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Benjamin. Therefore, it was again Henry who stood on the platform when thetrain came in, belching steam into the air, and nearly an hour late because of snow drifting over Shap Fell.
    He saw Ephraim immediately. He was as tall as Benjamin, but leaner. And he walked with a loose, easy gait in spite of the cold. He carried only one case; it was quite large, but in his hand it seemed to have no weight at all. Like Benjamin he was burned by the sun and wind, and frowned very slightly as he saw no one he was expecting on the platform waiting for him. He glanced up at the sky, perhaps fearing the snow had been worse here, and he would not be able to go farther until it cleared.
    “Ephraim!” Henry called out. “Ephraim!”
    Ephraim turned, startled at first, then his face lit when he recognized Henry, and he dropped the case and came forward to clasp Henry’s hand.
    “Rathbone! How are you? What are you doing here? You’ve come to stay with us over Christmas? That’s wonderful. It’s going to be like old times. You look cold, and sort of pinched. Where is everyone? Where’s Judah? Have you been waiting long?”
    “Not on the platform,” Henry answered with a smile. “I’ve been at the inn with a pint of Cockerhoop.” That was the light ale that was so popular locally. He felt a lift of gratitude that Ephraim could welcome him so generously at what had been intended as a family reunion. He was, after all, not a Dreghorn, merely Antonia’s godfather, an honorary position, not one of kinship. He dreaded having to tell him the real reason he was here; his stomach knotted up and his throat was tight. Was it better to crush his pleasure immediately with honesty, or allow a little time, let him take joy in homecoming first?
    Ephraim was smiling broadly. He was quieter than his brother, a man of deep thoughts he shared seldom, and great physical courage. Whatever fears or doubts he had about anything, he mastered them without outer show. But after being in Africa for four years, the sight of his beloved lakes again woke a joy in him that found expression easily.
    “Sounds perfect,” he said with enthusiasm. “We’llgo for some long walks in the snow, climb a bit even, and then sit by a roaring fire and talk about dreams and tell each other tall stories. I’ve got a few. Henry, there are things in Africa you wouldn’t believe!” He picked up his case and matched Henry stride for stride out to the waiting trap which Wiggins had brought around ready when he heard the train draw in.
    “How’s Judah?” Ephraim asked as soon as they were in the trap and moving. “Have you heard from Ben yet? And Naomi? Is she coming, too?” There was an eagerness in his voice when he mentioned her name, and he turned away as if to guard the emotion in his eyes from being seen.
    Thoughts teemed through Henry’s mind, an awareness that there was a new dimension he had not even thought of, and pain he would not be able to read in Ephraim as well as he had in Benjamin, depths he could neither understand nor help. And yet there was no alternative. Now was the moment.
    “Benjamin is already here,” he answered the easiest question first. “He arrived two days ago …”
    Ephraim turned toward him, blue eyes puzzled. “Is he all right?”
    “No,” Henry said frankly. “We are none of us all right. Judah died in an accident eight days ago.” He looked at Ephraim’s face as the shock struck him, followed by disbelief, then pain. “I am sorry I am the one to tell you, but the lawyer called this morning regarding certain estate matters, and Benjamin stayed with Antonia to see him.”
    “Hunting?” Ephraim said hoarsely. Judah seldom hunted, but it was the only way to keep foxes down in the Lakeland, and they devastated sheep if left. Ewes and lambs had their throats torn out, whole flocks of chickens could be slaughtered.
    “No,” Henry replied, and told him briefly all they knew so far.
    Ephraim huddled into his coat as if