The contact of Pearl and Helmford at that exciting instant was as innocent as that of two children. Yet she had lain awake for hours after it, living over again the sweet significance of their coming together through grace of the wind. She shrank from meeting Helmford because of what Tom Petty had blurted out. She would feel shamefaced she knew; and yet she could scarcely wait to see him. When he did not appear at breakfast and dinner she wondered. Sarah Petty looked grim indeed. She had forced Tom to tell the truth about his trouble with Helmford--or as near the truth as the lout ever spoke--and she realized that there was nothing to be made by quarreling with Pearl. Helmford had stated an incontrovertible fact: Her son was "impossible," and Sarah knew it. They were giving the lower part of the house a thorough cleaning on this day in preparation for the coming of the expected guests. The chambers were left until after dinner. So Pearl did not discover the condition of Helmford's room. Sarah refrained from ordering no plate set for the young man at dinner. For once the woman shrank from telling her mind outright. When Perry Baker came for Helmford's goods the truth came out. Amazement sat upon Cap'n Jonah's mahogany countenance. Pearl was bewildered. Had Helmford gone without a word--without saying good-bye? Grim-lipped, Sarah Petty would not explain, and both Orrin and Tom had been ordered to keep their mouths closed. There had been a contest in the kitchen the night before, and for once Sarah Petty was worsted by her husband and son. Orrin, as he had previously promised Tom, had backed the lout in his determination to get rid of the boarder. Pearl could not ask anybody to solve the mystery of Helmford's brusk departure, and all Sarah would vouchsafe her uncle was: "It didn't suit for him to be here no longer." "Something fishy 'bout that--something very fishy," whispered Cap'n Jonah to Pearl. "Wonder what 'tis?" "Oh, Cap'n Jonah!" "What do you know 'bout it, my gal? Joe Helmford was a good friend of yours." "He--he's gone without a word!" sobbed Pearl. "You dunno no reason?" "He didn't say anything to me about leaving," she replied, shrinking from telling anybody of the incident on the road the previous evening. "Nor to me. And he's usually a mighty open-spoken, friendly chap. I don't understand it," declared Cap'n Jonah. "I'm going to look him up and find out what it means." But this was poor comfort for Pearl. To her mind a great gulf had opened between Joe Helmford and herself. He had gone away without one word--or look--or handclasp! Had Tom's rude speech the night before warned him from the dangerous salient into which he and Pearl had ventured? Unsophisticated as was Pearl Holden she had felt, her woman's intuition told her, that the young man, too, had experienced the same pulsation she herself had known as they stood together on the wintry road.