ence,' reigned
without a rival. From the purple heights that stand about Langdale and
Derwentwater, to the little ferns and mountain plants that crept on
every wall, or dipped in every brook, the mountain land was all alive
and joyful. The streams alone made a chorus for the gods.

Hester, who was now a woman of sixty, had reluctantly admitted, by the
middle of the month, that, after a long winter spent in a munition
factory and a Lancashire town, employed on the most strenuous work that
she, an honest worker all her life, had ever known, a fortnight's
holiday was reasonable. And she wrote to Nelly Sarratt, just as she was
departing northwards, to say--cunningly--that she was very tired and run
down, and would Nelly come and look after her for a little? It was the
first kindness she had ever asked of Nelly, to whom she had done so
many. Nelly telegraphed in reply that in two days she would be at Rydal.

Hester spent the two days in an expectation half-eager, half-anxious. It
had been agreed between them that in their correspondence the subject of
Nelly's health was to be tabooed. In case of a serious breakdown, the
Commandant of Nelly's hospital would write. Otherwise there were to be
no enquiries and no sympathy. Cicely Marsworth before her marriage in
early March had seen Nelly twice and had reported--against the
grain--that although 'most unbecomingly thin,' the obstinate little
creature said she was well, and apparently was well. Everybody in the
hospital, said Cicely, was at Nelly's feet. 'It is of course nonsense
for her to lay down, that she won't be petted, Nature has settled that
for her. However, I am bound to say it is the one thing that makes her
angry, and the nurses are all amazed at what she has been able to stand.
There is a half-blind boy, suffering from "shock" in one of the wards,
to whom they say she has devoted herself for months. She has taught him
to speak again, and to walk, and the nerve-specialist who has been
looking after the poor fellow told her he would trust her with his worst
cases, if only she would come and nurse for him. That did seem to please
her. She flushed up a little when she told me. Otherwise she has become
_horribly impersonal_! Her wings are growing rapidly. But oh, Hester, I
did and do prefer the old Nelly to any angel I've ever known. If I
hadn't married Herbert, I should like to spend all my time in _tempting
her_--the poor darling!--as the devil--who was such a fool!--tem