"'What is that?' "'I can pay for information. Ten of these gold pieces are yours, if you tell me truly to whom your daughter is married.' "'Give me the money.' "I gave him the gold, and he bit the coins singly with his strong teeth. Then he said, 'She is married to Silvain.' "'Heaven pity him,' I said, preparing to descend, 'for such a father-in-law.' "'He needs no pity,' retorted Baldwin, 'he has Avicia.' "As we rowed to land I kept my face towards the lighthouse, and saw, with my mind's eye, the image of the beautiful girl, as I had seen her for the first time, standing on the topmost gallery, with her luxuriant hair hanging loose, and the scarlet covering on her head. In the lives of Kristel and Silvain the lovely vision was the embodiment of a terrible fate. Red lips parted, white teeth gleaming, wistful eyes gazing, a face of bewitching beauty and innocence---- And suddenly the vision grew indistinct in a mass of whirling clouds, which in my fevered fancy became pregnant with angry passions. I dashed my hand across my eyes. "'Steady, sir,' said the rowers, as their boat grated on the beach. "Before night fell I was far away." END OF VOL. I. RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LONDON AND BUNGAY. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Secret Inheritance (Volume 1 of 3), by B. L. (Benjamin Leopold) Farjeon