Wilfred rattled away. “I thought we’d head first for New City—an amusing village in spite of its name; then north through Pearl River and Nanuet, and back to the Highlands. We can make West Point if you’re interested in that sort of thing; but I should say, keep back from the Hudson a mile or so. There are lovely little lakes in there, with forgotten roads from one to another. We’ll have to come down into the valley to find a bed . . . But of course if you don’t feel like strenuous walking, we can stop anywhere,” he added with a glance at his companions.
“You can’t walk too far for me,” said Taswell, shortly.
“Nor me!” said Stanny.
“Gosh! I needed this!” cried Wilfred, breathing deep. “I had worked myself to a fare-you-well!”
Stanny looked at him with the corners of his mouth drawn down, and Wilfred could read the sarcastic words that were not spoken. Happy Wilf! What Stanny actually said, morosely, was:
“What did Frances Mary think of it?”
“Oh, she got the whole thing up,” said Wilfred, glad to score off him.
He perceived of course that his giddy talk was falling on deaf ears; he didn’t mind. Subsequently it struck him that there was perhaps something cruel in it. That was the wrong way to deal with the situation. Down-hearted people are enraged by an obvious attempt to cheer them, and rightly so. He became silent. Better to let the sun and the sweet air have way with them.
They plodded along. Rounding the top of the hill, a mile-wide, shallow valley unrolled below them. The sight made Wilfred catch his breath; but he said nothing. It was pasture land, all green except for the dotting farmhouses and villages; an unreal, tender green which did not suggest grass or anything earthly. It was as if one was looking at the land through a magical green medium. It was like a sea, tenderer than the real sea, and rolling up in one vast gentle swell, sprinkled with white ships. At the far boundaries it faded dreamlike into a grey void.
Wilfred stole frequent glances at his handsome companion. Taswell strode along stiffly, his head up, looking angrily and blindly straight ahead. Wilfred’s sense of fitness was gratified by the sight. The noble way to bear pain. What could have dealt him such a blow? Bye and bye a sixth sense informed Wilfred that Stanny resented the keenness of his interest in this new chum. It was an old grievance of Stanny’s that Wilfred was too quick to be on with the new. So Wilfred looked directly at Taswell no more; happy enough to be in the company of such a one. Plenty of time! he said to himself. We have three days ahead of us.