4. ,
208 WHISPERS FROM FAIRVLAND. [Iv.

part was girt with a fringe of reeds, into which she
could easily run her boat and step out upon the
shore. Her natural impulse would have been to stop
and look out for some natural landing place, but as
she had been told on no account to stop rowing, she
deemed it best to go straight on, and in another
minute the boat made its way into the reeds,.and
could go no farther. Molly rose, and having laid
down her oars, stepped lightly forward and jumped
from the boat on to the shore. It was somewhat dif-
ferent from that which she had quitted.

A grass bank came quite down to the water, and
upon this she at once set her feet. Some twenty
yards before her was a wood of low, stunted oaks, ~
extending on either side for some distance, but never
nearer to the sea. The trees appeared as if they had
most of them been struck by lightning, or exposed to,
some blighting influence which had dwarfed their
growth, and rendered their foliage unnaturally sere
and yellow. Ever and anon great rocks of a dark
grey hue, o’ergrown by a coarse kind of moss, rose
abruptly among the low trees, which were by no
means thickly planted, and here and there a tall
cedar or Scotch fir reared its head on high, looking as
bare as trees could look, and giving a somewhat wild
appearance to the place. All was still and silent as
the grave, and although the wind had fallen again
and the sea was calm, the sun had not again re-asserted
his right to shine, but twilight was still reigning over
the face of the earth.

When she found herself safe. on shore, Molly
Goodchild stood still, in great doubt as to her next