She recognized him
with a glance, and her lips closed as she remembered how and when they
had met before. But there was no answering recollection within his
eyes, only admiration--nothing clung about this Naiad to remind him of
a neglected waif of the garrison. She read all this in his face, and
the lines about her mouth changed quickly into a slightly quizzical
smile, her eyes brightening.
"You should at least have knocked, sir," she ventured, sitting up on
the grassy bank, the better to confront him, "before intruding thus
uninvited."
He lifted his somewhat dingy scouting hat and bowed humbly.
"I perceived no door giving warning that I approached such presence,
and the first shock of surprise was perhaps as great to me as to you.
Yet, now that I have blundered thus far, I beseech that I be permitted
to venture upon yet another step."
She sat looking at him, a trim, soldierly figure, his face young and
pleasant to gaze upon, and her dark eyes sensibly softened.
"What step?"
"To tarry for a moment beside the divinity of this wilderness."
She laughed with open frankness, her white teeth sparkling behind the
red, parted lips.
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