Evening star., 1925-02-26
Continued from Yesterdays Starr

Lady Heritage seemed to be in a
frowninig mood. This. it appeared,
was not one of the days when she
disappeared behind the steel grating
with Ember. leaving Jane to pursue
her appointed tasks in the library.
Instead, there was a general sorting
of correspondence and checking of
work already done, with the result
that Jane found herself being played
upon, as 1T were, by jet or spray OF
hot water. The temperature varied.
but the spray was continuous. A
letter TO which Lady Heritage par
'ticularly wished to refer was not to
be found. package of papers
wrongly addressed had come back
through the dead-letter office. and an
unanswered invitation was discovered
in the answered" file. BY o'clock
that afternoon Jane had been made
to feel that it was possible that the
world might contain a person duller,
more inept and less competent than
herself-possible, but not probable.
'T think you had better go for a
walk, Miss Molloy," said Lady Heri-
tage. perhaps some fresh air
She did not finish the sentence, and
Jane, only too thankful to escape,
made haste from the presence.
Ember had been right when he said
Jane skirted the house and made
her way through a space of rather
formally kept garden to where a
gravel path followed the edge of the
cliff. For a time it was bordered by
veronica and fuchsia bushes, but after
while these ceased and left the bare
down with its rather coarse grass,
tiny growing plants. tangled bram-
bles and bright yellow clumps of
eorse. The path went up and down.
Sometimes it almost overhung the sea.
Always tall hedge of barbed wire
struggled across the view and spoiled
1t.
The fact that powerful electric
current ran through the wire and
made it dangerous to touch added to
the dislike with which she regarded
II.
1t was a gray afternoon with
whipping wind from the northwest
that beat up little crests of foam on
the lead -colored waves and made Jane
clutch at her hat every now and then.
She thought it cold when she started,
but she began to enjoy the sense OF
motion. the winds buffets and the
wide, clear outlook. At the farthest
point of the headland she stopped
warm and glowing. The path ran out
to the edge of the cliff. On the land
ward side the rock rose sharply,
naked of grass, and heaped with
rough boulders. small cave or hol-
low ran inwards for perhaps four
feet In front of it. in fact almost
within it, stood a stone bench pleas
antly sheltered by the overhanging
rock and curving sides of the hollow.
Jane felt no need of shelter. Instead
of sitting down, she climbed upon
the back of the bench and, steady
ing herself against a rock, looked
out over the wire and saw how the
cliff fell away. sheer at first. and then
in a series of jagged, tumbled steps
until the rocks went down into the
sea
After time Jane scrambled down
and was hesitating as to whether
she would turn or not when a sound
attracted her attention.
The path ended by the stone bench,
but there seemed to be quite a prac-
ticable grassy track beyond
The sound which Jane had heard
was the sound made by a stone which
had become displaced on a hillside.
1t must have been a very heavy stone.
Tt fell with muffled crash. Then
came another sound which she could
not place. She looked all round and
could see nothing.
Something frightened her.
All at once she realized that she
was a long way from the house and
quite out of sight. Turning quickly,
she began to walk back along the
way that she had come. but she had
not gone a dozen PAGES before she
heard scrambling footsteps behind