Harold Bindloss

“ Gregory had walked there across the high fells, and when he lounged on the verandah after .breakfast, three or four young men and girls, carrying pike-sticks and rucksacks, came out and began to talk about a guide who had disappointed them. It was obviously a walking party, and Gregory agreed with one who said they could cross the hills without a guide if the weather kept fine.
"In the North it does not often keep fine," a girl rejoined. "I think it will rain to-day."
"Are you much afraid of getting wet, Alice?" another asked. ”

“ Real training by famous masters is expensive."
She stopped, and wondered why she had been so frank. It was strange, but Gregory's sympathy had somehow led her on. She thought he was tactful when he began to talk about something else. After a time the splash of rain upon the roof slackened, and Gregory went out. The mist was thinner, and began to roll up the hills, and, glancing at his watch, he called Alice. ”

“ Carson, ye ken, was my partner when I built the coke ovens. I broke him."
Gregory had heard something about this. Indeed, he had heard that Stayward had stolen Carson's patent, and had thought it strange. The old man was hard, but he was just.
"Folks dinna ken that Tom Carson robbed me; the man that robs me pays," he said. "Mayhappen Janet led him on. She liked smart friends and a big hoose, and Tom was extravagant and a fool at aw but chemistry. He's dead lang sin', and she has paid as weel as him ”

“ What do you do now?"
"In a sense, I do nothing—look after some property, but I find it harder than I thought," he replied, and paused, feeling that he had said enough about himself. "You are steady among the rocks," he resumed. "It's plain that you can climb." ”