she had forgotten while they
talked.

"They want me to stay at the Grange for a few weeks," she announced, and
smiled. "An hour ago I felt crushed and beaten--and now, though my voice
has probably gone for good, I don't seem to mind. Isn't it curious that
both these letters should have come to sweep my troubles away to-night?"

"No," answered Winifred, "it's distinctly natural--just what one would
have expected. You wrote to the man in Canada soon after you'd seen the
specialist, and his answer was bound to arrive in the next few days."

"But I certainly didn't write the folks at the Grange."

Winifred's eyes twinkled. "As it happens, I did, two days ago. I
ventured to point out their duty to them, and they were rather nice
about it in another letter."

With a little sigh of contentment Agatha stretched herself out in the
low chair. "Well," she said, "it probably wouldn't have the least effect
if I scolded you. I believe I'm horribly worn out, Winny, and it will be
a relief unspeakable to get away. If I can arrange to give up those
pupils I'll go to-morrow."

Winifred made no answer. Kneeling with one elbow resting on the arm of
Agatha's chair, she gazed straight in front of her. Both of the girls
were very weary of the long, grim struggle, and now a change was close
at hand.

CHAPTER V

THE OLD COUNTRY

It was a still, clear evening of spring when Wyllard, unstrapping the
rucksack from his shoulders, sat down beside a frothing stream in a
dale of Northern England. On his arrival in London a week or two earlier
he had found awaiting him a letter from Mrs. Hastings, who was then in
Paris, in which she said that she could not at the moment say when she
would go home again, but that she expected to advise him shortly.

After answering the letter Wyllard started North, and, obtaining
Agatha's address from Miss Rawlinson, went on again to a certain little
town, which, encircled by towering fells, stands beside a lake in the
North Country. He had already recognized that his mission was rather a
delicate one, and he decided that it would be advisable to wait until he
heard from Mrs. Hastings before calling upon Miss Ismay. There remained
the question, what to do with the next few days. A conversation with
several pedestrian tourists whom he met at his hotel, and a glance at a
map of the hill-tracks decided him. Remembering that he had on several
occasions kept the trail in Canada for close on forty miles,