gesture of anguish, nay, of positive despair, with which, when about opposite him, the figure threw her head back and her arms aloft, as if in mute and agonised appeal to Heaven.  The action was heart-rending even to look on; nor, to a male eye, did it lose aught from the fact that, as the moonlight now fell for the first time on her upturned face, it showed it to be deathly pale indeed, but also exquisitely lovely.  Another moment or two, and the graceful and appealing form had passed beyond his field of vision, for, as the locked gate stood some little way back from the mouth of the tunnel, his view was restricted.

A short time only, though he knew not exactly how long, had passed when Alix stood beside him.

“I had some difficulty,” she archly explained, “in eluding prying eyes.”

For an ardent lover, Dick’s greetings were perfunctory; after which, being still powerfully under the impression of what he had just seen, he told Alix all about it.

“We shall soon see who she is,” replied that practical young lady, as she placed the heavy key in the cumbrous lock, “and I shall also take leave to inform her that this bit of coast is strictly private.”

And strictly private it appeared to be when they emerged from the tunnel.  For though their eyes swept the beach to right and left, and though the moon just then was unobscured, they saw no trace of any living form.

“She must have landed from a boat,” said Alix; but as little trace of a boat could they discover.

Still it was quite possible that she might pass unobserved against the dark rocks, so they turned first to the right, then to the left, keeping a keen look-out for any sign of motion.

They detected nothing.

And by this time I am bound to confess that a slightly uncomplimentary suspicion had more than once crossed the brain of Alix.  She knew that, as a rule, her Dick was a pattern of moderation.  But even the most prudent may be liable to be occasionally overtaken.  And she recalled his having mentioned that this was to be a guest-night at the mess.  Indeed, it was chiefly upon that account that the assignation had been fixed so late.  This present portentous solemnity was certainly most unlike him.  Was it possible that the poor fellow had taken just one more whisky-and-soda than he could conveniently carry?  Outspoken by nature, she blurted out her suspicion, which was strengthened rather than the reverse by the great earnestness with which he repelled it.

Less convinced than before, Alix then exclaimed:  “Look here, Dick!  If, as you say, the young woman passed this way, she must have left tracks on the smooth sand.  Where do you say the place was?”

With some uncertainty, Dick then led her to what he took to be the place.  No tracks were there.  He then tried further back from the mouth of the tunnel, and with as little success.  It was true the tide was coming up, but it could scarcely yet have reached footmarks which had been imprinted so far inshore as he supposed these to have been.