potted so he can find it in the dark.
Use a canoe; no noise and no lights. Hurry along but don't blow up the
launch."

"I have a surprise for you," said Ruth when Archie delivered the mail at
the camp office. "I'm going to be busy sorting this mail, but if you
will step to the door, bear left ten yards and stop by a bench under
our tallest pine, some one you pretend to like rather particularly may
appear, but just for a moment, remember! You ought to be eternally
grateful to me for this; I had to overcome both the doctor and the nurse
and the prejudices and suspicions of the particular person--"

"Isabel!" he exclaimed. He hadn't dreamed that he might see Isabel.

She came toward him out of the shadows, wrapped in a long cloak,
carrying a lantern, and paused by the bench.

"These old-fashioned lanterns are a lot nicer than the electric flash
things," she remarked.

They sat down with the lantern between them, her right hand resting upon
its wire guard for a moment. The glow emphasized its fine length and
firmness. The left hand was bandaged and he saw her thrust it quickly
out of sight.

"You haven't let me say how happy I am that you are able to be up, or
how grateful I am for this glimpse of you. It's always just glimpses."

"Maybe it's better that way! But so much happens between our meetings;
there was never anything like it in all the world. Never was an
acquaintance so pursued by storms! I wonder where the blow will fall
next?"

"Not on your head," he answered decisively, "not if the Governor and I
can prevent it. But let us not waste time on that; I want your assurance
that you are really well."

"Oh, perfectly; not an ache from the ducking; only this little reminder
my hand will carry for a day or two; but that's nothing to worry about!"

There was a restraint upon them, due perhaps to the calming influence
of the stars, the murmurings of the shore in conference with the pines.

"The things that have happened since we first met would make a large
book," he said with an accession of courage, "but a separate volume
would have to be written about your hands."

She fell back at once upon her defenses.

"Oh, are they as large as that!"

"They are as dear as that!"

"How absurd you are! Here we are with only a few minutes to talk; not
more than ten--that's official from the doctor; and you're talking
foolishness. If I were extremely sensitive I might imagine that my face
was displeasing to you!"