mean to do.

She suspected that there was a touch of sophistry about her arguments,
but would not own that she had come because she wanted to meet Kit. It
was necessary that she should meet him; yet when she stopped at a gate
and heard the tramp of horses' feet behind, her color came and went. For
all that, she looked very calm, when Kit pulled up his team, and went
forward to open the gate. He made an abrupt movement as he recognized
her, but his eyes shone with satisfaction.

"I suppose you are going for some peat," she said.

Kit said he was, and added that Peter and two or three neighbors were
loading the stone-boats on the moor.

"Then, I wonder whether you could let me have a small quantity when you
come down?"

"You can have a load if you want."

Grace laughed. "Two or three basketsful would be enough, and I don't want
them for myself. I went to see Mrs. Waite and found her old father
crippled by rheumatism. The kitchen was cold and damp, but she had a very
little fire. She said her coal was nearly gone and she had got no peat."

"Thank you for telling me; I didn't know," said Kit. "I'll take her a
sack as I go down the dale." He paused and hesitated, with his hand on
the open gate. "But it's rather cold. Am I keeping you?"

Grace noted with some satisfaction that he did not seem to think it
remarkable she had met him at the lonely spot.

"Oh, no," she said. "I am going up the hill. I like the view from the
crag and sometimes go to watch the sunset. When it shines over the
shoulder of the Pike it throws wonderful lights on the snow."

Kit agreed, and after he started his horses they went on together. By and
by Grace resumed: "When I met you yesterday, your father said the sledges
often ran down too fast and you could not put up a proper load."

"That is a drawback. You see, there's plenty peat cut; the trouble is to
bring it down. After the heavy rain, we couldn't drag the stone-boats
across the boggy moor, and although the snow has made this easy, it
hasn't helped much otherwise. If we put up a big load, there's some
danger of the sledges overtaking and knocking down the horses where the
track is steep."

"And you can't see a way of getting over the difficulty?"

Kit said he could not and Grace's eyes twinkled.

"Then I can. I'll show you a way, if you're not too proud to take advice
from a girl."

"Certainly not," Kit said, smiling. "I don't know why you think
I'm proud."

"Then perhaps yo