“Yes, yes; so it has,” answered Trevethick, impatiently.

“But I thought you told me about it yourself, father?” persisted Harry.  “How you saw the Thing, with a flame at the finger-tops, going up and down where the ladders used to be, and heard voices calling from the pit.”

“Not I, wench—­not I. That was only what was told me by other folks.—­Take another glass of your own sherry before supper, Sir; and after that we will have a bowl of punch.”

The hospitalities of Mr. Trevethick were, in fact, profuse, and his manner toward Richard most conciliatory.

“We’ll be glad to see you, Sol and I, in our little parlor, whenever you feel in want of company,” were his last words at parting for the night.  And, “Ay, ay, that’s so,” had been Solomon’s indorsement.

Harry had said nothing; but the tender pressure of his hand, when he wished her good-night, had not gone unreturned, and was an invitation more welcome than words.  The events of the day, the conversation of the evening, had given him plenty of matter for reflection; but the touch of those soft fingers was more potent, and the dreams evoked by it swallowed up all soberer thoughts.  He sat up for hours that night, picturing to himself a future altogether new to his imagination; and when he went to bed it was not to rest.  His excited brain was fed with a nightmare vision.  He thought that he was once more with Harry on the castled rock; his lips were pressed to hers; his arm was around her waist, just as they had been; but, instead of his slipping alone over the precipice, they fell together; and as they did so—­not without a wild delight mingling with his despair—­she was suddenly plucked away from him, and, as he sank headlong down, down, he saw that Solomon Coe had caught her in his arms, and, with her father, was looking down upon him with savage and relentless glee!

CHAPTER XV.

SOLOMON’S REMINISCENCES.

There are wild places yet in the world, and primitive folk.  Even in England there are localities of which the phrase, “It is a hundred years behindhand,” still holds good; and so it was with Gethin.  Its wind-swept moors, its rock-bound coast, had inhabitants altogether differing from the men of fields and farms; to Richard, a man of pleasure from the town, they seemed a foreign race.  They were rough in externals, but kindly and genial at heart; given to hospitality, and, though good at a bargain, by no means greedy of gain.  Above all there were no beggars.  The poorest Gethin man would open a gate for you, or walk a hundred yards out of his way to show you your road, without asking for, or even expecting, a coin.  They were, however, as delighted as surprised to get it; and before the open-handed young artist had been a week in the place he had demoralized it by his largesses.  As, however, his smile and his thanks always accompanied these presents, he was served more for love’s