"I'd been at work since morning in the snow."
"And Miss Osborn was waiting for you in the lonning?"
"No," said Kit sharply; "she was not."
"Anyhow she was with you, before she stole away."
"She didn't steal away," Kit began indignantly, but hesitated. Now he came to think about it, Grace had gone as quietly as possible.
"You mean Miss Osborn does nothing undignified? For all that, she didn't want Mrs. Creighton to see her. I don't suppose Osborn would be pleased to know his daughter and you went for moonlight walks on the fells."
Kit knew Osborn would not like it, and since the dales folk are fond of gossip saw he must stop the story going round.
"I had not gone for a walk with Miss Osborn. I met her as I came down from the moor. She didn't know I was coming."
"So she wasn't waiting for you?" Janet remarked, with a hint of mockery. She stopped, and putting her hand on Kit's arm, pushed him nearer the hedgerow as a man and woman came round a neighboring corner.
Kit was annoyed, but he waited and watched the people as they passed. The shadow was not very dark and he thought the woman give him a curious glance. He knew her and imagined that she knew him. When the people went through a gate Janet laughed.