She could hear Notya moving in her bedroom, and she wondered how a sister must feel at the approach of a brother she had not seen for many years. She knew that if she should ever be parted from John or Rupert there would be no shyness at their meeting and no effusion: things would be just as they had been, for she was certain of an affection based on understanding, and now the thought of her brothers kept her warm in spite of the daunting coldness of the light lying on the moor and the fact that doors were opening to a stranger. She checked a little sigh and stepped on to the gravel path, rounded the house and crossed the garden to find John locking up the hen-house for the night. He glanced at her but did not speak, and she stood with her hands clasped before her and watched the swaying of the poplars. The leaves were spreading and soon they would begin their incessant whispering while they peeped through the windows of the house to see what the Canipers were doing. "They know all our secrets," she said aloud. John dropped the key into his pocket. "Have we any?" "Perhaps not. I should have said our fears." "Our hopes," he said stubbornly. "I haven't many of those," she told him and, to hide her trouble, she put the fingers of both hands to her forehead. "What's the matter with you? You sound pretty morbid." "No, I'm only--careful. John, are you afraid of life?" His eyes fell on the rows of springing vegetables. "Look at 'em coming up," he murmured. "Rather not. I couldn't grow things." He gathered up his tools and put them in the shed. "You see," she said, "one never knows what's going to happen, but it's no good worrying, and I suppose one must just go on." "It's the only thing to do," John assured her gravely. "Have you made yourself beautiful for the uncle?" She pointed to an upper window smeared with light. "I have left that to Miriam, but I must go and put on my best frock." "You always look all right," he said. "I suppose it's because your hair's so smooth." "No," she answered, and laughed with her transforming gaiety, "it's just because I'm mediocre and don't get noticed." He hesitated and decided to be bold. "I'll tell you something, as you're so down in the mouth. Rupert thinks you're better looking than Miriam. There! Go and look at yourself." He waved her off, and the questions fell from her lips unuttered. She lighted a candle and went upstairs, but when she had passed into the dark peace of Jane and put the candle on her dressing-table, she found she needed more illumination by which to see this face which Rupert considered fair. "Miriam will have heaps of them," she said and knocked at Phoebe's door. "I've come to borrow a candle," she said as she was told to enter, and added, "Oh, what waste! I hope Notya won't come in." "She can't unless I let her," Miriam answered grimly.