"December 25th.--Christmas Day! I am alone. A year ago--but what shall it profit to remember a year ago? I am in a prison-house beneath the sea, and the waves beat against my windows with their moaning cry, 'Never, never again--never again!' At night, when the tide has fallen, I open my window and send a message to the sea. Will any hear it? I dare not hope. "January 1st.--My husband has returned from his cruise. He is to go to Europe to see after my affairs. Will he tell them, I wonder, that Ruth Bellenden is dead? "January 8th.--The sleep-time has now lasted for nine weeks. They tell me that vapours rise up from the land and lie above it like a cloud. Some think they come from the great poppies which grow in the marshy fields of the lowlands; others say from the dark pools in the gorges of the hills. However it may be, those that remain on the island fall into a trance while the vapour is there. A strange thing! Some never wake from it; some lose their senses; the negroes alone seem able to live through it. The vapours arise quite suddenly; we ring the alarm-bell to send the people to the ships. "January 15th.--We returned to the island to-day. How blind and selfish some people are! I do believe that Aunt Rachel is content to live on this dreadful place. She is infatuated with Edmond. 'I am anchored securely in a home: she says. 'The house under the sea is a young man's romantic fancy.' The rest is meaningless to her--a man's whim. 'I cannot dissipate my fortune on Ken's Island.' Aunt Rachel was always a miser. "February 2d.--This morning Edmond came to me for that which he calls 'an understanding.' His affection distresses me. Oh, it might all be so different if I would but say 'yes.' And what prevents me--the voices I have heard on the reef; or is it because I know--I know? "February 9th.--I am on the island again and the sun is shining. What I have suffered none shall ever know. I prefer Edmond Czerny's anger to his love. We understand each other now. "February 21st.--My message to the sea remains unanswered. Will it be forever? "March 3d.--If Jasper Begg should come to me, how would they receive him? How could he help me? I do not know--and yet my woman's heart says 'Come!' "April 4th.--There has been a short recurrence of the sleep-time. A ship struck upon the reef, and the crew rowed ashore to the island. I saw them last night in the moonlight, from my windows. They fell one by one at the border of the wood and slept. You could count their bodies in the clear white light. I tried to shut the sight from my eyes, but it followed me to my bed-room! "May 3d.--I whispered my message to the sea again, but am alone--God knows how much alone!"