They did not talk of Everard.  Whether Rhoda replied to his letters from abroad Miss Barfoot had no means of ascertaining.  But after his return he had a very cold reception—­due, perhaps, to some audacity he had allowed himself in his correspondence.  Rhoda again avoided meeting with him, and, as Miss Barfoot noticed, threw herself with increased energy into all her old pursuits.

‘What about your holiday this year?’ Mary asked one evening in June.  ‘Shall you go first, or shall I?’

‘Please make whatever arrangements you like.’

Miss Barfoot had a reason for wishing to postpone her holiday until late in August.  She said so, and proposed that Rhoda should take any three weeks she liked prior to that.

‘Miss Vesper,’ she added, ’can manage your room very well.  We shall be much more at ease in that respect than last year.’

‘Yes.  Miss Vesper is getting to be very useful and trustworthy.’

Rhoda mused when she had made this remark.

‘Do you know,’ she asked presently, ’whether she sees much of Mrs. Widdowson?’

‘I have no idea.’

They decided that Rhoda should go away at the close of July.  Where was her holiday to be spent?  Miss Barfoot suggested the lake country.

‘I was thinking of it myself,’ said Rhoda.  ’I should like to have some sea-bathing, though.  A week by the shore, and then the rest of the time spent in vagabondage among the mountains, would suit me very well.  Mrs. Cosgrove is at home in Cumberland; I must ask her advice.’

This was done, and there resulted a scheme which seemed to excite Rhoda with joyous anticipation.  On the coast of Cumberland, a few miles south of St. Bees, is a little place called Seascale, unknown to the ordinary tourist, but with a good hotel and a few scattered houses where lodgings can be obtained.  Not far away rise the mountain barriers of lake-land, Wastdale clearly discernible.  At Seascale, then, Rhoda would spend her first week, the quiet shore with its fine stretch of sand affording her just the retreat that she desired.

’There are one or two bathing-machines, Mrs. Cosgrove says, but I hope to avoid such abominations.  How delicious it was in one’s childhood, when one ran into the sea naked!  I will enjoy that sensation once more, if I have to get up at three in the morning.’

About this time Barfoot made one of his evening calls.  He had no hope of seeing Rhoda, and was agreeably surprised by her presence in the drawing-room.  Just as happened a year ago, the subject of Miss Barfoot making a direct inquiry.  With lively interest, Mary waited for the reply, and was careful not to smile when Rhoda made known her intentions.

‘Have you planned a route after your stay at Seascale?’ Barfoot asked.

‘No.  I shall do that when I am there.’