But it's quite O.K.and you needn't worry." With a parting nod she started off along the ribbon of road which wound its way past the gates of Trevarthen Wood, and then, dipping into the valley, climbed the hill beyond and lost itself in the broad highway of light which shimmered from the western sky.

Presently she turned aside from the road and, scrambling through a gap in a stone wall, plunged into the cool shadows of the woods.

A heavy rain had fallen during the night, soaking the thirsty earth, and the growing green things were all responsively alive and vivid once again, while the clean, pleasant smell of damp soil came fragrantly to her nostrils.
Though she tramped manfully along, Nan found her progress far from swift, for the surface of the ground was sticky and sodden after the rain.

Her boots made soft little sucking sounds at every step.

Nor was she quite sure of her road back to Mallow by way of the woods.