with my property."

He withdrew the curtains, noticing, to his surprise, the heavy
shutters which their folds had partly concealed. Then he made his
way out along the passage to the front door, which from the inside
he was able to open easily enough. Leaving it carefully ajar, he
went out with the intention of making an examination of the outside
of the place. Instead, however, he paused at the corner of the
building with his face turned landwards. Exactly fronting him now,
about three-quarters of a mile away, on the summit of that strange
hill which stood out like a gigantic rock in the wilderness, was St.
David's Hall. He looked at it steadily and with increasing
admiration. Its long, red brick front with its masses of clustering
chimneys, a little bare and weather-beaten, impressed him with a
sense of dignity due as much to the purity of its architecture as
the singularity of its situation. Behind--a wonderfully effective
background--were the steep gardens from which, even in this
uncertain light, he caught faint glimpses of colouring subdued from
brilliancy by the twilight. These were encircled by a brick wall
of great height, the whole of the southern portion of which was
enclosed with glass. From the fragment of rock upon which he had
seated himself, to the raised stone terrace in front of the house,
was an absolutely straight path, beautifully kept like an avenue,
with white posts on either side, and built up to a considerable
height above the broad tidal way which ran for some distance by its
side. It had almost the appearance of a racing track, and its
state of preservation in the midst of the wilderness was little
short of remarkable.

"This," Hamel said to himself, as he slowly produced a pipe from