Chapter I: Preface

In writing my Cornish Tales I have always endeavoured to pourtray the Cornish character in all its native wit and humour, for which the genuine west-country miners are so proverbial. And I have generally taken for the foundation of my Stories incidents which have really happened in the localities wherein the actions of my little dramas have been laid.

The scene of my present story is laid in the neighbourhood of the Land's-End, and most of the characters were well-known there in days gone by;--the names only being fictitious.

The fall of the horse over the cliff is still in the remembrance of some old people in the neighbourhood; and the circumstance is related by the Guides who shew the beauties of the Land's-End scenery to strangers. The marks of the horse's hoofs in the grass at the edge of the cliff are preserved to this day.

The Wizard (or Conjuror as he was called) was a notorious character at St. Just, some fifty years ago;--and the horrid murder related in these pages; and the mistaken identity of the guilty parties are also veritable facts.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown were well-known characters, and are drawn from real life.

This brief sketch of some of the scenes and characters to be found in this little volume may perhaps add an interest to it, and induce a large number of the lovers of Cornish lore to honour it with a perusal.

PLYMOUTH, March, 1871.

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 croom
o' 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 the
earth at midnight. The curious cottage on the
heath 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 with
Mrs. 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 and
placed in a golden casket 232

XLIX. The wedding-bells 239

The Wizard of West Penwith.