"Very well," said Mrs. Osborn, who looked relieved. "Perhaps it would be prudent not to meet him often."
Grace smiled and was silent for a time. She had tried to be frank and thought she had stated things correctly--so far as she knew. Then she remembered Kit's look when she stopped and spoke, and began to wonder. Perhaps she had not told all and the little she had left out was important. By and by she got up and went into the house.
Gerald Osborn came home next day and not long afterwards Kit found him lying on the gravel beside a tarn on the Ashness moor. Heavy rain had fallen, but the clouds had rolled away and the water shone with dazzling light. The sky was clear except for a bank of mist floating about the round top of a fell, and a swollen beck sparkled among the heather. The wind had dropped and it was very hot.
When he heard Kit's steps Gerald looked up. He was a handsome young man, with some charm of manner, although it was obvious now and then that he had inherited a touch of his father's pride. His glance was keen and intelligent, but his mouth and chin were weak. Gerald had talent, but was very like Osborn, since he was sometimes rashly obstinate and sometimes vacillating.
"Hallo!" he said. "I expect I ought to have asked your leave before I came to fish. I hope you don't mind."
"I don't mind. Nobody asks my leave," Kit replied. "Have you had much luck?"
Gerald opened his creel and showed him a number of small, dark-colored trout. "Pretty good. They rose well until the light got strong. Then I thought I'd take a rest. Will you smoke a cigarette?"
Kit sat down and looked across the shining water at the silver bent-grass that gleamed among vivid green moss on the side of the hill.
"You must find this a pleasant change from town. Are you staying long?"
"A fortnight; that's all I get. I wish I could stop for good. It's rot to spend one's life working in a bank."
"I suppose one must work at something," Kit remarked.
"I don't see why, unless you're forced. The only object for working is when you must work to live, and it isn't mine, because I can't live on my pay. In fact, the futility of the thing is plain."
Kit laughed. Gerald's humorous candor was part of his charm, but Kit thought it deceptive.