ield.

CHAPTER VIII

A DEBT OF GRATITUDE

After dinner Festing walked across the fields to the farm. It was
raining and a cold wind swept the dale, but a fire burned in the room
into which he was shown and the curtains were drawn. Helen and Miss
Jardine got up when he came in and put the rucksack on the table.

"I'm sorry I forgot this until I'd gone some distance," he said. "Then I
couldn't find anybody to send with it."

"No doubt you wanted your dinner," Miss Jardine suggested.

Festing saw that she wore a different dress that looked rather large.

"No," he said, "it wasn't the dinner that stopped me. Besides, it didn't
strike me that--"

"That I might need my clothes? Well, I don't suppose it would strike
you; but since you have come across in the rain, won't you stop?"

Festing found an old leather chair, and sitting down, looked about with
a sense of satisfaction, for the fire was cheerful after the raw cold
outside. The room was large and old-fashioned, with heavy beams across
the low ceiling. There was a tall clock, and a big, black oak chest;
curled ram's horns and brass candlesticks twinkled on the mantel; an old
copper kettle threw back red reflections near the fire. His companions
occupied opposite sides of a large sheepskin rug, and he felt that both
had charm, though they were different. The contrast added something to
the charm.

Miss Jardine's skin was a pure white; her hair and eyes were nearly
black, and she had a sparkling, and perhaps rather daring, humor.
Helen's colors were rose and cream, her hair changed from warm brown to
gold as it caught the light, and her eyes were calm and gray. She was
younger than the other and he thought her smile delightful, but, as a
rule, she was marked by a certain gravity. Her wide brows and the firm
lines of her mouth and nose hinted at pride and resolution.

"I hope your foot is better," he said to Miss Jardine.

"Yes, thanks. It mainly needed rest, and I must confess that I didn't
find it altogether a drawback when we stopped at the bottom of the big
crag. I should have had to go up if I hadn't been lame."

"You were not disappointed because you couldn't reach the top?"

Miss Jardine laughed. "Helen was. She makes it a rule to accomplish what
she undertakes. I wasn't disappointed then, though I am now. Perhaps
one really enjoys mountaineering best afterwards. You like to think
how adventurous you have been, but it's sometimes difficult while th