history of God in man.  Qualities hitherto unsuspected in her developed; if an apt pupil, she was an instructive teacher of the wealth of charity and purity that dwells in an untainted woman’s heart.  And she had another friend:  the hermit watched over her with touching care and assiduity.  He appeared strangely attracted to her; the holy fathers marvelled to see this rough being, who had seemed to them an animal to be feared while pitied, caring for the maiden’s comfort with a woman’s gentleness:  he seemed never weary of contemplating her, sometimes murmuring to himself as he did so.  Any little delicacy that the island could afford, game, fish, shellfish, was provided for her by him.  Once, thinking her couch hard, he disappeared and returned bearing, whence none knew, soft stuffs better fitted for her tender form; on this occasion the whole man seemed transformed, when he stepped in with a smile in his big frank eyes, and a ruddy glow on his bronzed scarred cheeks, placed his offering at her feet, and strode away.  Strange, too, to say, Hilda seemed to return the feeling:  happy in the presence of Austin, she was yet with him as the pupil with the master; but with the recluse she was gentle, affectionate, and even playful.  The monks attempted not to solve the puzzle of the bond that knitted together the two strange beings; analysis of character troubled little their saintly minds.

At length consciousness returned; Jean opened his eyes and recognised Austin.  This was a joyful moment.  Quiet was all that was now necessary to complete the restoration of his health, which could not, however, be anticipated for a considerable time.  The first inquiry of the patient was for Hilda, and he was allowed to see her; on the next day they were permitted to interchange a few words, after which Austin explained what he had already decided.  Hilda, he pointed out, could not fitly remain in Lihou, where she had been allowed to reside only until her lover was out of danger; the laws of the establishment, which forbade the presence of women, must now be put in force, but a fitting home had been provided for her; she would be placed with the Sisters at the Vale; the hermit would conduct her thither on the following day.  The girl bowed to this decision, sorely as she grieved to leave him she loved; the next morning they parted, and she embarked with her guardian who, shielding her lovingly from all harm, placed her, ere nightfall, in her new abode.

Judith had not discovered the girl’s departure till the sun was well up, when she heard of her absence from the frantic Tita.  The old woman’s force of character was colossal; pettinesses, small passions, were unknown to her.  Had her sphere been larger her promptitude of resource, keenness of perception, resolute look onwards and upwards, solidity of purpose, and incisive action might have graven her name on the tables of history.  Stagnating in the shallow pools of the unstoried rocks in which