"Very good, Miss. But the sands aren't very safe for those that don't
know 'em. If you're a stranger you'd better not risk it."

"I'm not a stranger, and my cousin knows the way perfectly. You can send
him after me."

She left the station. In her preoccupation she never gave another thought
to the station-master.

But there was something in the whole matter that roused that person's
curiosity. He walked along the raised platform to a point where he could
see what became of the young lady.

There was only one exit from the station. But just outside, the road from
the town passed in a tunnel under the line. To get at the sands one must
double back on the line after leaving the station, walk through the
tunnel, and then leave the road to your right. The stony edge of the
sands came up to the road, which shot away eastwards along the edge of
the estuary, a straight white line that gradually lost itself in the
night.

The man watching saw the small figure emerge. But the girl never once
turned to the tunnel. She walked straight towards the town, and he lost
sight of her in a dense patch of shadow made by some overhanging trees
about a hundred yards from the station.

"Upon my word, she's a deep 'un!" he said, turning away; "it beats
me--fair."