throat, and
opined they were all fools.

"An' quit doin' yourself proud, Lafe!" she grumbled. "You're grinnin'
like a Cheshire cat. 'Tain't nothin' to your credit she's goin' to
have the time of her life."

"No, 'tain't to my credit, Peggy," retorted the cobbler, "but 'tis to
yours, wife."

By the time Lafe finished this statement, Mr. King and Jinnie
Grandoken were bowling along a white road toward a hill bounding the
west side of the lake.

"See that basket down here?" said the man after a long silence.

"Yes."

"That's our picnic dinner! I brought everything I thought a little
girl with a sweet tooth might like."

Jinnie had forgotten about food. Her mind had dwelt only upon the fact
she was going to be with him all day, one of those long, beautiful
days taken from Heaven's cycle for dear friends. The country, too,
stretched in majestic splendor miles ahead of them, trees rimming the
road on each side and making a thick woodland as far as one could
see.

"I'm glad I brought my fiddle," Jinnie remarked presently.

"I am, too," said Theodore.

The place he chose for their outing was far back from the highway, and
leaving the car at one side of the road, they threaded their way
together to it. The sky above was very blue, the lake quietly
reflecting its sapphire shades. Off in the distance the high hills
gazed down upon the smaller ones, guarding them in quietude.

Theodore spread one of the auto robes on the ground, and shyly Jinnie
accepted his invitation to be seated.

"Oh, it's lovely," she said in soft monotone, glancing at the lake.

"Yes," replied Theodore dreamily.

His eyes were upon the placid water, his thoughts upon the girl at his
side. Jinnie was thinking of him, too, and there they both sat, with
passionate longing in their young hearts, watching nature's great life
go silently by.

"Play for me," Theodore said at length, without taking his eyes from
the water. "Stand by that big tree so I can look at you."

Flushed, palpitating, and beautiful, Jinnie took the position he
directed. She had come to play for him, to mimic the natural world for
his pleasure.

"Shall I play about the fairies?" she asked bashfully.

"Yes," assented King.

As on that night in his home when first she came into his life in
full sway, the man now imagined he saw creeping from under the flower
petals and from behind the tall trees, the tiny inhabitants of
Jinnie's fairyland. Then he turned his eyes toward