FESTING LOSES HIS TEMPER Next morning Festing got breakfast early and set off down the dale.

This was not the way Muriel had indicated, but he thought it better to avoid temptation.

The girls had received him graciously at the farm and had perhaps listened with unusual patience, but if he overtook them in the morning the thing might look too marked.

Besides, he doubted if it was advisable that Helen should see him again so soon, since he might remind her of matters she wished to forget.
The self-denial cost him something, and he went down the dale irresolutely, stopping once or twice to look back.

It was annoying to feel himself so weak, because he had seldom vacillated in Canada, but had chosen the proper line and then stuck to it.