ps, one's heart, and not bother about the consequences."
She was silent a moment and then resumed with a soft laugh: "But unless
one is very brave, it's not often possible; there are so many rules."

Jim felt sympathetic. She had laughed, but he thought the laugh hid
some feeling. She was generous and strangely refined; Mrs. Halliday
was conventional and calculating, and the girl rebelled.

"I expect our host broke a number of the rules," he remarked.

"He did and he paid. Bernard was not rich and when he opened the
Brunstock mines nobody would help him. When he sold his farms to buy
pumps and engines there was a quarrel with your grandfather and perhaps
Bernard has some grounds for bitterness. I don't know if it's strange,
but while Joseph Dearham was a plain country gentleman, Bernard, after
getting rich in business, wears the stamp of the old school."

Jim agreed. Bernard was obviously not fastidious, like his relatives,
but he had the grand manner. This was not altogether what Jim meant,
but perhaps it got nearest.

"I think it's because he's fearless--one sees that," he said.
"Shabbiness and awkwardness come when one's afraid."

"It's possible," Evelyn answered, with a curious smile. "One hates to
be shabby but sometimes one is forced. Pluck costs much."

Then Mrs. Halliday got up, and some of the party went to the
drawing-room and some to the terrace. Jim stayed in the hall and mused
while he smoked a cigarette. Evelyn had stirred his imagination by a
hint that she was dissatisfied and struggled for free development.
Well, he had seen Whitelees and was getting to know Mrs. Halliday. To
some extent, he liked her, but he could understand the girl's
rebellion. However, it was strange she had given him a hint, unless,
of course, she had done so unconsciously. When the cigarette was
finished he went to the terrace.

The evening was warm and a faint glow lingered in the west. All was
very quiet except when a herd of cattle moved about a pasture across
the lawn. The party had broken up into small groups and Jim joined
Evelyn. Bernard got up stiffly when Carrie came near his bench.

"Tell me about wild Canada. I understand you were in the woods," he
said.

"Yes," said Carrie, sitting down. "I went North with Jim and my
brother and the boys, when the ice broke up."

"The boys?"

"The rock-cutters and choppers," Carrie explained.

"I see," said Bernard. "Was there no other woman? What did