He looked at her with amusement.  “When was that?”

“When I was waiting for that dreadful ginger pudding at lunch—­I mean dinner.”  She paused.  “No, that’s horrid of me.  Please consider it unsaid!”

“Why shouldn’t you say it if you think it?” he asked.

“Because it’s unkind.  Mrs. Rickett is the soul of goodness.  And I am going to learn to like her ginger pudding—­and her dumplings—­and everything that is hers.”

“How heroic of you!  I wonder if you will succeed.”

“Of course I shall succeed,” Juliet spoke with confidence as she turned to pass through the gate.  “I am going to cultivate a contented mind here.  And when I go back to Lady Jo—­if I ever do—­I shall be proof against anything.”

He reached forward to open the gate.  “I think you will probably go back long before the contented mind has begun to sprout,” he said.

She laughed as she walked on down the path.  “But it has begun already.  I haven’t felt so cheerful for a long time.”

“That isn’t real contentment,” he pointed out.  “It’s your spirit of adventure enjoying itself.  Wait till you begin to be bored!”

“How extremely analytical!” she remarked.  “I am not going to be bored.  My spirit of adventure is not at all an enterprising one.  I assure you I didn’t enjoy that tumble over the cliff in the least.  I am a very quiet person by nature.”  She began to laugh.  “You must have noticed I wasn’t very intrepid in the face of danger.  I seem to remember your telling me not to be silly.”

“I hoped you had forgiven and forgotten that,” he said.

“Neither one nor the other,” she answered, checking her mirth.  “I think you would have been absolutely justified in using even stronger language under the circumstances.  You wouldn’t have saved me if you hadn’t been—­very firm.”

“Very brutal, you mean.  No, I ought to have managed better.  I will next time.”  He spoke with a smile, but there was a hint of seriousness in his words.

“When will that be?” said Juliet.

“I don’t know.  But I can make the way down much easier.  The steps are a simple matter, and I have often thought a charge of gunpowder would improve that bit where the rock hangs over.  If I hadn’t wanted to keep the place to myself I should have done it long ago.  It certainly is dangerous now to anyone who doesn’t know.”

Juliet came to a sudden halt in the path.  “Oh, you are an engineer!” she said.  “I hope you will not spoil your favourite eyrie just because I may some day fall over into it again.  The chance is a very remote one, I assure you.  Now, please don’t come any farther with me!  It has only just dawned on me that your way probably lies in the direction of the mines.  I shouldn’t have let you come so far if I had realized it sooner.”

He looked momentarily surprised.  “But I do live in this direction,” he said.  “In any case, I hope you will allow me to see you safely back.”