She had no heart for the losing battle in which she was engaged.

A dangerous question began to force itself forward in her mind whenever her eyes rested upon Walter Hine.

"Was he worth while ?" she asked herself: though as yet she did not define all that the "while" connoted.

The question was most prominent in her mind on the seventh day after the letter had been sent.

She had persuaded Walter Hine to mount with her on to the down behind the house; they came to the great White Horse, and Hine, pleading fatigue, a plea which during these last days had been ever on his lips, flung himself down upon the grass.