218 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



July 



before us iustcadof almost at our backs. 



"It ruust be the sea," I said, alter a 

 show of hard li.steniug. 



"But it shoukiu't be there," she said. 



"Why not?" I answered rather teebly 

 ill order to gain time. "It ahvay.s has 

 beeu there, I .suppose." 



"Dou't be iuolish," she said. "You 

 kuow wlnit I mean. We must have got 

 ou the vvrojg path. Mr. Thirlmere, " 

 sh« cried, "how could you have beeu so 

 careless'.'" 



"My dear Miss Pascoe," I said, "if 

 I have made a mistake, I am very 

 sorry. ' ' 



"And you said all along that you 

 knew the way," she pouted, trying to 

 shoot conde.inuatiou from her eyes at 

 lue in the darkness. 



"You see," 1 said, "I got my direc- 

 tions from your brother — from Jim — 

 and he's often so verv inaccurate, isn't 

 he?" 



"Absurdly inaccurate," she a Imit- 

 ted. "If I'd known you were reiying 

 UDon Jim, I wouldn't have come at 

 all." 



"And then I should have missed the 

 most delightful walk 1 ever had. " 



She turned away from me a little, 

 with a petulant movement of the shoul- 

 ders that piea.sed me mightily. 



"I wish v,e had Jim here," she said 

 with pretty herceness. 



"I don't,'" I said. 



"Then, perhaps you'll be good enough 

 to find the right path. We can't stay 

 bere. ' ' 



"There don't seem to be any conven- 

 iences for camping out," I said. "Will 

 you stay here for a moment while I ex- 

 plore to the right? I may get up to my 



knees in the m^rsh. You will \)e sate:; 

 here. ' ' 



"Don't be long, will you?" she said. 



"Oh, noi" I said clieerfully. "I .shall 

 find the path in no lime." 



I started off, carefully exploring the 

 ground before me with my stick as I 

 went. There was no sign of a path, and 

 I began to be seriously alarmed for Miss 

 Pascoe's comfort. On consideration I 

 came to the conclusion that I had made 

 rather an ass of myself. Anotlier hun- 

 dred yards, ai:tl still no path. I paused 

 and looked back. I could see a sliglit, 

 dark figure moving toward me very 

 cai'efully and slowly. 



"Is that you?" 1 saia. 



Miss Pascoe's voice answered: "Yes. 

 I'd rather come with you if you don't 

 mind. When you left me, I felt so lone- 

 ly that I was almost afraid." 



"I am more sorry than I can tell 

 you," I said, "to have got you into 

 such an awkward fix. Pick your way 

 very carefully. Ah!" She had stepped 

 with one toot into a patch of wet moss. 



"Take my hand," I said. "It is 

 quite firm where I am standing. Will 

 you ever forgive me for this?" She took 

 my outstretciied hand, and I guided her 

 to safety. But because the danger might 

 be renewed at any moment I still re- 

 tained my hold of her slim fingers, and 

 we went forward together in that pleas- 

 ant, companionable way. 



"Don't talk to me about forgiveness 

 until you have found the path and 

 made restitution," she said. My fingers 

 tightened upon hers instinctively, part- 

 ly because it was so pleasant to have 

 them resting so unreservedly in my 

 hand and partly because her voice was 

 very low and without any hint of dis- 

 approval in it. 



"For mj^self, " I said, "I cannot pre- 

 tend to be sorry for this adventure. For 

 your sake, of course, I am, but it has 

 beeu so pleasant to have you to myself 

 for so long that when we hit upon the 

 path I shall be almost in despair." 



"We haven't hit upon it yet," she 

 said. The ground under our feet seem- 

 ed quite firm by this time. The moon 

 was ju.st rising, swimming upward 

 through the low lying vapor in a wide 

 luminous circle of misty silver. Right 

 above us a star or two blinked. 



"I suppose," I said, striking a match 

 to look at myvvatch, "that the second 

 dinner bell has rung by this time. In 

 another hour there will be a hue and 

 cry after us." I was sorry for this a 

 moment later, because in order to strike 

 my match I had had to relinquish her 

 band. We had both paused and read the 

 face of the watch together in tlie flick- 

 ering light. Then it was blown out by 

 a gust of wind, and darkness succeeded. 

 I possessed myself of her hand again. 



"Well," she said, "shall we go on?" 



"If you like," I said. 



"I suppose we ought to," she said. 



"It would be rather fun to let tliem 

 find us here, wouldn't it?" I said. 

 "Think how pretty the lanterjis would 



I 



