The following Thursday was changeable, damp, and gloomy; and thenight threatened to be windy and unpleasant. Stockdale had goneaway to Knollsea in the morning, to be present at some commemorationservice there, and on his return he was met by the attractive Lizzyin the passage. Whether influenced by the tide of cheerfulnesswhich had attended him that day, or by the drive through the openair, or whether from a natural disposition to let bygones alone, heallowed himself to be fascinated into forgetfulness of the greatcoatincident, and upon the whole passed a pleasant evening; not so muchin her society as within sound of her voice, as she sat talking inthe back parlour to her mother, till the latter went to bed.

　　Shortly after this Mrs. Newberry retired, and then Stockdaleprepared to go upstairs himself. But before he left the room heremained standing by the dying embers awhile, thinking long of onething and another; and was only aroused by the flickering of hiscandle in the socket as it suddenly declined and went out. Knowingthat there were a tinder-box, matches, and another candle in hisbedroom, he felt his way upstairs without a light. On reaching hischamber he laid his hand on every possible ledge and corner for thetinderbox, but for a long time in vain. Discovering it at length,Stockdale produced a spark, and was kindling the brimstone, when hefancied that he heard a movement in the passage. He blew harder atthe lint, the match flared up, and looking by aid of the blue lightthrough the door, which had been standing open all this time, he wassurprised to see a male figure vanishing round the top of thestaircase with the evident intention of escaping unobserved. Thepersonage wore the clothes which Lizzy had been brushing, andsomething in the outline and gait suggested to the minister that thewearer was Lizzy herself.

　　But he was not sure of this; and, greatly excited, Stockdaledetermined to investigate the mystery, and to adopt his own way fordoing it. He blew out the match without lighting the candle, wentinto the passage, and proceeded on tiptoe towards Lizzy's room. Afaint grey square of light in the direction of the chamber-window ashe approached told him that the door was open, and at once suggestedthat the occupant was gone. He turned and brought down his fistupon the handrail of the staircase: 'It was she; in her latehusband's coat and hat!'

　　Somewhat relieved to find that there was no intruder in the case,yet none the less surprised, the minister crept down the stairs,softly put on his boots, overcoat, and hat, and tried the frontdoor. It was fastened as usual: he went to the back door, foundthis unlocked, and emerged into the garden. The night was mild andmoonless, and rain had lately been falling, though for the presentit had ceased. There was a sudden dropping from the trees andbushes every now and then, as each passing wind shook their boughs.

　　Among these sounds Stockdale heard the faint fall of feet upon theroad outside, and he guessed from the step that it was Lizzy's. Hefollowed the sound, and, helped by the circumstance of the windblowing from the direction in which the pedestrian moved, he gotnearly close to her, and kept there, without risk of beingoverheard. While he thus followed her up the street or lane, as itmight indifferently be called, there being more hedge than houses oneither side, a figure came forward to her from one of the cottagedoors. Lizzy stopped; the minister stepped upon the grass andstopped also.

　　'Is that Mrs. Newberry?' said the man who had come out, whose voiceStockdale recognized as that of one of the most devout members ofhis congregation.

　　'It is,' said Lizzy.

　　'I be quite ready--I've been here this quarter-hour.'

　　'Ah, John,' said she, 'I have bad news; there is danger to-night forour venture.'

　　'And d'ye tell o't! I dreamed there might be.'

　　'Yes,' she said hurriedly; 'and you must go at once round to wherethe chaps are waiting, and tell them they will not be wanted tillto-morrow night at the same time. I go to burn the lugger off.'

　　'I will,' he said; and instantly went off through a gate, Lizzycontinuing her way.

　　On she tripped at a quickening pace till the lane turned into theturnpike-road, which she crossed, and got into the track forRingsworth. Here she ascended the hill without the leasthesitation, passed the lonely hamlet of Holworth, and went down thevale on the other side. Stockdale had never taken any extensivewalks in this direction, but he was aware that if she persisted inher course much longer she would draw near to the coast, which washere between two and three miles distant from Nether-Moynton; and asit had been about a quarter-past eleven o'clock when they set out,her intention seemed to be to reach the shore about midnight.

　　Lizzy soon ascended a small mound, which Stockdale at the same timeadroitly skirted on the left; and a dull monotonous roar burst uponhis ear. The hillock was about fifty yards from the top of thecliffs, and by day it apparently commanded a full view of the bay.

　　There was light enough in the sky to show her disguised figureagainst it when she reached the top, where she paused, andafterwards sat down. Stockdale, not wishing on any account to alarmher at this moment, yet desirous of being near her, sank upon hishands and knees, crept a little higher up, and there stayed still.

　　The wind was chilly, the ground damp, and his position one in whichhe did not care to remain long. However, before he had decided toleave it, the young man heard voices behind him. What theysignified he did not know; but, fearing that Lizzy was in danger, hewas about to run forward and warn her that she might be seen, whenshe crept to the shelter of a little bush which maintained aprecarious existence in that exposed spot; and her form was absorbedin its dark and stunted outline as if she had become part of it.

　　She had evidently heard the men as well as he. They passed nearhim, talking in loud and careless tones, which could be heard abovethe uninterrupted washings of the sea, and which suggested that theywere not engaged in any business at their own risk. This proved tobe the fact: some of their words floated across to him, and causedhim to forget at once the coldness of his situation.

　　'What's the vessel?'

　　'A lugger, about fifty tons.'

　　'From Cherbourg, I suppose?'

　　'Yes, 'a b'lieve.'

　　'But it don't all belong to Owlett?'

　　'O no. He's only got a share. There's another or two in it--afarmer and such like, but the names I don't know.'

　　The voices died away, and the heads and shoulders of the mendiminished towards the cliff, and dropped out of sight.

　　'My darling has been tempted to buy a share by that unbelieverOwlett,' groaned the minister, his honest affection for Lizzy havingquickened to its intensest point during these moments of risk to herperson and name. 'That's why she's here,' he said to himself. 'O,it will be the ruin of her!'

　　His perturbation was interrupted by the sudden bursting out of abright and increasing light from the spot where Lizzy was in hiding.

　　A few seconds later, and before it had reached the height of ablaze, he heard her rush past him down the hollow like a stone froma sling, in the direction of home. The light now flared high andwide, and showed its position clearly. She had kindled a bough offurze and stuck it into the bush under which she had been crouching;the wind fanned the flame, which crack............