She was startled to see the approach of a large eight-oared barge rowed by men in uniform, with two officers wrapped in cloaks in the stern sheets, and before them the glitter of musket barrels.

The two officers appeared to be conversing earnestly, and occasionally pointing to the shore and the bluff above.

For an instant she trembled, and then an instinct of revolt and resistance followed.

She hurriedly removed the ring, which she usually wore when alone, from her finger, slipped it with the packet under the mattress of her bed, and prepared with blazing eyes to face the intruders.

But when the boat was beached, the two officers, with scarcely a glance towards the cottage, proceeded leisurely along the shore.