Adam put up a rough corrugated-iron shed behind the Grove, in which he stored his explosives.  All being ready for his great attempt whenever the time should come, he was now content to wait, and, in order to pass the time, interested himself in other things—­even in Caswall’s great kite, which still flew from the high tower of Castra Regis.

The mound of fine sand grew to proportions so vast as to puzzle the bailiffs and farmers round the Brow.  The hour of the intended cataclysm was approaching apace.  Adam wished—­but in vain—­for an opportunity, which would appear to be natural, of visiting Caswall in the turret of Castra Regis.  At last, one morning, he met Lady Arabella moving towards the Castle, so he took his courage a deux mains and asked to be allowed to accompany her.  She was glad, for her own purposes, to comply with his wishes.  So together they entered, and found their way to the turret-room.  Caswall was much surprised to see Adam come to his house, but lent himself to the task of seeming to be pleased.  He played the host so well as to deceive even Adam.  They all went out on the turret roof, where he explained to his guests the mechanism for raising and lowering the kite, taking also the opportunity of testing the movements of the multitudes of birds, how they answered almost instantaneously to the lowering or raising of the kite.

As Lady Arabella walked home with Adam from Castra Regis, she asked him if she might make a request.  Permission having been accorded, she explained that before she finally left Diana’s Grove, where she had lived so long, she had a desire to know the depth of the well-hole.  Adam was really happy to meet her wishes, not from any sentiment, but because he wished to give some valid and ostensible reason for examining the passage of the Worm, which would obviate any suspicion resulting from his being on the premises.  He brought from London a Kelvin sounding apparatus, with a sufficient length of piano-wire for testing any probable depth.  The wire passed easily over the running wheel, and when this was once fixed over the hole, he was satisfied to wait till the most advantageous time for his final experiment.

* * * * *

In the meantime, affairs had been going quietly at Mercy Farm.  Lilla, of course, felt lonely in the absence of her cousin, but the even tenor of life went on for her as for others.  After the first shock of parting was over, things went back to their accustomed routine.  In one respect, however, there was a marked difference.  So long as home conditions had remained unchanged, Lilla was content to put ambition far from her, and to settle down to the life which had been hers as long as she could remember.  But Mimi’s marriage set her thinking; naturally, she came to the conclusion that she too might have a mate.  There was not for her much choice—­there was little movement in the matrimonial direction at the farmhouse.  She did not approve of the personality of Edgar Caswall, and his struggle with Mimi had frightened her; but he was unmistakably an excellent parti, much better than she could have any right to expect.  This weighs much with a woman, and more particularly one of her class.  So, on the whole, she was content to let things take their course, and to abide by the issue.