now violet-purple in tint,
but will soon be glowing and aflame when the heather bursts its
bonds--can that be waste? Surely not!

"I see tiny cottages from whose chimneys the blue smoke is being
twisted into fantastic forms by the wind's vagaries, and gardens gay
with bloom, and a green-bordered street, and through an open door the
dancing flame on a homely hearth. It is all very lovely and peaceful,
and when I turn for a last look at the old Hall where the door is
closed, lo! the thunder-cloud has gone, and the sky is blue over the
smokeless stacks, and hope arises within my breast, and I go on my way
with joy and peace in my heart. That is my picture!"

I stopped and opened my eyes. A tear was stealing down the squire's
face, and the grasp on my hand had tightened.

"Have you finished, Grace?"

"Yes," I whispered.

"I think I should like to go home," he said. "I believe I could manage
it, after all."

CHAPTER XXIII

THE PARABLE OF THE HEATHER

We left Zermatt on the following day. I must say that I entered the
squire's room with some trepidation, but it was quite unnecessary. He
smiled as I bent over to kiss him, and relieved my apprehension at once.

"It's all right, Grace," he said; "the heather pulls. You know, don't
you?"

Dr. Grey was splendid. Motor cars are of no use in Zermatt, except to
bring you there or take you away, so the smell of petrol does not often
draw the tourist's attention from the sublime to the--nauseous; but it
was characteristic of the almost impudent audacity of the man that he
commandeered the only one there was at the Victoria.

"How have you managed it?" I asked, when I learned that we were all to
travel as far as Lausanne in the Marquis d'Olsini's luxurious
automobile.

"Oh, easily enough," he replied in his hearty way; "the marquis is no
end of a decent sort, and when I explained matters, and pointed out
that the car was rusting for want of use, he placed it at my disposal
with the grace and courtliness that distinguish your true Italian
nobleman."

It was a veritable little palace on tyres, and we reached Lausanne
quickly and without inconvenience. The squire was not a bit worse for
the effort, but the sight of old Gottlieb turning away from the door
when he had bidden us good-bye, with a shrug of the shoulders that said
as plainly as any words could have done that he washed his hands of all
responsibility and was disgusted at the capriciousness of the