at they should take mother and Carrie didn't
help much. Were you talking like a sourdough or an English landlord
then?"

"You have a confoundedly mischievous humor," Jim rejoined, with a
twinkle. "Do you want me to state that it's a country gentleman's duty
to insist on the proper acknowledgment of his guests? Bernard likes
your people and I don't know if Mrs. Halliday and Lance Mordaunt count."

"I was not thinking about Mrs. Halliday----" Jake began, but stopped
when his comrade looked hard at him, and a few moments afterwards the
smith came up the bank.

"Well?" said Jim, sharply. "What do you want?"

"Noo I see how bar's meant to gan, mayhappen it wad be better screwed.
If you'll wait while I gan for dies, I'll do't for you."

"All right. You can get busy," said Jim.

When the smith went off he smiled and remarked: "I don't know if I
expected this, but the man will make no more trouble. However, we have
lost some time and must push ahead."

They got to work, and in the meantime Bernard drove to Langrigg and
picked up Mrs. Winter and Carrie. The party at Dryholm broke up soon,
but when Evelyn returned to Whitelees she felt that the evening had
been too long. For one thing, she had been kept occupied and she
wanted to think. Now she sat, rather languidly, in an easy-chair and
knitted her brows. She had got a jar in the afternoon and she tried to
recapture the scene on the bank--the smith scowling at the bottom, and
Jim's bruised face, savage frown, and muddy clothes.

Jim was a new type, and she admitted that he attracted her, but his
attraction was largely physical and sometimes she felt repelled. He
was handsome and forceful; she liked his steady look, his athletic
figure, and his clean brown skin. Then she liked the respect he showed
her and his obvious wish to please. This was flattering and his
strength and candor made an appeal, but she was highly cultivated and
he was not rude. Indeed, when he stood on the bank, hot and triumphant
after the fight, there was something barbarous about him. His virility
moved her, but to live with him would demand some pluck; Evelyn knew he
could not, so to speak, be tamed. His refusal to come to Dryholm, when
he knew she was going, was a proof. It was significant that the dam he
was building made a stronger claim. Evelyn was drawn in different ways
and, on the whole, it was a relief when Mrs. Halliday came in.

"Jim was not his best this afternoon," th