Morland's leave ended on Sunday night, and by Monday morning both he and his superior officer were back in camp. Claudia came to school in an unusually quiet and depressed¹ frame of mind.  
"Yes, I miss Morland," she acknowledged to Lorraine; "but it isn't altogether that. I'm worried about him. Perhaps it's silly of me, but I can't help it. I know I can't expect him to keep a boy always, yet one feels that growing up ought to be growing into something better—not worse. Honestly, between ourselves, I don't think Madame Bertier has a good influence over him. He's always fearfully taken with her, absolutely infatuated. She fascinates him just as she does Vivien and Dorothy and some of the girls at school, and she encourages him in things he'd much better let alone. She was up at Windy Howe on Sunday, and took Morland off for a long walk, although he'd promised to stay at home that last afternoon. They went along the cliffs towards Tangy Point. Don't think I'm jealous, but I really feel angry with her—carrying him away from his family when he'd only a few hours left of his leave!"
 
[251]"I hope he didn't show her our cave?" asked Lorraine quickly.
 
"I hope not, but I think it's extremely probable. Oh, yes! I know he promised to keep the secret, but he's beginning to say that our secrets are childish, and not worth keeping. I've several times heard Madame asking him if he knew of any caves along the coast. If she asked persistently² enough he'd be sure to tell her. I know Morland!"
 
"Why is she so keen on caves?"
 
Claudia shrugged³ her shoulders.
 
"There are a great many 'whys' about Madame that I can't answer. She's the sort of woman you read about in a novel. She's bewitched most people at Porthkeverne. I own she's very nice and pleasant, and when I'm with her I even fall under the spell a little, and almost like her, but all the time at the bottom of my heart I don't trust her at all."
 
Whatever Claudia's private opinion might be of Madame Bertier, that pretty Russian lady was very popular in the artistic⁴ and literary circles of the town. She was always ready to pose as model, or to play her violin at concerts or At Homes. She was capital company, had a fine sense of humour, and could keep a whole room full of people amused with her lively chatter⁵. In addition to her engagement at The Gables she had now a number of private pupils in Porthkeverne, and had established quite a connection for lessons in French, Russian, and music. On the subject of her husband she was guarded, but it was [252]generally understood that he was a prisoner in Germany, and that she sent him parcels. Lorraine, with a remembrance of that brief sentence she had overheard at Burlington House, often wondered if that were the case.
 
Madame's Academy portrait had been considered quite one of the pictures of the year: it had been reproduced in art journals and illustrated⁶ papers, and in the opinion of the critics was almost Mr. Castleton's best piece of work. To Lorraine's great joy, "Kilmeny" also came in for a share of notice in the newspaper reviews, and one day a letter arrived at the studio by the harbour, containing a special invitation for the picture to be exhibited at an important provincial⁷ art gallery in the autumn. Such invitations are the swallows of an artist's summer of success, and Margaret Lindsay's eyes shone, as she showed Lorraine the official document with the city arms heading the paper.
 
"You've been my mascot⁸, you see!" she said brightly. "I've tried to get into that particular exhibition time after time, and always had my pictures rejected. And now, just to think that I'm specially⁹ invited, and a place of honour kept for my 'Kilmeny'! I feel an inch taller! I must paint you in the sunset again, Lorraine!"
 
Lorraine, curled up on the window-seat, turning over art magazines, shook her head.
 
"Don't repeat yourself!" she advised. "Why not paint the dawn instead? It's just as beautiful as sunset—more so, I think, and would give you [253]a different scheme of colour, all opal and pearly pink, instead of golden and brown. Can't you choose some other fairy-tale heroine?"
 
"Yes—the Dawn Princess! I can see her in imagination, standing¹⁰ at the edge of the waves, with a rosy¹¹ sky behind her, and trails of sea-weed under her bare feet. I believe it would be a companion picture to 'Kilmeny'! If I can paint it in time, I'll see if the Art Gallery will consent to exhibit the pair. I'm actually getting ambitious. Will you stand as model again?"
 
"With all the pleasure in life, any time and anywhere you want me! I'm yours to command!"
 
A good and adequate picture of the dawn was not so easy to paint as a sunset. They were on the west coast, and, in order to get the effect of the sun rising over the sea, it was necessary to be on some promontory¹² where they could look eastwards¹³ over a stretch of water. The only headland which answered the required points of the compass was Giant's Tor Point, which jutted¹⁴ out in a curve from the mainland, with the whole of Pendragon Bay between it and the opposite point of the coast. The sandy beach under its shelter had been named "Smugglers' Cove¹⁵". It was several miles away from Porthkeverne, so unless they could walk there by moonlight, it would be quite impossible to reach it in time to witness from the beach the spectacle of dawn. A moonlight scramble¹⁶ over cliffs and rocks might be highly romantic, but not altogether a safe proceeding¹⁸, and Margaret Lindsay had a better suggestion to offer.
 
