He was jealous because she had found a companion for the road; that this companion did not play games was a source of satisfaction to him. "But you break up the set when you leave," she said. "We played three before you arrived," he reminded her. "When you get back to the Bay I'm coming in sometimes to play with you at the Club courts. You're a member, I suppose?" She nodded. "Are you?" "I am about to become one," he answered, with an amused look at her surprised face. "I've thought of joining often. You know the acquaintance isn't going to end here. I may see you again?" He looked at her with great earnestness, and waited with such obvious anxiety for her reply that it seemed to her there was only one possible answer to his question. And indeed she was very willing to continue a friendship which had been on the whole agreeable. "I should be sorry if I thought it would be otherwise," she said, with kind sincerity. "It would seem strange not to meet, seeing that we have been such good friends." "Good friends!" he repeated. "Yes; we have been that... Well, that's the gist of what I wanted to say. When I travel down the mountain I shall remember your words and your sweetness. We are good friends, whose friendship started amid the heights." He rose from his seat. She looked up at him with eyes that held a wondering interest in their look. The phrase took hold of her imagination. Until that moment he had always seemed just a boy to her; but in that moment she thought of him as a man, with a man's thoughts and a man's feelings. She stood up a little shyly and gave him her hand. "I am sorry you are going away," was all she said. Book 1--CHAPTER TEN. During the days which followed time sped on amber wings. It sped so swiftly that her fortnight's holiday seemed to Esme the shortest fortnight her life had ever known. Oddly, she did not realise why the hours were so mysteriously curtailed. In reality her days were longer than usual; they started at sunrise. This practice of early rising, which was new to her, developed into a daily habit. If by chance she overslept, as she did occasionally, her day was robbed of its chief pleasure--the early morning walk in Hallam's company. He never waited for her. He never referred to her absence when she failed to put in an appearance on the stoep at the time he came out, stick in hand, ready for his walk. But he always looked for her; and when he saw her waiting for him he appeared pleased. They set forth together as a matter of course.