almost identical with those fixed by Helier de Carteret in the time of
Queen Elizabeth; where feudal observances which date back to the time of
Rollo, Duke of Normandy, are still the law of the land; and where family
names and records in some cases run back unbroken for very many
generations._

_To obviate any personal feeling, I desire to state that, to the best of my
belief, no present inhabitant of Sercq is in any way connected with any of
the principal characters named in this book._

_The name Carré is still an honoured one in the Island. It is pronounced
Caury._

_The numbers on the map refer to the farms and tenants in the year
1800--the approximate date of the story. As this map has been specially
compiled, and is, I believe, the only one of its kind in existence, it may
be of interest to some to find at the end of this volume a list of the
holdings and holders in Sercq about one hundred years ago._

* * * * *

_The photographs from which this book is illustrated were specially taken
for me at considerable expenditure of time and trouble by various good
friends in Sark and elsewhere. If, in one or two cases, we have permitted
ourselves some little license in the adaptation of the present to the past,
it is only for the purpose of presenting to the reader as nearly as
possible what was in the writer's mind when working on the story._

* * * * *