nd black like a small, small fly." And after saying this a little
disdainfully, she moved away from my side and out into the sunshine; and
then, half turning towards me, and glancing first at my face and then
upwards, she raised her hand to call my attention to something there.

Far up, high as the tops of the tallest trees, a great blue-winged
butterfly was passing across the open space with loitering flight. In a
few moments it was gone over the trees; then she turned once more to
me with a little rippling sound of laughter--the first I had heard from
her, and called: "Come, come!"

I was glad enough to go with her then; and for the next two hours we
rambled together in the wood; that is, together in her way, for though
always near she contrived to keep out of my sight most of the time. She
was evidently now in a gay, frolicsome temper; again and again, when I
looked closely into some wide-spreading bush, or peered behind a tree,
when her calling voice had sounded, her rippling laughter would come to
me from some other spot. At length, somewhere about the centre of the
wood, she led me to an immense mora tree, growing almost isolated,
covering with its shade a large space of ground entirely free from
undergrowth. At this spot she all at once vanished from my side; and
after listening and watching some time in vain, I sat down beside the
giant trunk to wait for her. Very soon I heard a low, warbling sound
which seemed quite near.

"Rima! Rima!" I called, and instantly my call was repeated like an echo.
Again and again I called, and still the words flew back to me, and I
could not decide whether it was an echo or not. Then I gave up calling;
and presently the low, warbling sound was repeated, and I knew that Rima
was somewhere near me.

"Rima, where are you?" I called.

"Rima, where are you?" came the answer.

"You are behind the tree."

"You are behind the tree."

"I shall catch you, Rima." And this time, instead of repeating my words,
she answered: "Oh no."

I jumped up and ran round the tree, feeling sure that I should find her.
It was about thirty-five or forty feet in circumference; and after going
round two or three times, I turned and ran the other way, but failing to
catch a glimpse of her I at last sat down again.

"Rima, Rima!" sounded the mocking voice as soon as I had sat down.
"Where are you, Rima? I shall catch you, Rima! Have you caught Rima?"

"No, I have not caught her. There is no Rima now