“It isn’t very nice now certainly.  You see, now that the other people have failed and gone away, it’s difficult for them to get loads taken down as there isn’t a proper road.  Before, they did it co-operatively among themselves.  But this winter they say they’ve been without coal quite often, and the baby’s been ill all the time.  I think Mrs. More’s been terribly lonely.  Poor little woman, she’s got no friends here.  All her people live in the Midlands, she tells me.  I don’t think they can afford a holiday, so the next few months will be hard for her, I’m afraid.”

“Incompetent people, I should think, from what you can see of the garden.  Annoying to think that that used to be good wheat-land.”

“They’ve never liked the place.  They were terrified of losing the child because of the damp from the moment it came.  She’s quite broken by it all, poor thing.”

Marion began to draw on the ground with the point of her stick.

“Ah, well, you’ll be wanting to get on,” said the old lady.  “Now, do bring your future daughter-in-law to tea with us some day.  I’ve got a daughter-in-law staying with me now.  I should like you to meet Rose.  She plays the violin very nicely.  And we have a garden we’re rather proud of, though of course this is the wrong time of the year to see it.  Yet I’m sure things are looking very nice just now.  Just look at it!  Could anything,” she asked, looking round with happy eyes, “be prettier than this?  Look at the sunlight travelling over that hill!” She cast a shy glance at Marion, who was continuing to watch the point of her stick, and bravery came into her soft gay glance.  “It’s passing over the earth,” she said tremulously but distinctly, “like the kindness of God.”

A silence fell.  “The wee thing has courage,” thought Ellen to herself.  “It’s plain to see what’s happened.  Marion’s often sneered at her religion, and she’s just letting her see that she doesn’t mind.  I like people who believe in something.  Of course it might Le something more useful than Christianity, but if she believes it....”

Marion lifted her head, stared at the hillside, and said, “Yes.  And look.  It is followed by the shadow, like His indifference.”

Tears came into the old lady’s eyes.  “Good-bye.  We must settle on an afternoon for tea.  I’ll send somebody round with a note.  Good-bye.”  She pushed past them, a grieved and ruffled little figure, a peony-spot of shock on each cheek, and then she looked back at Ellen.  “We’ll all look forward to seeing you, my dear,” she called kindly; but feared, Ellen saw, to meet the hard eyes of this terrible woman, who was staring after her with a look of hostility that, directed on this little affirmation of love and amiability, was as barbarous as some ponderous snare laid for a small, precious bird.

“Let’s get on,” said Marion.