The Argosy — page 26: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

16 Tite Master of Groylanas. Ethel seemed to stand alone without kith or kin, with no one to love her; and she felt it keenly. As much as a young lady can be put upon and snubbed, Ethel Reene was. Mr. Castlemaine was always kind to her, though perhaps somewhat indifferent ; Mrs. Castlemaine was unkind and tyrannical; Flora—an indulged, selfish, ill-bred girl of twelve, forward enough for double her age—did her best to annoy her in all ways. And Mrs. Castlemaine permitted this: she could see no fault in Flora, she hated Ethel. Ethel Reene was nineteen now, growing fast into womanhood ; but she was young for her years, and of a charming simplicity—not so rare in girls then as it is now. She was good, gentle, and beautiful; with a pale, quiet beauty that slowly takes hold of the heart, but as surely stays there. Her large grey eyes, full of depth and feeling, gazed out at you with almost the straight- forward ihnocence of a child: and no child’s heart could have been less free from guile. Her hair was dark, her features were refined and deli- cate, her whole appearance lady-like and most attractive. Ethel Reene had much to put up with in her every-day life: for Mrs. Castlemaine’s conduct was trying in the extreme; Flora’s worse than trying. She seldom retaliated: having learnt how useless retaliation from er was, against them: and besides she loved peace. But she was not without spirit: and only herself knew what it had cost her to learn to keep that spirit under. Sometimes when matters went very far, she would put her bonnet on and wander away to the cliffs ; where, seated on the extreme edge, she would remain for hours; looking out on the sea. She was fond of taking her place in the chapel ruins, and sitting there, for the expanse of ocean was most grand and beautiful ; sometimes, when the water was low, so that the strip of beach could be gained, she would step down the low but rather dangerous rock to it—which strip of beach was only accessible from the chapel ruins. But one day Mr. Castlemaine happened to see her do this; he was very angry, and absolutely forbade her, not only to de- scend the rocks, but to enter, under any pretence whatsoever, the site of the chapel ruins. Ethel was not one to disobey. But the higher rocks farther up, by the coast-guard station, were not denied her: Mr. Castlemaine only enjoining her to be cautious. It had grown to be her favourite spot, and she often sat or walked there. The ever-changing water seemed to bring consolation to her spirit; it spoke to her in strange, soothing whispers ; it fed the romance and the dreams that lie in a young girl's heart. When the sea was rough and the waves dashed against the cliffs, flinging up their spray mountains high and sprinkling her face as with a mist, she would stand, lost in the grandeur and awe of the scene, her hat off and held by its ribbons, her hair floating inthe wind. And so, for want of suitable companionship, Ethel Reene and the sea shared their secrets between, them. The glass doors of the red yggrlour were closed to-dav against the COMIC OOOKS. EO in —_)