great, and she came out of the
shop happier than she had been since the day she first entered it. As
Emma had refunded the one pound two and sixpence in full, Gwen had
twelve and sixpence in hand, and, in consequence, felt rich beyond the
dreams of avarice. The vision of a new tennis racket began to dawn on
her horizon. That evening she managed to cajole Father for a short
stroll on the moor. It was seldom she could secure such a
_tete-a-tete_ walk, but she was longing so much to unburden her mind
that she gave him no peace until she had got him all to herself. Once
they were seated on the heather, with the wold behind and the sea in
front, Gwen began to pour out the story in her usual abrupt, jerky
fashion, not omitting the matter of the prize essay which she had sold
to Netta.

"Why didn't you tell me all this before, Gwen?" asked Mr. Gascoyne
when she had finished.

"Because--oh, Dad, I thought it would worry you! Beatrice said you
were so dreadfully hard up."

"It would have worried me far more to feel that you owed money. How
much did Netta Goodwin lend you?"

"A sovereign."

"Then I will make up your twelve and six to twenty shillings, and you
shall pay her back. I don't like that transaction about the essay at
all."

"Netta doesn't deserve it!" exclaimed Gwen.

"I dare say not, but your conscience demands it. Honour forbids you to
expose Netta, but the affair was so discreditable that I want your
part at least to be set straight. That sovereign was ill-gotten gains,
Gwen!"

"Oh, Dad! Are you very angry with me?"

"No, not angry, but I wish you'd trusted me. The whole business,
childie, hasn't been on the square."

"I knew it wasn't, all the time," confessed Gwen, scrubbing her eyes.
"But--oh, Dad, it was so hard! Why do such hard places come into one's
life?"

"To give one the opportunity to get strong. If everything were always
pleasant and smooth and easy, we should be poor sort of creatures in
the end, with no character worth having. I feel that every day myself,
and give thanks for the hard things, and I've had my share of them."

Gwen looked at Father, and a sudden perception of his meaning swept
over her. Young as she was, she knew something of the struggles and
disappointments, the lack of appreciation, the mistrust, the
misconstructions, the slights which had met him in his parish work,
and the burden of poverty which he carried so bravely and
uncomplainingly--somewhat, too, perhaps, sh