riously offending the proprieties, manage to set at naught many of the petty conventionalities that obtai

d traveled extensively, five years with a tutor, and latterly alone. Many men envi

rty, but caprice, or disgust, at the machinations of a husband-hunting young lady on board, had inspired him with so keen a lon

thought indifferently, and walked musingly along the shore, thinking in

. "How beautiful and heartless women are! Shall I never be loved for myself alone?

of an old woman, with a hideous, scarred face, and bright, furtive eyes. A catlike bound brought her

ian Mountcastle beheld the witch, and

e! Can I not escape the

ork you bitter woe, young sir," r

e Adam's day, and will no doubt continue it to the end of the

e flashing diamond on his hand that she forgot to answer

ion that you cannot speak? Who li

e house is called Gray Gables, and belongs to an old man in New York. You must

truth, old lady. Some women badgered me so that I was fain to jump overboard into the sea to avoid them, so my friend, th

ybody at Pirate Be

even the name of the place until now. Pirate

re might have been many years ago. There

sure. Well, is there

e miles or so on

azy man. Maybe they will

from him, she suddenly lifted her skinny right arm on hi

h the roof of Gray Gables. It is written i

stared, then laughe

Come, read me a page

in joy. There was more where that came from. She had caug

er at that old gray house, so dark and forbidding, among the trees. It has been accursed and uninhabited for years; but to-night I see in the shining stars a new shad

is Dorian Mountcastle, who was so tired

!" he exclaimed, in a voice of cynical melancholy, and, throwing her another coin, walked impatient

row a cautious glance around her, but there was no one in sight-no one but the young man yonder with the diamond gleaming on his hand, and his poc

lness. For, as Meg crouched there, on the shining sands, her lean claw slipped inside the long black cloak she wore, and clutched the hilt of a sh

kets, he was watching the sea, and softly whis

foot, tripped him, and he fell backward on the wet sa

ght, then descending, sheathed itself deep in his breast. Dorian Mountcastle quivered all ove