Yes. It was finally concluded that she must have been carried off; but by whom? That was still the problem unsolved. Inquiries were made up and down the coast and in every direction. Advertisements were inserted in the papers, and large rewards offered for her discovery by General Garnet, Judge Wylie, and other benevolent neighbors. For to this sort of assistance Miss Joe made no objection. She considered the recovery of Agnes quite an affair of general interest, as indeed it was. Nothing, however, was heard of her. As months passed, the mystery deepened, and people grew weary of conjecture. CHAPTER XV. THE ELFIN GIRL. But who is this? What thing of sea or land! Female of sex it seems. _—Samson Agonistes._ For a time Miss Joe had grieved immoderately over the untimely and mysterious fate of her niece, and the loneliness of her own lot, and the prospect of a poor and solitary old age before her; but soon, in the native kindness and disinterestedness of her heart, she turned to the child thus thrown upon her exclusive protection, and only hoped that she might be spared long enough to raise him, and see him able to take his own part; for, after all, small and helpless, and abandoned as he was, he was the last Hutton of the Isles, and the heir of—the little sand bank in the bay, yclept St. Clara’s Isle or Hutton’s Isle. Very strange was the lot and life of the lonely recluse of the sea-girt isle and her little protégé. Their only possessions were the nearly barren islet, the dilapidated lodge, a cow, a sheep or two, a little poultry and a dog. No cart or horse had they, nor even any use for either. The small skiff conveyed them to the mainland whenever, for the purpose of laying in a few groceries or dry goods, or of attending divine service, they found it necessary or agreeable to go. Their faithful old servant, Pontius Pilate, whose duty it was to till the land, row the boat, fish the weir, rake the oyster bed, and cut and bring wood from the mainland, was their only companion. The soil immediately around the house being mixed with clay and marl, still yielded, with careful cultivation, corn and wheat enough for the small consumption of the little family. And Pontius Pilate saved money by grinding this in a hand-mill. The little garden produced vegetables enough for their table. And the two sheep yielded wool enough for their winter socks and mits—carded, spun, and woven by the indefatigable fingers of Miss Joe. And so time passed on, until Miss Joe, not having trouble enough on her hands already, was induced to assume the responsibility of rearing another child, a little wild elf-like girl, whose advent was almost as great a subject of gossiping speculation as the disappearance of Agnes had been. And the name of this elfin child was Garnet Seabright.