Phyllis laughed so that the partially dried mud on her face cracked. "What," she said, "are we going to eat this side of winter? What are we going to eat now?" His face expressed immense concern. "What? You are hungry? Allow me!" He produced from his inside pocket a very large cake of sweet chocolate, wrapped in several thicknesses of oiled silk. "My one contribution," he said, "to the science of woodcraft." Phyllis ate and was refreshed. Afterward she washed all the mud from her face. Herring watched the progress of the ablution with much interest. "Wonderful!" he said presently. "What is wonderful?" she asked, not without anticipation of a compliment. "Wonderful to find that something which is generally accepted as true--is true. To see it proved before your eyes." "What do you mean?" "I mean," he said, "that I never before actually saw a girl wash her face. I've seen 'em when they said they were going to. I've seen 'em when they said they just had. But now I know." "If you weren't quite mad," said Phyllis, "you'd be very exasperating. Here am I, frightened half to death, cold and miserable, and dreadfully worried to think how worried my family must be, and there are you, almost too tired to stand, actually delighted with yourself, because you're in trouble and because for the first time in your life you've seen a girl wash her face. Can't you be serious about anything?" "Not about a half-drowned girl taking the trouble to wash her face," he said. "You," said she, "would look much better if you washed yours." "But," he said, "we'll be covered with mud again before we've gone fifty yards." "Because you are going into a coal mine to-morrow," said Phyllis, "is no reason why you shouldn't be clean to-day." "True," said Herring, and he washed his face. * * * * * At breakfast that morning Pritchard received the following cablegram: Come home and shake hands. I'm off. M. Greatly moved, he carried it to Gay, and without comment put it in her hand. "Who is M?" she asked. "My uncle, the Earl of Merrivale." "What does _I'm off_ mean?" "It means," said Pritchard, "that they've given him up, and he wants to make friends. He never liked my father or me." "It means," said Gay generously, "that you are going away?" "Yes," he said, "at once. But it means more. It means that I've got to find out if I'm--to come back some time?" "Of course, you are to come back," she said. Words rose swiftly to Pritchard's lips and came no further. Indeed, he appeared to swallow them. "And I'm glad you are going to make friends with your uncle," said Gay. "There'll be such lots of young men here when the season opens," said Pritchard. "Judging by applications," said Gay, "we shall be swamped with gentlemen of all ages." Pritchard's melancholy only deepened. "Will you come as far as Carrytown in the _Streak_?" he asked. She nodded, and said she would because she had some shopping to do.