occupy. In fact, Mr. R. was given to understand that the girl
be allowed to find her own occupations and to spend her time
almost as she liked. Mr. R. duly met her at the nearest
station, a town seven miles away from his house, and seems to
have remarked nothing extraordinary about the child except that
she was reticent as to her former life and her adopted father.
She was, however, of a very different type from the inhabitants
of the village; her skin was a pale, clear olive, and her
features were strongly marked, and of a somewhat foreign
character. She appears to have settled down easily enough into
farmhouse life, and became a favourite with the children, who
sometimes went with her on her rambles in the forest, for this
was her amusement. Mr. R. states that he has known her to go
out by herself directly after their early breakfast, and not
return till after dusk, and that, feeling uneasy at a young
girl being out alone for so many hours, he communicated with
her adopted father, who replied in a brief note that Helen must
do as she chose. In the winter, when the forest paths are
impassable, she spent most of her time in her bedroom, where
she slept alone, according to the instructions of her relative.
It was on one of these expeditions to the forest that the first
of the singular incidents with which this girl is connected
occurred, the date being about a year after her arrival at the
village. The preceding winter had been remarkably severe, the
snow drifting to a great depth, and the frost continuing for an
unexampled period, and the summer following was as noteworthy
for its extreme heat. On one of the very hottest days in this
summer, Helen V. left the farmhouse for one of her long rambles
in the forest, taking with her, as usual, some bread and meat
for lunch. She was seen by some men in the fields making for