It was an afternoon of blue and gold, with the larks singing out of sight in the sky.

The road wound up and down, dark hedges on one side, fields yellow with young wheat upon the other, and the scent of the briar-rose in the air.

Joan said very little, and Hillyard was content to watch her as she drove, the curls blowing about her ears and her hands steady and sure upon the wheel as she swung the car round the corners and folds of the hills.

Once she asked of him: "Are you glad to go ?" He made no pretence of misunderstanding her.
"Very," he answered.

"If the great trial is coming, I want to fall back into the rank and file.