them, while I
fancied that Grace blushed before she turned her face away. I know my brow
was furrowed and my fingers trembled, so that it was a relief presently to
hear her musical laugh.

"You are not an orator," she said, turning around calmly; "and perhaps it
is as well. It is not orators who are wanted in this country. Your
eloquent beginning too suddenly breaks away. But don't you think we are in
the meantime drifting into idle sentiment? And you have asked me neither
where I am going nor about Colonel Carrington."

It was true; the first would have seemed presumptuous and I did not care
greatly about the redoubtable Colonel's health.

"He has invested some money in a new mine in the Lonsdale district," she
said; and there was a slight cloud on her brow as she continued: "The
Manor farm has lately cost us, through bad seasons, more than we made from
it. So, while Foster takes charge, we are going to live in a ranch up here
this summer, in order that my father may assist in the development of the
mine. He is practically the leading partner, and until your railroad is
finished there will be serious transportation difficulties. I hope you
will come to see us often."

"Time is up!" said Calvert.

I helped Grace into the saddle, and the rest of the perfect afternoon
passed like a happy dream. Even if alone, at that season the mere sounds
and scents of reawakening Nature would have elated me; but then I strode
on, holding Caesar's rein, lost in the golden glamour of it all, until snow
peak and solemn forest seemed but a fitting background for the slender
figure swaying to the horse's stride, while the pale, calm face brought
into the shadowy aisles a charm of its own. Once--and I could not help
myself--a few lines written by a master who loved Nature broke from me,
and for a moment Grace seemed startled. It was a passage from the first
home-coming of Queen Guinevere.

"Shall we thank Providence for a good conceit of ourselves?" she said
lightly, a little later. "You are hardly a Lancelot, Sir Railroad Builder;
and she--is it a compliment to compare me with Arthur's faithless Queen?"

Thereupon I lapsed into silence, feeling like one who has blundered on the
edge of a precipice; and Grace was silent too, for the day drew toward its
close, and a red glare of sunset came, slanting in among the massy trunks,
striking strange glints of color from her hair, while winsome and
graceful to the tiny foot in the stirrup, her