ry Pattinson."

"No," said his companion, "I certainly did not. Besides, the name is
not an uncommon one. There are a good many Pattinsons in the North."

Wyllard was not astonished at this answer. He had reasons for
believing that the name the lad he had befriended had enrolled himself
under was not his correct one. It would, of course, have been easy to
describe him, but Wyllard was shrewd, and noticing that there was now a
restraint in his companion's manner he was not prepared to do that yet.
He was aware that most of the English are characterised by a certain
reserve, and apt to retire into their shells if pressed too hard. He
did not, however, mean to let this girl elude him altogether.

"It really doesn't matter," he said, "I shall no doubt get upon his
trail in due time."

They reached the high road a minute or two later, and the girl turned
to him.

"Thank you again," she said. "If you go straight on you will come to
the village in about a quarter of an hour."

Then she turned away and left him standing with his soft hat in his
hand, and, as it happened, he stood quite still for almost a minute
after she had gone. In due time, however, he reached the inn he had
inquired about, and its old-world simplicity delighted him. It was
built, feet thick, of slate stone, against the foot of the fell, and
roofed, as he noticed, with ponderous flags. In Canada, where the
frost was Arctic, they used thin cedar shingles. The room his meal was
brought him in was panelled with oak that had turned black with age.
Great rough-hewn beams of four times the size that anybody would have
used for the purpose in the West supported the low ceiling, and--for
there was a fire on the wide hearth--the ruddy gleam of burnished
copper utensils pierced the shadows. The room was large, and there was
only a single candle upon the table, but he felt that a garish light
would somehow be out of harmony with the atmosphere of that interior.

By and bye his hostess appeared to clear the things away, and she was a
little, withered old woman, immaculately neat, with shrewd, kindly
eyes, and a russet tinge in her cheeks.

"There's a good light, and company in the sitting-room," she said.
"We've three young men staying with us. They've been up the Pike."

"I'd sooner stay here, if I may," said Wyllard. "I don't quite know
yet if I'll go on to-morrow. One can get through to Langley Dale by
the Hause, as I think you call it?"

Th