y of medals at the breast.

When the train stopped at the quiet station, a fly and two dog-carts
were in waiting to convey the travellers to their homes, but the
professor and Esther elected to walk, and then the unexpected happened,
for, as Peggy was preparing to drive with the rest, Rob's big figure
loomed suddenly beside her, and his voice said:

"We will walk, too, Peggy!" and Peggy turned without a word and walked
away by his side. Her little face looked very white in the moonlight,
and the meekness with which she had agreed to his command was so unusual
that Rob looked down at her with an anxious scrutiny.

"You sha'n't walk all the way," he said, "only just as far as the
vicarage, then you can take Mellicent's seat, but I wanted to have you
to myself for a few minutes first. I want to speak to you."

"And I to you. Oh, Rob, I have not thanked you half enough, and yet I
want to scold you too. When I asked you to help me, I never meant for a
moment that you should risk your own life--"

"I know that, Peg; but it was not so great a risk as you think, for I am
almost as much at home in the water as on land, and even if my strength
had given out, I could have floated ashore with the tide. It was well
worth risking, after what you told me."

"Ah, yes, you have saved Mrs Asplin a terrible experience. You may
have saved her life--and think how much that means to every one who
knows her! You couldn't have a better reward, Rob."

"I have pleased you, Peggy!" said Rob simply. He made no protestation,
but Peggy understood all that the words implied, and her heart beat fast
with happiness. They had taken the path across the fields, following
the lead of the lovers, whose figures could be seen ahead like two dark
shadows, flitting through the trees, and after these words of Rob's they
walked in silence until the first stile was reached. Rob was over in
one spring, for his long legs found no difficulty in leaping so low a
barrier, but Peggy made three steps of it, and in the last of the three
found her way blocked by a tall, black figure. Rob's hands clasped
hers, Rob's eyes looked into her face, and Rob's voice cried with a
tremor of nervousness in the deep tones:

"Is this _my_ Peggy? Does she belong to me?"

"Yes, Rob, always! She always did; but you--you didn't trust her,"
replied Peggy, with a firmness which ended in a sob. "You took for
granted--"

"Peggy, I didn't!" cried Rob earnestly. "Don't t