ll the evening came with no sign of rain; the band stationed at the
edge of the green played cheerful dances with a will, and it was no
fault of theirs that the music sounded so lost and futile amid the
roaring of the sea--rather as if a penny whistle were to be played in a
cathedral while the organ was booming out solemn music among the
springing arches. Perhaps the visitors and the Thorhaven people felt
something of this themselves, for they put no real zest into their
attempts at carnival, but they danced rather grimly in the cold wind,
with little tussocks in the grass catching their toes and the fairy
lamps which edged the lawn blowing out one after the other.

At the windiest corner, near the hall, was planted the respectable
middle-aged woman who sometimes assisted in cleaning the church--though
she was herself an ardent Primitive--and in her arms she held a
struggling mass of air balloons which seemed most anxious to escape
over the North Sea to those parts of Europe where carnival is more at
home. But no one seemed to be buying from her excepting a few
children, whose needs were soon satisfied. Then a worn-looking young
man came up and purchased two balloons for his children at home, but
after that the woman stood there alone again, with the balloons
buffeting about her head.

At another point farther down the promenade, a boy suffering from a
slight cold in his head offered for sale a tray of those snake-like
paper missiles which can be shot out suddenly with startling effect.
But he seemed rather ashamed of his job and kept in the gloom as much
as possible, now and then making a sale among the children, who ran in
and out behind the more sheltered seats where their elders sat in
winter coats.

Mr. Graham--as the originator of these attractions--felt exceedingly
impatient, both with his fellow-townspeople and the visitors, as he sat
watching. A chill air blew down the back of his neck and he was
conscious of an incipient cold, which all added to his feeling of
bitterness. "No earthly use trying!" he burst forth, rising abruptly
from his seat. "English people don't know how to enjoy themselves, and
it's no use trying to teach them."

He scowled first at the scene before him and then at his wife, who sat
with Mrs. Bradford and Miss Ethel on a long wooden seat.

"You couldn't imagine the weather would be like this, dear," said Mrs.
Graham soothingly.

"The air will do us good," added Miss Ethel, a li