THE DEVIL'S KITCHEN 75 



" Some other day, when Mr French is at home. 

 I don't understand your meaning at all when you 

 talk about nobody knowing. I never do things 

 that I want to hide." 



" Sure, that was only my joke," grinned Mr 

 Giveen; " and if you don't come to-day you'll 

 never come at all, for it's the end of the season, 

 and it's a hundred to one you won't find another 

 day fit to go till next summer — and I'll show you 

 the big sea cave," finished he, " for the tide will 

 be out by the time we've had a look at the seals. 

 It's not f oolin' you I am ; the boat's on the beach, 

 and it won't take ten minutes to get there! " 



" I'll come down and look at the sea," said Miss 

 Grimshaw, who could not resist the appeal of the 

 lovely afternoon, " if you'll wait five seconds till 

 I get my hat." 



" Sure I'd wait five hundred years," replied the 

 cousin of Mr French, propping himself against the 

 house wall, where he stood whisthng softly and 

 breaking off every now and then to chuckle to 

 himself, after the fashion of a person who has 

 thought of a good joke or has got the better of 

 another in a deal. 



Five minutes later, hearing the girl leaving the 

 house by the front door, he came round and met her. 



" This way," said Mr Giveen, taking a path that 

 led through the kitchen garden and so round a 

 clump of stunted fir trees to the break in the cliffs 

 that gave passage to the strand. " Now down by 

 these rocks — it's a powerfully rough road, and I've 



