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Rh fields were grey with dew, and the early sunlight burned over everything with the transparent brightness of a fire that has just been kindled. As the machine noiselessly wound off the miles, the sky grew deeper and bluer, and the flowers along the roadside opened in the wet grass. There were men and horses abroad on every hill now. Soon they began to pass children on the way to school, who stopped and waved their bright dinner pails at the two travellers. By ten o’clock they were in Hastings.

While Enid was shopping, Claude bought some white shoes and duck trousers. He felt more interest than usual in his summer clothes. They met at the hotel for lunch, both very hungry and both satisfied with their morning’s work. Seated in the dining room, with Enid opposite him, Claude thought they did not look at all like a country boy and girl come to town, but like experienced people touring in their car.

“Will you make a call with me after dinner?” she asked while they were waiting for their dessert.

“Is it any one I know?”

“Certainly. Brother Weldon is in town. His meetings are over, and I was afraid he might be gone, but he is staying on a few days with Mrs. Gleason. I brought some of Carrie’s letters along for him to read.”

Claude made a wry face. “He won’t be delighted to see me. We never got on well at school. He’s a regular muff of a teacher, if you want to know,” he added resolutely.

Enid studied him judicially. “I’m surprised to hear that; he’s such a good speaker. You’d better come along. It’s so foolish to have a coolness with your old teachers.”

An hour later the Reverend Arthur Weldon received the two young people in Mrs. Gleason’s half-darkened parlour,