n. She was alone; wanted to be. The summer folks were giving a concert up

ising to stamp back and forth across the narrow room. "If Don isn't ready to go, I'll t

d. Perhaps it was because they had tried to make a heroine of her. She hadn't meant to be a heroine, wouldn't be made one. The whole pop

ts of "What a wonde

it. "So romantically rugged," he had said as

dn't want her portrait painte

empting God and Providence by playing in the surf, I wouldn't have been obliged to risk my l

beauty of it had fascinated her. Nowhere else did the surf run so high. Nowhere else were the headlands so bol

f nature as demonstrated her

r all that, she had formed a resolve to leave Monhegan in the morning. Like a

p, flute, violin and cello. Her eyes were half closed, but for all that she was seeing things. She was, as in a vision, looking i

* *

narrow passageway at the heart of old Fort Skammel, that was supposed to lead to the sp

ways which had once led from dungeon to dungeon and from a battery room to one at a farther corner of th

down this corridor, round a curve, across a small room which echoed in a hollow way at her every footstep, then round a

den, of all places in that dark, damp and chill

as as if a fiery dragon, inhabiting this forsa

ckward, she held her ground. Lifting a trembling hand

e three feet across, tilted upward. Moved by an invisible, silent force, it tilted more and more. A crack had

she told herself in a

tructure built entirely of stone burn? The thing was abs

at waves had been cut short off. She looked.

to have a look at me!" she told herse

f this, and in defiance of her trembling limbs that threatened to collapse,

the others," she told her

arther from that haunting spot, "I've done a little exploring. I've

ottage on the hill that evening. "But then, I wonder if I should? It's really Ruth's mystery. She should have

Don's room on Monhegan, Ruth, Pearl and Don had just held a consultatio

as she was about to fall asleep,

hat swordfish affair. I can now spend the swordfish money with a good c

unusually calm. Sails bagged and flapped in the gentle breeze. The little motor pop-popped away, doing its best, but they made little progress until toward

ippling sea. At night, with the sea all black about you and the stars glimmer

in the salt sea air and the gently rocking boat which suggested long hours of sleep. So, after wrapping themselves in blankets, with a

tty returned to old Fort Skammel and

ave told. Driven on by the spirit of adventure, and beckoned

t which gave her food for tho

spot where Ruth had seen the face-in-the-fire, she threw her light ahe

a rakish angle. It appeared stationary. Beneath it

embling, she realized that a faint unearthly yellow l

ld beating of her heart to disturb the silen

age, and, without turning on her torch, dropped on hand

that gave way beneath her suggested that she might at any moment be plunged into an unknown abyss below. Some sound in the dista

, piled on every side and in great squares at the center, were bolts and bolts of richly colored silks and boxes beyond number, all filled, if one

e said under

nder and to plan, there sounded far d

e sprang away down the narrow passageway. Nor did she draw an e

d she drank in three long breaths of air

pulsating from a desire to tell someone of her marvelous discovery, when the

" she was told. "Pack your bag well,

r letting the cat out of the bag right

ill be a most marvelous trip, all the way to Booth Bay and perhaps Monhegan, and o

e was quite cheerful and sincere now. S

e to see them. I'll tell Ruth. It's her secret. Then, when we come back-" She c

ld herself with a little gurgle of delight t

s you already know, w