'Neolithic hut dwellers, Druids, Romans, and even traces of the early Phoenicians were to be found.

''But this place is the most interesting of all,' he said.

'You know its name - Silent Grove. Well, it is easy enough to see what it takes its name from.'

'He pointed with his hand. That particular part of the country was bare enough - rocks, heather and bracken, but about a hundred yards from the house there was a densely planted grove of trees.

''That is a relic of very early days,' said Haydon. 'The trees have died and been replanted, but on the whole it has been kept very much as it used to be - perhaps in the time of the Phoenician settlers. Come and look at it.'

'We all followed him. As we entered the grove of trees a curious oppression came over me. I think it was the silence. No birds seemed to nest in these trees. There was a feeling about it of desolation and horror. I saw Haydon looking at me with a curious smile.

''Any feeling about this place, Pender?' he asked me. 'Antagonism now? Or uneasiness?'

''I don't like it,' I said quietly.

''You are within your rights. This was a stronghold of one of the ancient enemies of your faith. This is the Grove of Astarte.'

''Astarte?'

''Astarte, or Ishtar, or Ashtoreth, or whatever you choose to call her. I prefer the Phoenician name of Astarte. There is, I believe, one known Grove of Astarte in this country - in the North on the Wall. I have no evidence, but I like to believe that we have a true and authentic Grove of Astarte here. Here, within the dense circle of trees, sacred rites were performed. '

''Sacred rites,' murmured Diana Ashley. Her eyes had a dreamy far-away look. 'What were they, I wonder? '