CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | Mr. Freeman | [3] |
| II. | The Wreck near the Land's-End | [8] |
| III. | Alrina | [12] |
| IV. | The Unexpected Meeting | [16] |
| V. | John Brown and his favorite mare Jessie | [21] |
| VI. | The Family Party | [25] |
| VII. | Murder most foul | [30] |
| VIII. | The Wizard | [36] |
| IX. | Love and Mystery | [40] |
| X. | Alrina's troubles increase | [42] |
| XI. | Frederick Morley obstinately determines to ride the mare | [45] |
| XII. | The awful ride | [47] |
| XIII. | Its consequences | [50] |
| XIV. | Mrs. Brown tells the Conjuror a bit of her mind | [53] |
| XV. | The mysterious stranger at the Penzance Ball | [56] |
| XVI. | Josiah's astonishment at the effect produced by the display of his Treasure-trove | [60] |
| XVII. | The borrowed feathers of the peacock fail to conceal entirely the plumage of the jackdaw | [64] |
| XVIII. | The birds have taken flight | [67] |
| XIX. | The mysterious encounter | [71] |
| XX. | Aristocratic connections | [76] |
| XXI. | The Love-chase | [81] |
| XXII. | Alrina's first Love-letter | [88] |
| XXIII. | The Secret | [92] |
| XXIV. | Man is born to trouble and disappointment as the sparks fly upwards | [98] |
| XXV. | Retrospection and recrimination | [106] |
| XXVI. | Squire Pendray gets on his stilts and views Lieut. Fowler from a lofty eminence | [113] |
| XXVII. | The step in the wrong direction | [117] |
| XXVIII. | By doing a little wrong, great good is accomplished in the end | [122] |
| XXIX. | Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Trenow indulge in a croomo' chat, while Cap'n Trenow gives some sage advice in another quarter | [125] |
| XXX. | The two sisters pierced through the heart | [134] |
| XXXI. | Out of Scylla and into Charybdis | [139] |
| XXXII. | Alrina's troubles are increased by an unexpected discovery | [143] |
| XXXIII. | Alrina visits a kind friend and makes a proposal | [149] |
| XXXIV. | Captain Courland's return and his wife's anxiety | [154] |
| XXXV. | The desperate plunge | [159] |
| XXXVI. | The broken reed | [168] |
| XXXVII. | Josiah's lonely midnight watch in the Conjuror's house | [174] |
| XXXVIII. | The Search | [179] |
| XXXIX. | The unexpected meeting and mysterious communication | [184] |
| XL. | Miss Pendray's singular accident | [191] |
| XLI. | Mysterious sounds are heard issuing out of theearth at midnight. The curious cottage on theheath | [195] |
| XLII. | The poor dumb girl's sudden resolve, and its consequences | [202] |
| XLIII. | The Confession | [206] |
| XLIV. | Mrs. Brown enjoys another croom o' chat withMrs. Trenow, and receives an unexpected visitor | [210] |
| XLV. | An awful catastrophe | [219] |
| XLVI. | The dreaded interview | [224] |
| XLVII. | Mysteries explained | [229] |
| XLVIII. | A brilliant Cornish diamond discovered andplaced in a golden casket | [232] |
| XLIX. | The wedding-bells | [239] |
CHAPTER I. MR. FREEMAN.
Very near the most westerly point of Great Britain, and not very far from the promontory called Cape Cornwall, you may see, as you glide along the coast in your pleasure-boat of a calm summer's evening, a pretty little fishing-cove, in shape like a horse-shoe,—the two extreme points being formed by the projecting rocks on either side of the entrance,—the interior, or curved part, immediately under the main land, having a beautiful beach of white sand, on which boats can land with safety, when piloted by those who know the coast outside; for the little cove is guarded by hidden rocks, and is as safe in rough weather against invasion by the uninitiated, as if it had been fortified by a range of well-appointed batteries. Above this beach the cliffs rise gradually, and various zigzag footpaths are formed by the constant tread of the sailors and others who frequent the cove in going to and coming from the main land.
About a mile inland is a village of some importance, inhabited by sailors of various kinds, and miners and small farmers who occupy a few acres of land, and fill up their spare time by working at the neighbouring mines, either as mine labourers, or as carriers with their horses and carts.