tacle.

"I wanted to talk and had found I could not get near you unless the
others were about," he said. "It looked as if I had unconsciously given
you some grounds for standing me off. Well, I suppose I did put your
relations on your track."

"It wasn't that," said Barbara. "I imagine Harry Vernon helped you
there. You were forced to tell your story."

"I was forced. All the same, I think Harry's plan was good."

"He went away a few days before I arrived!" Barbara remarked.

Lister thought he saw where she led and knitted his brows. He was on
awkward ground and might say too much, but to say nothing might be
worse.

"Harry's a good sort and I expect he pulled out because he imagined
you'd sooner he did so," he said. "For all that, I reckon he ought to
have stayed."

Although her color was vivid, Barbara gave him a searching glance. "In
order to imply I had no grounds for embarrassment if I met him? Harry
was at the camp in the woods."

"He knew you had no grounds for embarrassment," Lister declared. "I
knew, and Harry's an older friend."

Barbara turned her head, and when she looked back Lister thought his
boldness was justified. In a sense she had been very frank, although
perhaps this situation made for frankness. They were alone on the face
of the towering crag. All was very quiet but for the noise of falling
water, and the only living object one could see was a buzzard hovering
high up at a white cloud's edge. One could talk in the mountain solitude
as one could not talk in a drawing-room. For all that, Lister felt he
had not altogether broken the girl's reserve.

"One envies men like you who build railways and sail ships," she said,
and now Lister wondered where she led. "You live a natural life, knowing
bodily strain and primitive emotions. Sometimes you're exhausted and
sometimes afraid. Your thought's fixed on the struggle; you're keenly
occupied. Isn't it like that?"

"Something like that," Lister agreed. "Sometimes the strain gets
monotonous."

"But it's often thrilling. Men and women need to be thrilled. People
talk about the modern lust for excitement, but it isn't modern and I
expect the instinct's sound. Civilization that gives us hot water before
we get up and food we didn't grow is not all an advantage. Our bodies
get soft and we're driven back on our emotions. Where we want action we
get talk. Then one gets up against the rules; you mustn't be angry, you
mustn't be sincere, you must use