in fantastic succession on either side threw out their