"Yes," I answered. "I don't see how it took me so long to walk it, I'm usually a good walker."

"When did you start?" she asked me.

"Before eight," I answered.

"I think you did very well to walk it in one day," she returned. "Agna and Teasie were going to cycle there and stay over night because it was such a long ride."

"I was told that it wasn't five miles," I said.

"Five miles!" cried the mother. "It's fifteen if it's one, and a bad road at that. You'll want to rest after it. Take her into a bedroom, girls, and let her lie down."

The girls brought me to a bedroom and gave me cool water to bathe my face and hands and feet. Then they ordered me to go to bed. But although I went to bed I did not sleep.

I had been lying there for about two hours when Agna peeped in to see if I was awake.

"Come in," I said.