'You would prefer the blue sea to the trees?'

'In that particular spot I should; they might have looked just as well,
and yet have hidden nothing worth seeing. The narrow slit would have
been invaluable there.'

'They shall fall before the sun sets, in deference to your opinion,' said
Lord Mountclere.

'That would be rash indeed,' said Ethelberta, laughing, 'when my opinion
on such a point may be worth nothing whatever.'

'Where no other is acted upon, it is practically the universal one,' he
replied gaily.

And then Ethelberta's elderly admirer bade her adieu, and away the whole
party drove in a long train over the hills towards the valley wherein
stood Enckworth Court. Ethelberta's carriage was supposed by her friends
to have been left at the village inn, as were many others, and her
retiring from view on foot attracted no notice.

She watched them out of sight, and she also saw the rest depart--those
who, their interest in archaeology having begun and ended with this spot,
had, like herself, declined the hospitable viscount's invitation, and
started to drive or walk at once home again. Thereupon the castle was
quite deserted except by Ethelberta, the ass, and the jackdaws, now
floundering at ease again in and about the ivy of the keep.

Not wishing to enter Knollsea till the evening shades were falling, she