When it began to get dark, she stood near the glass front of the veranda and glanced at her watch.  She could see for some distance down the valley and knew that the smoke of a locomotive would spread in a dark cloud across the tops of the pines.  The train was late, but there was no smoke yet.  It was a long climb from sea-level at Vancouver Inlet and in winter the line was sometimes blocked.  There was no obvious ground for alarm, but somehow she was worse afraid of Walters than before.

The massed pines gradually faded to a formless blur on the cold blue-gray slopes of snow.  There was no sound from the valley by the roar of the river, and by and by a servant turned on the lamps.  Lucy could now see nothing outside and shivered as she looked at her watch.  She hoped no accident had delayed the tram.

In the meantime, Lawrence, who was sitting near her mother, had picked up a book, but put it down when Walters came in, and Lucy felt a curious tremor of repugnance as she glanced at him.  It was a shrinking she sometimes experienced at the sight of a noxious insect.  Yet there was nothing about Walters to excite aversion.  He was rather a handsome man, and stood in a careless pose, smiling at the group.

“The trouble about a pleasant time is that it comes to an end, and I’ll have to pull out to-morrow,” he said.  “When are you going to give me the photographs you promised, Lawrence?”

“I’ll get them now and you can choose which you like.  They’re in my room.”

“I want one with Miss Stephen in it as well as yourself,” Walters replied.  “It will be something to remind me of our climbs.”

“Send the boy for the packet,” Lucy interposed.

“I think the drawer’s locked; anyhow I don’t want the boy to upset my things,” Lawrence objected.

“Then I’ll go with you,” said Walters.  “It will save you taking the packet back and you can get ready for dinner while you are upstairs.”

Lawrence got up.  “Very well; we’ll go now.”

“Take the elevator, even if you have to wait,” Lucy said as they went to the door.

Lawrence had chosen a room at the top of the building because the view was good and it got the sun early in the morning, but now and then walked up the stairs to see how fast he was recovering his strength.  After a minute or two, Lucy heard the elevator start and its harsh rumble jarred her nerves.  The electric lifts they use in Canada seldom run silently, and the elevator had not been working well.  Lucy was annoyed that the sound disturbed her, and imagined she had not recovered from the shock she got during their walk.  She was nervous and admitted that she did not like Lawrence to be out of her sight when Walters was with him.  She tried to persuade herself that this was foolish, but could not banish her uneasiness.  Then Mrs. Stephen looked up.

“There’s the train; I didn’t hear it stop.”