she passed her life, these grand qualities were wasted and perverted.  She lost no time now in recrimination; a few sharp questions enabled her to judge how far the weakness of affection had played the traitor with the old woman, whom she left to settle matters with her own conscience.  She saw Garthmund, and told him that, in consequence of the unsatisfactory augury of the last sacrifice, she had decided to postpone the marriage.  Nor did she appear to notice the indifference with which the chief, who could not pretend that he ardently loved a bride who was practically a stranger to him, received the decision.  It took her some time to discover where Hilda had taken refuge; it speaks ill for female reticence that she discovered it shortly after the girl’s removal to the sisterhood.  She satisfied herself that her own people had no suspicion of the flight, as none of the crew of the belated boat had reached the shore; and she gathered, from the transfer of the maiden to the convent, that Father Austin was, on his side, resolved not to make known the elopement of Garthmund’s intended wife.  Her paramount wish was to recover her niece, but she perceived that she must act warily, and must be ready to deal with the many contingencies which would inevitably arise during the development of her schemes.  Hilda’s position under the immediate protection of the religious communities was a serious obstacle.  Judith believed that against them her magic arts would be of no avail; she was therefore driven to confine herself to earthly combinations; but she was in no wise daunted by this difficulty, which in point of fact cleared her judgment, and assisted her by inducing her to make the best of the materials at her disposal.  The obvious plan for the recovery of the girl was to induce Garthmund to attack the nunnery, and drag his bride from it; but to this there were many objections.  Acknowledgment of Hilda’s flight would be in itself a confession of failure.  She had promised to produce the girl when she was required; to seek the chief’s assistance to enable her to fulfil the promise would be a diminution of her prestige, and consequently of her power.  Again, it was by no means certain that the chief who, it has been said, was no love-sick bridegroom, would consent to undertake the enterprise; nor, if he did undertake it, was his prospect of success unquestionable, for the islanders, though not ready listeners to the Christian teaching, would have united to repel a heathen attack on their teachers whom they honoured and respected.  Judith therefore rejected this expedient, arranging her plan of operations with remarkable ingenuity.