s a skilled
mountaineer. I'll trust you with him.'

Mary blushed, and made no reply. Of all things in the world she least
wanted to abandon the expedition. Yet to climb Helvellyn alone with her
brother's friend would no doubt be a terrible violation of those laws of
maidenly propriety which Fraeulein was always expounding. If Mary were to
do this thing, which she longed to do, she must hazard a lecture from
her governess, and probably a biting reproof from her grandmother.

'Will you trust yourself with me, Lady Mary?' asked Hammond, looking at
her with a gaze so earnest--so much more earnest than the occasion
required--that her blushes deepened and her eyelids fell. 'I have done a
good deal of climbing in my day, and I am not afraid of anything
Helvellyn can do to me. I promise to take great care of you if you will
come.'

How could she refuse? How could she for one moment pretend that she did
not trust him, that her heart did not yearn to go with him. She would
have climbed the shingly steep of Cotapaxi with him--or crossed the
great Sahara with him--and feared nothing. Her trust in him was
infinite--as infinite as her reverence and love.

'I am afraid Fraeulein would make a fuss,' she faltered, after a pause.

'Hang Fraeulein,' cried Maulevrier, puffing at his cigarette, and kicking
about the stones in the clear running water. 'I'll square it with
Fraeulein. I'll give her a pint of fiz with her lunch, and make her see
everything in a rosy hue. The good soul is fond of her Heidseck. You
will be back by afternoon tea. Why should there be any fuss about the
matter? Hammond wants to see the Red Tarn, and you are dying to show him
the way. Go, and joy go with you both. Climbing a stony hill is a form
of pleasure to which I have not yet risen. I shall stroll home at my
leisure, and spend the afternoon on the billiard-room sofa reading
Mudie's last contribution to the comforts of home.'

'What a Sybarite,' said Hammond. 'Come, Lady Mary, we mustn't loiter, if
we are to be back at Fellside by five o'clock.'

Mary looked at her brother doubtfully, and he gave her a little nod
which seemed to say, 'Go, by all means;' so she dug the end of her staff
into Dolly's rugged breast, and mounted cheerily, stepping lightly from
boulder to boulder.

The sun was not so warm as it had been ten minutes ago, when Maulevrier
flung himself down to rest. The sky had clouded over a little, and a
cooler wind was blowing across the breas