"Where is she, John Finland?" "How should I know? I am not her keeper." "So answered Cain when he destroyed his brother's body; but you, John Finland, shall not evade my inquiry about the destruction of a human soul. Tera, as you call her, is gone!--and you have taken her from the fold." "Tera gone!" Finland paled through his bronzed complexion. "Where has she gone?" "I ask that," said Brand, sternly. "Last night she left the fold at six o'clock, and has not returned. She went to you, bearing precious jewels." "I never saw her, I swear! Last time I met her was the evening before yesterday, when Johnson took her away. This comes of her being amongst your psalm-singing lot. You have made away with Tera for the sake of her pearls." Finland was desperately in earnest, for he clenched his fists, spoke hoarsely, and looked wicked. Brand was sufficiently a judge of human nature to see that this speech was made in all honesty. Whosoever knew where Tera had gone, Jack was not the man. He was as astonished at her disappearance as Brand himself. "I see you are ignorant of her whereabouts," he said, in a disappointed tone. "We must seek elsewhere for Bithiah." "Oh, I'll seek for her, I'll find her," said Jack, between his teeth; "and if any harm has come to her, I'll wring that parson's neck! I know him--he loves Tera, and I shouldn't be surprised if he has carried her off. But I'll find her--if she is above ground." "Above ground?" echoed Brand. "You--you don't think the girl is dead!" CHAPTER IV IN THE CORNFIELD The little town of Grimleigh opened full on to the Channel. Its extension had of necessity been lateral, by reason of the hills which in the rear rose so precipitously as to be hopelessly inaccessible to the builder. But at either extremity the gradient became easier, and here row upon row of houses sloped down towards a lower plane built up of silt. This, too, was well covered, though here again Nature had intervened and the builder had perforce to stay his hand, threatened by the water. A narrow stone jetty ran out abruptly into the harbour, which, sheltered as it was by the high land around, afforded secure haven for those fishers of the deep upon whom in a large degree Grimleigh depended for its prosperity. As you drew from the sea, the precipitous nature of the land ceased, and far into the hazy distance the undulating down now waved with the ripening corn. The comfortable-looking homesteads scattered here and there seemed almost buried in the golden billows. The distinction, too, between the land and sea folk was sharply marked. The one rarely mingled with the other. When Grimleigh folk left Grimleigh it was mostly for the sea, while Poldew--the market-town some ten miles further inland--was the invariable goal of farmer and farm labourer.