g an unbecoming cap like a sponge-bag,
which subjected her to comment.

Margaret's crowning glory was coiled in thick plaits on top of her
head, and if it got wet it got wet and she heeded it not.

Both girls had draped themselves in long towels for the walk down to
the water, and Graeme's heart sang with joy at the surpassing beauty
of this radiant girl who had given her heart and herself and her life
into his keeping.

Dainty clothing counts for much in a girl's appearance. Not every
girl shows to advantage in bathing costume. But when she does, she
knows it, and the hearts of men are her stepping-stones.

Hennie Penny was a cautious swimmer. She preferred depths soundable at
any moment by the dropping of a foot, and if the foot did not
instantly touch bottom she fell into a panic and screamed, which added
not a little to the hilarity of their bathes.

Margaret and Graeme, however, were both at home in the water. They
delighted to set their faces to the open and breast steadily out to
sea, rejoicing in the conquest of the waves. But he always watched
over her with solicitous care, for there are currents, and
cross-currents, and treacherous undertows round those coasts, and the
wary swimmer is the wiser man.

And the dogs always swam with them, Punch lunging boldly ahead with
the ease and grace of a seal, looking round now and again to see if
they were coming, and turning the moment they turned. While Scamp,
away in the rear, thrashed along spasmodically, with a yelp for every
stroke, but would not be left out of it. The sight of his anxious
little face and twisting nose more than once set Margaret laughing, so
that she had to turn on her back and float till she got over it,
greatly to the small dog's satisfaction.

Full of life and the mighty joy of it, they found the going unusually
easy that day. The water was like the kiss of new life, crisp, tonic,
vitalising. There was no more than a breath of wind, no more than a
ruffle on the backs of the long blue rollers that came sweeping slowly
in out of the West.

Graeme, as he glanced round in his long side-strokes at the lovely
eager face gemmed with sparkling water-jewels, took full deep breaths
of delight and gratitude to the All-Goodness that had vouchsafed him
such a prize.

The kiss of the life-giving water had induced a tender flush of colour
in the soft white neck, as though the pink of her bathing-suit had
spread upwards. He could see the pulsing blue