She had taken so prominent a part in their lives of late, and imagination so cruelly suggested her figure in every place they visited, that the business of the day had no zest in it. The captain presently seated himself on a bank out on the marshes, with his cane lying across his knees, while Comethup sprawled at his feet and watched the distant line of the sand hills beyond which the sea lay. Suddenly the captain sat rigidly upright and stared away across the marshes in an opposite direction to that in which Comethup was looking; an ejaculation escaped his lips, and Comethup twisted round on one elbow and followed the direction of the captain's gaze. Two figures were running toward them, coming breathlessly over the uneven ground, and waving to them as they ran. Comethup sat up with a start. "Why, it's 'Linda!" he exclaimed; and then, in a more surprised tone, "and Brian!" The two came up pantingly, and the girl dropped down beside Comethup; the boy Brian tossed his hair back from his face, and burst out with his tale. "We've been looking for you everywhere," he exclaimed. "You know I couldn't find you at your house"--this to Comethup--"nor at the captain's; and dad was in one of his frightful tempers, and had been raving about the house, swearing he'd kill me. He often does that, you know; I'm quite used to it. So you see I didn't know what to do, until at last I thought of that house we went to see, Comethup, you know, the one that was haunted. It wasn't half bad in the daylight, and it wasn't haunted, after all." "I know that," said Comethup. "And so does the captain." "How did you find this--this child?" asked the captain, dropping one hand lightly on the girl's head. "I'm coming to that," replied Brian, briskly. "I went into the garden and had a good look round, and there didn't seem to be anything to be afraid of. So I walked round the house to see what there was to be seen, and I----" "And you saw me up at the window," broke in 'Linda, with a laugh. The boy smiled back at her, and dropped down beside her on the sandy ground. "Yes," he said, "and I asked you if you were the ghost, and what you were doing up there; and you said you were waiting for Comethup. And I said that I was looking for him, too, and we'd better go and look together. Then I showed you how to get down from the window by the ivy, and--and here we are." He rolled over on his back, crossed his hands under his head, and laughed again. It was all true. He had stormed the situation in a fashion which neither Comethup nor the captain would have dreamed of; had flung himself joyously, as it were, into the midst of a matter from which they had innocently plotted to exclude him. 'Linda, too, had entertained him with an account of all that had happened: of her expeditions with Comethup and the captain, down to the minutest details, proud of the fact that she had so much to tell to this new and charming companion.