[254]"We'll take my little bathing-tent, and pitch it on the shore in some sheltered place, and spend the night there. There will be just room for us both to cram¹⁷ in, and with a rug each we should keep quite warm. Then we shall be all ready and prepared for the dawn the moment it comes."
 
The weather was so warm that there were no objections to camping-out, and Mrs. Forrester quite readily gave permission for the expedition.
 
"You're such a sensible person, Muvvie dear!" gasped¹⁹ Lorraine ecstatically. "Some mothers would have howled at such a plan. I'm sure Aunt Carrie wouldn't have let Vivien go. You always seem to see things just from the same point of view as we do ourselves."
 
"I know you'll be safe with Margaret Lindsay, or I wouldn't let you stir five yards from my apron²⁰ strings²¹. I could be a dragon of a mother if the occasion required!" laughed Mrs. Forrester. "So far, happily, you've never wanted to do anything especially outrageous²². I can see no harm in your camping-out on the beach just for one night. I should be a very unreasonable²³ person if I objected."
 
"But then you're Muvvie and nobody else, you see!" said Lorraine, dropping a kiss on the dear brown hair that was just turning grey.
 
So it came to pass that on the very Tuesday evening after Morland had returned to camp, Margaret Lindsay and Lorraine shouldered bathing-tent, rugs, and picnic-basket, and trudged²⁴ out to Giant's Tor Point. They arrived there about sunset, and [255]found a quiet, sheltered spot among the rocks, well above high-water mark, where they pitched their tent. There was not a soul in sight: they seemed to have the whole of the headland and the bay entirely²⁵ to themselves. It was a calm, warm evening, and the waves lapped gently upon the beach. The sand in the spot they had chosen was dry, so they piled up heaps of it for pillows, and laid down their rugs; then, having completed these preparations, opened their baskets and had a picnic supper. The sunset had faded by that time, and a full moon was shining over the bay, glinting on the waves and lighting²⁶ up the outlines of the crags on the headland. The silence was broken only by the gentle purring of the waves on the pebbles²⁷, or the call of some night-bird. The calm stillness was beautiful beyond description: it was like a glimpse into another world where all petty struggles and troubles had faded away. It needed an effort to leave the beautiful moonlight and go to bed inside the tent, but they tore themselves away from it at last, and rolled themselves up in their rugs. It was a long time before either of them slept; the unusual circumstances, their cramped²⁸ position, and the swish-swash-grind of the waves made them keenly on the alert. Though Lorraine would not have confessed it for worlds, she found the situation a trifle eerie²⁹. She thought she heard noises in the distance, and recalled tales of smugglers and wreckers and ghost-haunted coves³⁰. She was glad to have Margaret close beside her. There [256]was comfort in the sense of contact with something human. Not till after midnight did she fall into a troubled sleep.
 
When she awoke, the moon had passed across the sky, and the first hint of dawn was in the air. Margaret had flung back her rug, and was stepping out of the tent. Lorraine followed her, shivering a little, for the morning air was chilly³¹. Everything was wreathed in pearly shadows, and the headland loomed³² like a grey mass of mist, with the sea for a silver lake below. Each moment the light seemed to grow stronger, and what at first had appeared mere³³ clumps³⁴ of darkness resolved themselves into mussel-covered rocks or banks of sea-weed. At the far side of the bay, behind the heather-clad hill, the sky was changing from pearl to rose. Margaret, whose paints were ready, began to set up her easel to sketch³⁵ the evanescent effect without delay. But just as she was putting in the pegs³⁶, Lorraine nudged her and pointed³⁷. At the end of the cove, where the bay merged³⁸ into the open sea, there had suddenly arisen a strange object. They both looked at it, and both at the same moment realized what it was—neither more or less than the conning³⁹ tower of a U-boat!
 
Margaret hastily pulled down her easel, and drew Lorraine behind the shelter of some rocks. She judged that if a U-boat were so near to the coast, then somebody in collusion with the enemy must be about on the shore. Nor was she mistaken. They had hardly concealed⁴⁰ themselves when voices were heard quite a short distance away, and the grating [257]sound of a boat being pushed along the shingle⁴¹. In the gathering⁴² brightness of the dawn they could see, not a hundred yards off, the entrance to a cave from which two men were taking some barrels. They rolled them down the beach, and with apparent difficulty hoisted⁴³ them into a small boat. So intent were they on their ............