tion I must make."

"So long as you consent, I'll agree to anything," Festing declared. "I
can't repay you for your trust, but I'll try to deserve it."

Mrs. Dalton told him where Helen had gone, and setting off to meet her,
he presently saw her come round a bend in a lane. The sun had set and
tall oaks, growing along the hedgerows, darkened the lane, but a faint
crimson glow from the west shone between the trunks. To the east,
the quiet countryside rolled back into deepening shadow. For a moment
Festing hesitated as he watched the girl advance. It was rash to uproot
this fair bloom of the sheltered English garden and transplant it
in virgin soil, swept by the rushing winds. Then he went forward
resolutely.

Helen gave him her hand and moved on with disturbed feelings, for there
was something different in his look.

"If you don't mind, we'll stop a minute; I have something to say. To
begin with, I'm going back to Canada."

She looked up sharply and then waited with forced calm until he resumed:
"That precipitates matters, because I must learn if I've hoped for
too much before I go. I was a stranger when I came here, and you were
kind--"

"You were not a stranger," Helen said quietly. "George told us about
you, and for his sake--"

"I don't want you to be kind for George's sake, but my own. I'd sooner
you liked me for what I am, with all my faults."

"If it's any comfort, I think I really do like you," Helen admitted with
a strained smile.

"Well enough to marry me?"

Helen colored, but gave him a level glance. "Ah," she said, "aren't you
rash? You hardly know me yet."

"I'm not rash at all; I knew you long ago. Your portrait hung in
Charnock's house and I used to study it on winter nights. It told me
what you were, and when I saw you under the copper beech I knew you very
well. Still now I have seen you, your picture had lost its charm."

"Then you have it?" Helen asked.

Festing gave her a Russia leather case and her face flushed red.

"Did Bob give you this?"

"No," said Festing quietly; "I stole it."

"And the case?"

"The case was made in Montreal. I went to Winnipeg, but could get
nothing good enough."

Helen turned her head. It was a long way to Winnipeg from the prairie
bridge, and she was moved that he had made the journey to find a proper
covering for her picture.

"You must have valued the portrait," she remarked shyly.

"I did, but it won't satisfy me now. As soon as I met you I fel