Transcriber's Notes:
1. Page scan source: Google Books
https://books.google.com/books?id=aBsCAAAAQAAJ
(Oxford University)
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. | |
| I. | WINTER AT HERON DYKE. |
| II. | DR. DOWNES' SNUFF-BOX. |
| III. | "PATCHWORK." |
| IV. | THE TWENTY-FOURTH OF APRIL. |
| V. | MR. CHARLES PLACKETT CALLS UPON THE SQUIRE. |
| VI. | SUDDEN TIDINGS. |
| VII. | THE MISTRESS OF HERON DYKE. |
| VIII. | WHAT DOROTHY SAW IN THE SHRUBBERY. |
| IX. | ON BOARD THE "SEAMEW." |
| X. | RESCUER AND RESCUED. |
| XI. | NOTHING VENTURE, NOTHING WIN. |
| XII. | HUBERT STONE'S RETURN. |
The mellow autumn months darkened and died slowly into winter. Thewild winds that are born in the bitter north blew in stronger andfiercer gusts, and the majestic monotone of the sea grew louder andmore triumphant as the huge tides broke in white-lipped wrath againstthe shuddering sands. There came tidings of fishing boats that neverfound their way back home, of great ships in the offing that madesignals of distress, of dead bodies washed up here and there along theshore. The Easterby lifeboat was ever ready to brave the fiercestseas; while miles away across the seething waters, at once a signal ofwarning and of hope, the ruddy beacon of Easterby lighthouse shoneclear and steady through the darkest night: it was like the eye ofFaith shining across the troubled waters of Life.
At Heron Dyke, to all outward seeming, the winter months broughtlittle or no change in the monotony of life within its four greywalls. And yet ther