Kit laughed. "One does the best one can! I rather think taking trouble and a determination to make good are as useful as specialized training."
"Perhaps that's true. It's curious, in a way, but I expect a good farmer, for example, might make a successful buccaneer. One understands, though, that the last pirate was hanged a hundred years since."
"There are a few left, although their methods have changed with the times. Some day I would like to tell you about my uncle. He was, so to speak, a survival, and I think you would appreciate him. But how have things been going in the dale?"
Grace's twinkle vanished, her look became serious, and Kit thought he noted signs of strain. After all, she had changed since he left Ashness. It was not that she looked older, although she was now a rather stately woman and not an impulsive girl; he felt that she had known care.
"On the whole," she said, "things have not gone very well. We have had wet summers and heavy snow in spring. The flocks are poor and rents have come down. Bell has gone; he quarreled with Hayes about some new machinery for the mill. All is much the same at Tarnside, though my father is not so active. Gerald left Woolwich—perhaps you knew—and is in a London bank."
Kit hid his surprise. Gerald was not the stuff of which good bank clerks are made, although Osborn's influence with the local manager had, no doubt, got him the post. Kit imagined the lad had been forced to leave Woolwich, but money must be scarce at Tarnside, since he had gone into business. This threw some light on the hint of weariness he had noted about Grace. If fresh economy was needful, she and Mrs. Osborn must carry the load.
"Hayes is still your agent. I met him yesterday and he gave me a sour nod," Kit remarked.
"Yes," said Grace, and added quietly: "I sometimes wish he were not!"
"Well, I never liked the man. All the same, he's a very good agent, from the landlord's point of view, and your father's interests ought to be safe with him."
"I suppose so," Grace agreed, but her look was doubtful, and they reached the Ashness lonning a few minutes later. When Kit stopped she gave him her hand. "I hear you are going to make a number of improvements, and wish you good luck!"