"Oh, I shall have to find a new place," she was thinking, "and I have
lived in that little room for years."

The sun got hotter and hotter, and her feet became so tired that she
could scarcely drag one of them after another. She had forgotten that
she had left Mallowe before lunch, and that she ought to have got a cup
of tea, at least, at Maundell. Before she had walked a mile on her way
back, she realised that she was frightfully hungry and rather faint.

"There is not even a cottage where I could get a glass of water," she
thought.

The basket, which was really comparatively light, began to feel heavy on
her arm, and at length she felt sure that a certain burning spot on her
left heel must be a blister which was being rubbed by her shoe. How it
hurt her, and how tired she was--how tired! And when she left
Mallowe--lovely, luxurious Mallowe--she would not go back to her little
room all fresh from the Cupps' autumn house-cleaning, which included the
washing and ironing of her Turkey-red hangings and chair-covers; she
would be obliged to huddle into any poor place she could find. And Mrs.
Cupp and Jane would be in Chichester.

"But what good fortune it is for them!" she murmured. "They need never
be anxious about the future again. How--how wonderful it must be to know
that one need not be afraid of the future! I--indeed, I think I really
must sit down."

She sat down upon the sun-warmed heather and actually let her tear-wet
face drop upon her hands.