"Oh, Thou, behind the smoke," she said aloud, "guard the moor and us. We will not harm your moor. Amen."
This was the eleventh time she had prayed to the God behind the smoke, and he had guarded both the Canipers and the moor, but now she felt the need to add more words to the childish ones she had never changed.
"And let me be afraid of nothing," she said firmly, and hesitated for a second. "For beauty's sake. Amen."
CHAPTER II
After her return over the moor, through the silent garden and the dim house, Helen was dazzled by the schoolroom lights and she stood blinking in the doorway.
"We're all here and all hungry," Rupert said. "You're late."
"I know." She shut the door and took off her hat. "Miriam, I met Zebedee."
"Oh," Miriam said on a disapproving note. She lay on the sofa as though a wind had flung her there, and her eyes were closed. In her composure she looked tired, older than Helen and more experienced, but her next words came youthfully enough. "Just like you. You get everything."
"I couldn't help it," Helen said mildly. "He came round the corner from Halkett's Farm. Ought I to have run away?"