And when luncheon was ended the luggage already had been placed in the car; the chauffeur emerged from the kitchen where Frau Bergner had been generous to him; and in a few moments the big blue machine was whirring smoothly on its way to Lesse, through the beautiful Ardennes forests over smooth, well-cared-for roads, the sun shining in a cloudless sky, and four young people making rapid headway in a new acquaintanceship which seemed to promise everything agreeable and gay. At the huge, moss-grown gate-posts of Lesse a forester lifted his grey felt hat and opened the gates; and around the first curve appeared the celebrated and beautiful old lodge of weather-stained stone and slate, the narrow terrace blazing with geraniums and scarlet sage. Guild noticed a slender, red-haired girl seated on the steps, knitting, with a heap of dark-blue wool in her lap; but when the car drew up, Valentine Courland addressed her as "mother"--to the intense surprise of Karen as well as of himself, for Mrs. Courland seemed scarce older than her own daughter, and quite as youthfully attractive. She welcomed Karen with a sweet directness of manner which won the girl instantly; and her manner to Guild was no less charming--an older woman's delightful recognition of a young man's admiration, and a smiling concession to this young man's youth and good looks. When Valentine mentioned Karen's plight in the matter of wardrobe, her mother laughed gaily and, slipping one arm around Karen's waist, took her off into the house. "We shall remedy that immediately," she said. "Come and see what suits you best." "As for you," said Darrel to Guild, "your luggage is in your room. I suppose you are glad of that." "Rather," said Guild with such intense feeling that Valentine Courland laughed outright. "Take him to his beloved luggage," she said to Darrel; "I had no idea he was so vain. You know the room, don't you? It is next to your own." "Harry, why are you limping?" asked Valentine as Darrel rose to go. "I'm not." "You are. Why?" "Rum. I drink too much of it," he explained seriously. So the young men went away together; and presently Guild was flinging from him the same worn clothing which, at one terrible moment, seemed destined to become his shroud: and Darrel sat on the bed and gave him an outline of the life at Lesse Forest and of the two American women who lived there. "Courland loved the place," said Darrel, "and for many years until his death he spent the summers here with his wife and daughter.