They were soon at the little cabin where Paralee lived with her grandmother and her brother. The brother they learned, was already off at the sawmill, but the grandmother, bent double with age, with two sharp teeth protruding from otherwise toothless jaws, and with her face brown and furrowed, came out to see her granddaughter’s guests. Her gimlet eyes seemed to bore through them. She looked as if she knew many things which she would not tell, and which, indeed, she ought not to tell. Carin had brought her sketch book, and was eager to make a drawing of old granny Panther, but she was given no time, for Paralee was awaiting them, ready and impatient to lead them on. She had no horse, but she said she wanted none. “I can keep up with your horses,” she told Azalea. Keefe wanted to lend her his mount, but at his offer she frowned with vexation. “I don’t want to be plagued,” she said sullenly, and set off down the road. Her strong, short body moved over the ground with astonishing swiftness; and as she took advantage of every cut-off, leaving the riders to go around by the road, she soon proved that they would not be obliged to waste time by waiting for her. The Gap was quickly crossed and she turned up a shoulder of Dundee Mountain, where for an hour the blowing horses had a hard climb. Then came a canter along the almost level table-top of the mountain, till, having reached the end of the plateau, the road began to descend. The great mountain reached out many arms, each of which bore a name; and it was along one of these wooded reaches that Paralee led them. By noon, a narrow valley was reached; and here, beside a pleasant stream, the green solitude all about them, they dismounted for their luncheon and to rest themselves and their horses. Paralee would not eat with them, though she accepted the luncheon Azalea offered her. She walked away to a shady spot, turned her back upon her companions and munched her food alone. “Why does she do it?” Carin asked. It was Haystack who knew the answer. “She does it because she’s as proud as Lucifer,” he said sympathetically. “She does it,” echoed Azalea, “because she’s afraid her manners won’t be like ours.” “She does it because she is unhappy,” said Keefe. “I have been unhappy, and I know.” It was the first time he had made a reference to his past life.