But at that moment, there was a sudden sound of falling rock, a rush of loosened stones and gravel, and just within an ace of her shoulder a huge fragment of rock broke away, and was hurled down the slope beneath them, followed by a mass of mingled snow and débris. His arm went quickly round her, and drew her from the spot. “My darling! What an escape! And you didn’t even scream!” he said, not withdrawing his arm. “There, don’t tremble; it’s all right,” he continued, soothing her as he would a frightened child, and for a moment his lips rested on hers. This recalled Catherine to her senses. “Oh, you mustn’t,” she cried, breaking from him in an agony of shame. One clear thought possessed her mind; either that kiss was treason to Lady Blanche, or he had taken advantage of her defenceless position to insult her. To her intense relief, as she hurried forwards round the turning of the path, she came upon all the others, who had stopped to drink at a little wayside spring. “Oh, did you hear that noise?” asked Margaret. “I suppose it was a miniature avalanche.” “Not a very insignificant one,” said Granville, who was close behind. “It nearly knocked us over. However, all’s well that ends well,” he added gaily. “Miss West, do you want a drink?” His light, conversational tone struck on Catherine’s overstrained emotions with a sudden chill. How could he manage such a sudden transition? But she summoned all her self-control, and took the cup in as matter-of-fact a way as he handed it to her. For the rest of the day she clung close to Margaret. She felt that to let Granville approach her would be treason to the friend who had reposed so much confidence in her. Suppose Margaret should think that she had been trying to attract her brother’s attention! And then, again, with a sudden pang came the cruel thought that his conduct might imply no real attachment to her; that he had merely given way to the impulse of the moment, or, worse still, was a deliberate flirt. And yet she could not believe this; all that she knew of him militated against such a view; she could not think that she had been so greatly mistaken in her estimate of his character, nor that he could thus belie the traditions of a gentleman. Her heart confirmed her faith in him, and amidst the tumultuous emotions of the moment, she was surprised and ashamed to recognise an irrepressible elation, and a strange absence of that feeling of angry humiliation which she supposed to be the correct state of mind under the circumstances. Notwithstanding this, when the hotel was again reached, she pleaded fatigue, and slipping away to her own room, did not reappear that evening.