n?"

"I don't in the least know what you are talking about, Nancy."

"Well, he sailed in and he sailed out. He didn't leave any address. He
left the cloak--and a rather intriguing memory, Anthony."

That was all the satisfaction she would give him. And I am not sure that
he deserved more at her hands. The agreement between them had
been--absolute freedom.

I am convinced that if it had not been for the garden party I should
never have shown Olaf's letter to Nancy. The garden party is an annual
event. We always hold it in August, when the "off-islanders" crowd the
hotels, and when money is more plentiful than at any other time during
the year.

Nancy had charge of the fish pond. I had helped her to make the fish,
which were gay objects of painted paper, numbered to indicate a
corresponding prize package, and to be caught with a dangling line from
a lily-wreathed artificial pool.

The day of the garden party was a glorious one--with the air so clear
that the flying pennants of the decorated booths, and the gowns of the
women, gained brilliancy and beauty from the shining atmosphere.

Nancy wore a broad blue hat which matched her eyes, one of her clear
white dresses, and a silken scarf of the same blue as her hat. She loved
children, and as she stood in a circle of them all the afternoon,
untiring, eager--bending down to them, hooking the fish on the dangling
line--handing out the prizes, smiling into the flushed eager faces,
helping the very littlest ones to achieve a catch, I sat in a chair not
far away from her and watched. I saw Anthony come and go, urging her to
let some one else take her place, pressing a dozen reasons upon her for
desertion of her task, and coming back, when she refused, to complain to
me:

"Such things are a deadly bore."

"Not to Nancy."

"But they used to be. She's changed, Elizabeth."

"Beautifully changed."

"I am not sure. She was always such, a good sport."

"And isn't she now?"

"She is different," he caught himself up, "but of course--adorable."

Mimi Sears joined us, and she and Anthony went off together. Bob Needham
hung around Nancy until she sent him away. At last the hour arrived for
the open-air play which was a special attraction, and the crowds surged
toward the inclosure. The booths were deserted, and only one
rapturous child remained by the fish pond.

Nancy sat down and lifted the baby to her lap. She had taken off her
hat, and her blue scarf fell about her.