its way to Peterboro' for a doctor. Cecil
was down with rheumatic fever, and delirious.

CHAPTER XXV.

CHANGES.

I remember the way we parted.
The day and the way we met;
You hoped we were both broken hearted;
I knew we should both forget.

A hand like a white wood-blossom
You lifted, and waved and passed
With head hung down to the bosom,
And pale, as it seemed at last.
--Swinburne.

Du Meresq in indignant dismay at the abduction of Cecil on the day of the
picnic stood awhile silent and bitter, deaf to the impatience of the
children, who wanted to be off. While thus irresolute, he chanced to
glance at Bluebell, whose countenance betrayed an agony of suspense. The
entreating look in her eyes she was probably unconscious of, for the
child had not yet learned to command her face. Bertie yielded to it by a
sort of magnetism, and flung himself into the boat where she and Mrs.
Rolleston were already seated, but remained silent and thoughtful as they
floated monotonously along. His sister was equally occupied with uneasy
reflections, and Bluebell seemed as spell-bound as the rest. For one soul
deeply moved and agitated often affects by electricity another in a
receptive condition. Does not the atmosphere in a tempestuous mood thrill
and disturb our nervous system?

She was next to Bertie, and noted that, though concealed by rugs and
waterproofs, his hand did not seek hers as of yore.

They were joined on Long Island by the rest of the party, and all kept
pretty much together at first. There was luncheon to be unpacked, the
fire to be made and some fish to be grilled in a frying-pan. Du Meresq
partially shook off his gloom, and assisted the children in their
preparations; and, from the noise that ensued, a stranger would not have
suspected the mental disquietude of three of the number.

After luncheon, Bluebell wandered away in search of wild flowers, the
children hunted for cray-fish, Miss Prosody spudded up ferns, and Mrs.
Rolleston drew from her pocket her favourite point-lace.

Du Meresq, hungering for that exclusively masculine solace, tenderly
brought forth the pipe of his affections, nestling next his heart. There
was too much air on the beach, and he sauntered away in search of a more
sheltered situation in which to woo his divinity.

Some "spirit in his feet" must have led him "who knows how," for ere long
he found himself seated on a log besid