He had just seated himself to put on his
shoes for the search, when he again heard the voices of women and once
more plunged into the pool, like a monster yellow frog, as he reflected
he must seem to the squirrel in the tree.

"But, Aunt Matilda, how do you know?" he heard as he came up under the
willows. This new voice, sweet and limpid, belonged to a girl of such
striking appearance that the young man was on the point of forgetting
his dilemma--until that infernal mosquito settled down back of his ear
again!

"My dear Adnah," said a jerky little voice in answer, "your aunts,
remember, were all young once, and considered great beauties in their
day." There was a world of gentle pride in Aunt Matilda's voice as she
said this, and it sounded so well that she said it over again. "Great
beauties in their day! In consequence they all had their experiences
with men, and know that there is not one to be trusted. Not one, my
child, not one! Believe your aunts."

"It seems impossible, aunty," declared the soft voice of Adnah. "Why, in
that magazine were the pictures of some of the most noble-looking
creatures--"

"Tut, tut, child, those are the very worst kind," hastily interrupted
Aunt Matilda. "The more handsome they are, the more dangerous. Since you
remain so incredulous, however, I suppose I shall have to tell you what
we know about them."

The young man in the pool felt his circulation stopping. The two women
were calmly sitting down on the bank to talk confidences, and from what
he knew of the sex they were as likely as not to sit there until
doomsday, compelling him to appear before the angel Gabriel without even
a shroud. He was conscious of the beginning of a cramp in his left leg
and his shoulders were becoming icy. He had to be motionless, too, and
that was another hardship. The least movement might betray him, for the
women sat quite near, and Adnah was facing him. Thanks to the thickness
of his leafy hiding-place she could not see him, but he could see her
quite plainly, and she was well worth looking at. She, too, wore a
plain, skimp, black dress, and her brown hair was parted in the center
and smoothed down over her ears, but there the resemblance to Aunt
Matilda and the others ended, for her hair was wavy in spite of the
severely straight brushing, and it glinted gold where little flecks of
sunlight filtered through the branches of the tall trees to caress it.
In the hair, too, was a single red rose, cau