They emerged into the sunshine just here, and the roar of the Middle Falls burst upon their ears. The fence of Mr. Ledge's house-enclosure stretched before them, and to the right, along the bank, towered two groups of dark evergreens.
"We can go through here," Ingram said, unlatching the gate.
So they entered the private grounds and passed around the simple, pretty home and out upon the road beyond.
"Everything is as sweet and quiet here as in the forest," said Lassie.
"Yes, it's a beautiful place," Ingram assented.
They went on and entered the wood path that goes to the Lower Falls.
"I cannot understand one thing," the man said, suddenly; "if they loved one another so much, why didn't they marry long ago? If I loved a woman, I should want to marry her."
Here was the thin ice again—delight again.
"They never thought of it," Lassie said, revelling in the sense of danger; "they couldn't. They recognized other claims."
Ingram walked on for a little, and then he said: "I suppose that what you say is true, and that with people like them everything is different from what it is with you and me."