AN UNEXPECTED MEETING It was a bright afternoon and white-edged clouds rolled across the sky before a fresh north-west wind when Helen Festing rode up to a birch bluff on the prairie.

The trees made a musical rustling as they tossed their branches, tufted with opening leaves.

The sweep of white grass was checkered by patches of green that gleamed when the light touched them and faded as the shadows swept across the plain.

There was something strangely invigorating in the air, but when she reached the bluff Helen pulled up her horse and looked about.
She missed the soft blue haze that mellowed the landscape among the English hills.

Every feature was sharp and the colors were vivid; ocher, green, and silver gleaming with light.