第77章 THE RAVINE GARDEN(3)

How the sunbeams glanced in the woods that day as Jewel,one hand clasping her doll and the other in Eloise's,skipped along the road to the ravine!

When they had stooped under the wire and gone down the bank,how the brook sang,and how the violets bloomed in Jewel's garden!

"It's very pretty,"said Eloise,regarding the paths and flower beds which Jewel exhibited with pride."It's very pretty,but it lacks one thing.""What?"asked the child eagerly.

"A pond."

"But it is by the side of a rushing river,"returned Jewel.

"Yes,but all the more easy to have a pond."

"How?"

"We'll set a shallow pan,and sink it in the ground,and plant ferns about it to hang over.Anna Belle can have some little china dolls to go in wading in it.""Oh yes,yes!"cried Jewel delighted."Hear that,dearie?Hear what Love is planning for you?"Anna Belle's nose was buried in the grass and her hat was awry.If she had a fault,it was a tendency to being overdressed.At present her plumed hat and large fluffy boa gave her an aspect unsympathetic with the surroundings.Jewel pulled her upright and placed her on the mossy divan.

"If I'd only brought the trowel I could get the hole ready,"Jewel was saying,when a whistle,soft and clear as a flute,sounded above the brook's gurgle.

She lifted a finger in caution."Oh,"she whispered,looking up into her cousin's face,"the loveliest bird!Hush."Clear,sweet,flexible,somewhere among those high branches sounded again the same elaborate phrase.

Jewel was surprised to see her cousin's pleased,listening expression alter to eager wonder,then the girl flushed rosy red and started up.

"Siegfried!"she murmured.

Again came the bird motif sifting down through the rustling leaves.

"Nat!"called Eloise gladly.

"Any nymphs down there?"questioned a man's voice.

"Oh yes!"

"May Pan come down?"

"Yes indeed."

Jewel,watching and wondering,saw a young man in light clothes swing himself down from tree to tree,and at last saw both his hands close on both her cousin's.

The two talked and laughed in unison for a minute,then Eloise freed herself and turned to the serious-faced child."You remember my speaking of Nat the other day?"she asked."This is he.Mr.Bonnell,this is my cousin Jewel Evringham.She is landscape gardening just now,and may not feel like giving you her hand.""I can wash it,"said Jewel,dipping the earthy member in the brook,wiping it on the grass,and placing it in the large one that was offered her.

"How did you ever find us?I thought you'd gone back to New York.Ihad no idea of seeing you,"said Eloise in a breath.

"Didn't your mother tell you?I have a week off."The girl's bright face sobered."Poor mother!She had a--a shock after you were here yesterday.I suppose it put everything out of her head.

Was it she who sent you to find us?"

"No;a massive lady met me at the door and informed me that your mother wished to be excused from every one to-day,but that you had fallen down a crack in the earth which could be reached up this road."The speaker looked about."As there doesn't seem any place to stand here,hadn't we better sit down before we fall in the brook?I might rescue you,but the current is swift."Eloise at once sank upon the green incline,and he followed her example.Jewel watched him with consideration,and he became aware of her gaze.

"What are you making,little girl?"he asked,with his sunshiny smile.

"A garden;and I could dig the pond if I had brought the trowel.""Perhaps my knife will do."He took it out and opened the largest blade."What do you think of that?""Do you suppose I should break it?"asked the child doubtfully.

"You're welcome to try,"he replied.

She leaned forward and accepted it from his outstretched hand.