She thought Harry had talked to
help her over an awkward moment, and she was grateful but disturbed. It
looked as if he knew something and he might know much. All the same,
when he talked about her step-father she agreed. Cartwright was bold and
clever, and, although he was sometimes not very scrupulous, people did
trust him. Barbara wished she had his cleverness and his talent for
removing obstacles. There were obstacles in her path and the path was
dark. Yet she had promised to take it and must make good. She tried to
banish her doubts and began to talk.

After lunch she allowed one of the party to help her on board a canoe.
The afternoon was calm, and the light breeze that now and then sighed in
the pine-tops hardly ruffled the shining water. In the evening, when the
straight trunks cut against a blaze of gold and green, they sat by a
smudge fire that kept off the mosquitoes and sang to an accompaniment of
banjos and mandolins. Barbara sang with the others, but it cost her an
effort. The tranquil day was nearly done and she felt it was the last
tranquillity she might know for long. Her companions were frank and
kind, Canadians, but her sort, and she was going to make a bold plunge
with another who was not. Yet she knew one could not rebel for nothing,
and she had pluck. The light faded behind the trees, a loon's wild cry
rang across the dark water, and the party went to bed.

In the morning Grace awoke Mrs. Cartwright quietly.

"Barbara is gone," she said.

"Ridiculous!" said Mrs. Cartwright.

"She is gone. Her clothes are not about; but we must be calm and not
disturb the camp. Mrs. Vernon ought to know, but nobody else. You see,
it's important--"

Mrs. Cartwright saw, and a few minutes afterwards her hostess knew.

"It's plain I must give Harry my confidence, to some extent," Mrs.
Vernon said, and went to look for her son.

She found him going off for a swim, and when she told her tale he
frowned.

"In a way, perhaps, I'm accountable, but we'll talk about this again,"
he said. "Get Mrs. Cartwright on board the launch and come along
yourself. As soon as Bob's inside his clothes we'll start."

"But Bob--" Mrs. Vernon began.

"Bob _knows_, and I'll need a partner. If Miss Hyslop didn't leave the
settlement on the night express, she'll be hitting the trail through the
woods for the United States. You must hustle."

Mrs. Vernon left him, and a few minutes afterwards the fast motor launch
swung out from t