waistcoat announced dinner from the foot of the terrace, and they moved
slowly toward the house. There was a concerted interest in the faces
they found already about the table. Howat took his seat at his mother's
side, Gilbert Penny assisted Mrs. Winscombe. David was placed between
Caroline and Myrtle. Mr. Winscombe, again formally wigged and coated,
was absorbed in thought. He said to his hostess, "It's the uncertainty
that puts me in doubt. Ogle thought the thing thoroughly reviewed, when
now Hamilton comes out with his damned Indians and Maryland rum.
Forsythe suggests my presence in Council to-morrow, and it's barely
possible that there will be a return to Annapolis. While Ludowika--"

"I can't travel another ell over the atrocities they call roads here,"
Mrs. Winscombe declared. "I expect to die returning to England as it is,
and I won't put up with any more preliminary torment. You'll have to
leave me."

"At Myrtle Forge," Gilbert Penny added at once; "at Myrtle Forge as long
as you like. Unless," he added with a smile, "you prefer the gaiety at
Abner Forsythe's." A hot colour suffused David's cheeks.

Mr. Winscombe bowed over the table, "I am inclined to take advantage of
that. Ludowika would be the better without even Quaker gaiety for a
little." He stopped, turned toward her. "I'd like it immensely," she
replied simply. "I am sure it would give me back all that I've lost in
passage. Perhaps," she leaned forward, smiling at Howat, "I could see
something of what's behind those hills, go into the real Arcadia."

"Out there," said Mr. Penny, "are the Endless Mountains."

The faint, involuntary chill again invaded Howat; suddenly an unfamiliar