ould see
something besides the top of her hat. Orde looked plump into her eyes.

"Hullo!" she said cheerfully and unsurprised, and sank down cross-legged
at his feet.

Orde stood quite motionless, overcome by astonishment. Her face, its
long oval framed in the bands of the gray veil and the down-turned brim
of the hat, looked up smiling into his. The fresh air had deepened the
colour beneath her skin and had blown loose stray locks of the fine
shadow-filled hair. Her red lips, with the quaintly up-turned corners,
smiled at him with a new frankness, and the black eyes--the eyes so
black as to resemble spots--had lost their half-indolent reserve and
brimmed over quite frankly with the joy of life. She scooped up a
handful of the dry, clean sand from either side of her, raised it aloft,
and let it trickle slowly between her fingers. The wind snatched at the
sand and sprayed it away in a beautiful plume.

"Isn't this REAL fun?" she asked him.

"Why, Miss Bishop!" cried Orde, finding his voice. "What are you doing
here?"

A faint shade of annoyance crossed her brow.

"Oh, I could ask the same of you; and then we'd talk about how surprised
we are, world without end," said she. "The important thing is that here
is sand to play in, and there is the Lake, and here are we, and the day
is charmed, and it's good to be alive. Sit down and dig a hole! We've
all the common days to explain things in."

Orde laughed and seated himself to face her. Without further talk, and
quite gravely, they commenced to scoop out an excavation between
them, piling the sand over themselves and on either side as was most
convenient. As the hole grew deeper they had to lean over more and more.
Their heads sometimes brushed ever so lightly, their hands perforce
touched. Always the dry sand flowed from the edges partially to fill in
the result their efforts. Faster and faster they scooped it out again.
The excavation thus took on the shape of a funnel. Her cheeks glowed
pink, her eyes shone like stars. Entirely was she absorbed in the task.
At last a tiny commotion manifested itself in the bottom of the funnel.
Impulsively she laid her hand on Orde's, to stop them. Fascinated,
they watched. After incredible though lilliputian upheavals, at
length appeared a tiny black insect, struggling against the rolling,
overwhelming sands. With great care the girl scooped this newcomer
out and set him on the level ground. She looked up happily at Orde,
thrusti