crush her hope before it grew of size to die hard.

"We got home together that morning they carried you off. He went to Aunt
Jeanne's and I went home. When Krok burst in with the news about you, I
hurried across to Brecqhou. On the shore of the bay was a boat, and in it
Helier lay dead with a bullet through his head."

"Oh, Phil!" in a voice of anguish, for Helier had been her favourite....
"And who--?"

"Those who took you without doubt."

"Ah, the wretches! I wish--" And I was of the same mind.

"I could do nothing, for he was dead. So I took his boat and followed you
to Herm. Those who followed me to Brecqhou buried him there. But if he had
not come I could not have got to Herm before they set their watch boats. So
he helped, you see, though he did not know it."

"My poor Helier!... They had muffled my head in a cloak so that I could
neither hear nor see. I had just gone outside--"

"Your father and Martin were in a great state about you, but I could not
wait to explain. Anything I could have said would only have added to their
anxiety, and that was not as great as my own, for I had my own fears of
what had happened and they knew nothing."

"Yes, yes. You could have done no other," and she fell silent for a time,
refitting her thoughts of Helier, no doubt.