North rose, began whistling a careless air, and walked slowly back along the path by which he had entered the grove. When Elizabeth came in sight of the house she saw a light in the library window. "Elsie is back at last. God help us all!" she muttered. She moved near the low casement, looked in and saw the girl standing on the hearth, and hurried towards the entrance. Elsie had returned home a full hour before, and had searched for Elizabeth vainly about the house. She entered the library, and was walking restlessly about the spacious room, slowly and sadly, as if oppressed by this cold welcome home. Suddenly her eye caught sight of a paper lying under the table; it was one of the letters which had fallen unnoticed by Elizabeth when she put away the package. Elsie caught it up, glanced her eyes over it, uttered a faint cry, then read it in a sort of horrified stupor. "Elizabeth! Elizabeth!" broke from her lips. The discovery which she had made froze the very blood in her veins, and left her incapable of thought or action. She sat shivering, as if struck with a mortal chill, and at last crept close to the fire, clutching the letter in her hands, but holding them out for warmth. Sometimes her sister's name broke from her lips in a horrified whisper, and low words died in her throat, the very sound of which made her shudder. At length the darkness and the solitude seemed to become insupportable to her; she started forward and opened the door, with the intention of fleeing from the room. It had suddenly become odious to her. She took one step into the hall and met Elizabeth face to face. The woman saw the letter which Elsie held in her hand, caught the recoiling gesture which she instinctively made, then for an instant they both stood still, staring at each other. Suddenly Elizabeth caught Elsie's hand, drew her back into the library, and, once there, closed and locked the door. For more than an hour the pair were alone in that darkened apartment. When at last they emerged from it they were both deadly white, and exhausted as if by passionate weeping. Not a word was spoken between them, but they turned away from each other like ghosts that had no resting-place on earth. CHAPTER XXI. FIRE AND WATER. When North left Mrs. Mellen in the woods he took a moment for consideration, and then walked quickly towards the shore tavern. As he turned a point which led from Piney Point to the bluff which overhung it, his servant, the young mulatto, who had spent most of the season at this retreat, came to meet him with a letter in his hand. "It had a foreign postmark," said the man; "so I started to meet you the moment it came in, according to orders." "Right, boy, you are very right," cried North, tearing at the envelope as a hawk rends its prey; "never let a scrap of writing from abroad rest a moment out of my hands." The man read the letter--only a few lines--and his hands shook till the paper rattled again.