Once and again, haunted by an unreasonable dread, she went to the wardrobe to examine the range of crooks and pendent garments and assure herself that they had not been touched. Once and again she started as though the ground beneath her feet had given way suddenly, and when she recovered herself it was to be seized with fear lest her brain was reeling. Then there came over her a qualm, and she sank on a seat with sickness at her heart and a spinning in her head. As she shut the wardrobe door after one of these looks at her secret drawer, she saw the shadow of a man pass the window, and this was followed by a sharp rap at the door. Without awaiting an answer, a preventive man entered unceremoniously. 'Missus,' said he, 'I advise you to budge. Something is going to take place; we don't know what, and I've had orders to give you warning.' 'I do not understand you.' 'Come and see for yourself.' Jane followed the officer, and he led her from the house, through the bushes, to a point on the edge of the cliff that commanded the beach and the sea some three hundred feet beneath. She was silent. No wind was stirring. The moment was that of the turn of the tide. At a distance of half a mile from the shore the surface of the water heaved like the bosom of a sleeper in rhythmic throb. There were no rollers, no white horses. But nearer land the sea was boiling. Volumes of muddy water surged up in bells as from a great depth, and spread in glistening sheets, that threw out wavelets which clashed with the undulations of the tide. Moreover, there appeared something like a mighty monster of the deep, ruddy brown, heaving his back above the water. 'That which is coming in is sweet water,' said the man. 'One of our chaps has ventured down and tasted it. It is not the fountains of the deep that are broken up, but the land springs are feeding the ocean. Did you ever witness the like?' 'Yes,' said Jane, 'there was something of the kind took place, but only in a small way, before the crack formed when my old cottage was ruined.' 'Exactly, missus. And there is going to happen something of the same sort here, but on a mighty scale, to which that was but as nothing. Where it will begin, how far it will extend, all that is what no mortal can guess. Now you know why I have been sent to tell you to clear out as fast as you can. If you want my help, you are welcome to it.' 'My house!――I have but just bought it.' 'The sea and the fresh-water springs were not parties to the agreement, I reckon,' said the preventive officer. 'But this new house of mine is some way from the edge.' 'For all that you must shift. It is unsafe to remain in it another hour.' 'Whither shall I go?' 'Mrs. Jose, I reckon, will gladly receive you.' He was in the right. Some appalling convulsion was threatening. To what extent the coast would be affected, and for how far inland it would extend, none could predict.