She was dressed in white, and wore no hat, only a muslin scarf over her hair. She carried a cloak on her arm, and Furlonger realised that she must be going to dine at Redpale. The sight of Tony--he had not seen her since he lost her, or rather his dream of her--threw him into a fit of torment. He flung himself back among the stalks, and rolled there, biting them, suddenly mad with pain. The next moment he started up. A thud and a low cry came from a few yards further on. Nigel sprang to his feet. He remembered that not far off the path ran by the mouth of a disused chalk quarry, from which it was divided only by a very rickety fence. Suppose.... He crashed through the bushes to the path, and dashed along it to the chalk-pit. Something white lay only a few feet from the dreadful brink. Just here the path was in darkness--hazel bushes and a dense thicket of alder shut out the sun. For a moment he could not make out clearly what had happened, but was immediately reassured by seeing Tony sit up, and try to struggle to her feet. "What is it?" she cried, hearing his steps behind her. "Who's there?" "Are you hurt?" "Oh, Mr. Furlonger...." She made another struggle to rise, but could not without his hand. "Are you hurt?" he repeated. "No-o-o." "I think you are a little." He was trembling all over, and hoped she did not notice it. "I fell over some wire, just here, where the path is so dark. I might have gone over the edge," she added with a shudder. "You had a lucky escape--but I'm afraid you're hurt." "It isn't much. I may have twisted my ankle a bit, that's all." She stood there in the shadows, her white dress gleaming like a moth, her face mysterious in the disarray of her wrap. Nigel's eyes devoured her, while his heart filled itself with inexpressible pain. "Take my arm," he said huskily, "and I'll help you back to Shovelstrode." "Oh, no!--I'll go on to Redpale. It's much nearer--if you'll be so kind as to help me." "But how about getting home?" "My fiancé, Mr. Lowe, will drive me home. He was to have fetched me too, but at the last moment he had to go up to town, and couldn't be back in time." "Are you sure you're well enough to go out to dinner?" He hated the idea of taking her to Redpale. "Oh, quite--this is nothing. Besides, dining at Redpale is just like dining at home--I don't call it going 'out' to dinner." Furlonger winced, and gave her his arm, hoping she would not notice how it shook. They walked slowly out of Furnace Wood, towards the leaden east. Tony limped slightly, and Nigel wanted to carry her, but he dared not risk his patched self-control too far. "You should never have come all this way alone," he said gruffly, "these woods by the quarries are dangerous." "I expect my father will be furious when he finds out what I've done. But I hoped that if I walked across the fields, instead of driving round by the road, I--I might meet my fiancé on his way home from the station."