Listers Great Adventure | Page 6

the tents were large and double-roofed, and
for a few weeks one could play at pioneering without its hardships. The
Vernons were hospitable, the young men and women given to healthy
sport, and Mrs. Cartwright, watching Barbara fish and paddle on the
lake, banished her doubts. For herself she did not miss much; the
people were nice, and the cooking was really good.
When two weeks had gone, Grace and Barbara sat one evening among
the stones by a lake. The evening was calm, the sun was setting, and
the shadow of the pines stretched across the tranquil water. Now and
then the reflections trembled and a languid ripple broke against the
driftwood on the beach. In the distance a loon called, but when its wild
cry died away all was very quiet.

Grace looked across the lake and frowned. She was a tall girl, and
although she had walked for some distance in the woods, her clothes
were hardly crumpled. Her face was finely molded, but rather colorless;
her hands were very white, while Barbara's were brown. Her dress and
voice indicated cultivated taste; but the taste was negative, as if Grace
had banished carefully all that jarred and then had stopped. It was
characteristic that she was tranquil, although she had grounds for
disturbance. They were some distance from camp and it would soon be
dark, but nothing broke the gleaming surface of the lake. The boat that
ought to have met them had not arrived.
"I suppose this is the spot where Harry Vernon agreed to land and take
us on board?" she said.
"It's like the spot. I understand we must watch out for a point opposite
an island with big trees."
"Watch out?" Grace remarked.
"Watch out is good Canadian," Barbara rejoined. "I'm studying the
language and find it expressive and plain. When our new friends talk
you know what they mean. Besides, I'd better learn their idioms,
because I might stop in Canada if somebody urged me."
Grace gave her a quiet look. Barbara meant to annoy her, or perhaps
did not want to admit she had mistaken the spot. Now Grace came to
think about it, the plan that the young men should meet them and
paddle them down the lake was Barbara's.
"I don't see why we didn't go with Harry and the other, as he
suggested," she said.
"Then, you're rather dull. They didn't really want us; they wanted to
fish. To know when people might be bored is useful."
"But there are a number of bays and islands. They may go somewhere
else," Grace insisted.

"Oh well, it ought to amuse Harry and Winter to look for us, and if
they're annoyed, they deserve some punishment. If they had urged us
very much to go, I would have gone. Anyhow, you needn't bother.
There's a short way back to camp by the old loggers' trail."
Grace said nothing. She thought Barbara's carelessness was forced;
Barbara was sometimes moody. Perhaps she felt Shillito's going more
than she was willing to own. For all that, the fellow was gone, and
Barbara would, no doubt, presently be consoled.
"If mother could see things!" Barbara resumed. "Sometimes one feels
one wants a guide, but all one gets is a ridiculous platitude from her
old-fashioned code. One has puzzles one can't solve by out-of-date
rules. However, since she doesn't see, there's no use in bothering."
"I'm your elder sister, but you don't give me your confidence."
Barbara's mood changed and her laugh was touched by scorn. "You are
worse than mother. She's kind, but can't see; you don't want to see. I'd
sooner trust my step-father. He's a very human old ruffian. I wish I had
a real girl friend, but you tactfully freeze off all the girls I like. It's
strange how many people there are whom virtuous folks don't
approve."
Grace missed the note of appeal in her sister's bitterness. She did not
see the girl as disturbed by doubts and looked in perplexity for a
guiding light. Afterwards, when understanding was too late, Grace
partly understood.
"Mr. Cartwright is not a ruffian." she said coldly.
"I suppose you're taking the proper line, and you'd be rather noble, only
you're not sincere. You don't like Cartwright and know he doesn't like
you. All the same, it's not important. We were talking about getting
home, and since the boys have not come for us we had better start."
The loon had flown away and nothing broke the surface of the lake; the
shadows had got longer and driven back the light. Thin mist drifted

about the islands, the green glow behind the trunks was fading, and it
would soon be dark.
"In winter, the big timber wolves prowl about the woods," Barbara
remarked. "Horrible, savage brutes! I