“I much prefer your not pretending to forgive me, because you could not mean it truthfully. After I leave Half Moon Lake I hope we may never see each other again. I cannot exactly explain, but I felt when I met you that you would have an unfortunate influence upon me. Now I can never see you without recalling that because of you, or through you, I have done what I never could have believed of myself.” “I am sorry,” Allan Drain responded stiffly. “So am I, but that makes no real difference now. I hear the others returning. Good-by.” CHAPTER XVI An Encounter While Gill and Allan Drain were having their interview in the living-room, Bettina Graham slipped out of Tahawus cabin alone and carrying her skates walked down to the edge of Half Moon Lake. She had been depressed all day; Peggy’s marriage and departure to a foreign country meant more to her than most persons dreamed. They had been intimate and devoted friends since they were tiny girls, and Bettina believed their friendship could never again have its old value. The fact that Peggy appeared to have found her place in the scheme of things also affected Bettina, because of late she herself had felt that she must find some more definite outlet for her own life. Her school days were over unless she were to choose some special course of study; this winter in the mountains, delightful as it had been in many respects and not without its useful lessons, nevertheless seemed to be a pause and not a step forward in any particular direction. Unwilling to confess either to her mother or Camp Fire guardian who would be wounded by the knowledge, Bettina had been far more restless and dissatisfied for the past few months than any one had imagined. This afternoon her restlessness had culminated. Kneeling down, she fastened on her skates. Twilight was approaching, the distant snow-covered hills were amazing studies in purple, from pale violet to the deeper tones. The surface of the lake itself bore the reflections of a crystal ball. Bettina started skating slowly, wishing to pursue her own train of thought. She knew what her mother expected of her; they had been discussing the subject this afternoon, and Bettina not only recognized the reasonableness of her mother’s position, but would have been hurt had she felt otherwise.