He stopped at the desk on the
way out. "I have changed my mind. My man will bring my bags
to-morrow."

It was still too early for the 'bus, so George walked back up the
bluff, turning at last towards the left. Crossing a grassy space,
there was ahead of him a ridge which marked the edge of the moor. A
little fog was blowing in, and mistily through the fog he saw a figure
which moved as light as smoke above the eminence. It was a woman
dancing.

As he came nearer, he saw that she wore gray with a yellow sash. Her
yellow cape lay on the ground. "I am not sure," George said, as he
stopped beside her, "whether you are a pixie or a mermaid."

"Look," she said, smiling, "I'll show you what I am----"

She began with a light swaying motion, like a leaf stirred by a breeze.
Then, whipped into action, she ran before the pursuing elements. She
cowered, and registered defiance. Her loosened hair hung heavy about
her shoulders, then wound itself about her, as she whirled in a cyclone
of movement. Beaten to the ground, she rose languidly, swayed again to
that light step and stopped.

Then she came close to George. "You see," she said, "I am not a pixie
or a mermaid. I am the spirit of the storm."

CHAPTER XV

THE TRUMPETER SWAN

I

The Admiral's rheumatism had taken Becky to Boston. "There'll be
treatments every morning," he said, "and we'll invite the Copes to
visit us, and they will look after you while I am away."

The Copes were delighted. "Only it seems like an imposition----"

"The house is big enough for an army," the Admiral told them; "that's
what we built houses for in the old days. To have our friends.
Charles, my butler, and his wife, Miriam, who cooks, stay in the house
the year round, so it is always open and ready."

"And you and I shall see Boston together," Archibald told Becky,
triumphantly. "I wonder if you have ever seen Boston as I shall show
it to you."

"Well, I've been to all the historic places."

"Bunker Hill and the embattled farmers, of course," said Archibald;
"but have you seen them since the war?"

"No. Are they different?"

"They aren't, but you are. All of us are."

Louise was not quite sure that her brother ought to leave the island.
"You are down here for the air, Arch, and the quiet."

He was impatient. "Do you think I am going to miss this?"

She frowned and shook her head. "I don't want you to miss it. But it
will be going against the doctor's