Whether the unfamiliarity of the forest was the cause of it, or something less definite, she could not determine.

Her mind left the scene and occupied itself with anxieties for Ridley, for her children, for far-off things, such as old age and poverty and death.

Hirst, too, was depressed.

He had been looking forward to this expedition as to a holiday, for, once away from the hotel, surely wonderful things would happen, instead of which nothing happened, and here they were as uncomfortable, as restrained, as self-conscious as ever.

That, of course, was what came of looking forward to anything; one was always disappointed.