secret now that Philippa was ready to notice and to understand.

The girl came at last to the turning which led to the little green, and
then she saw Isabella approaching. She was walking, just as she had
walked on that first afternoon, with her eyes on the ground, lost in
thought, and it was not until she was within a few yards of Philippa
that she glanced up and saw her. And then there was no doubt that
absence had done much the same for them both, for when they met, they
met as friends. The look of welcome, even of affection, was
unmistakable on the older woman's face.

"Ah!" she said, as she put her arm through Philippa's and fell into
step with her; "I am a little late this morning. I am sorry, for you
have had a lonely walk. I was beginning to wonder whether I should
ever see you again!"

"I was quite absurdly disappointed not to see you under the thorn
bush," said Philippa, smiling. "Although why I should imagine that you
must spend your days there I do not know."

"You are not far out," was the answer. "I have been there every day."

"I could not come. It was not possible sooner."

"You have come at last, and that is enough for me," said Isabella.
"Come home and rest. Bessmoor is looking rather weepy but very
beautiful, smiling after tears like a pretty child."

"You surely did not wait for me in all the wet weather we have been
having?"

"Oh, we don't think much of a drop or two of rain in these parts,"
replied Isabella lightly; "nor, as you may notice, is my costume likely
to be affected by the damp," she added, laughing, as she pointed to the
high waterproof boots and the serviceable mackintosh she wore. "I
think we shall have some more rain, but we shall soon be under shelter
now. Look at that wonderful cloud rising from the sea. It is like a
monstrous eagle waiting to swoop. The clouds here are always
wonderful. Often I sit and fancy I can see strange mysterious
countries passing like a fairy cinematograph before my eyes. Sometimes
great ranges of snow mountains with deep purple shadows on them, as if
the cold grey rock which formed them showed through where the snow had
melted; and then they shift and fade and the scene changes. Perhaps it
may be next a broad and sunlit river that I see--far, far away in the
distance, with a vista of amethystine hills crowned with waving
palm-trees; and then I think I can smell the spice-laden breezes of the
East. Or again, it may be a wide plain