Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1903-01-10

| Neil
''Just little"
He reached over and pushed aside
some poison ivy that dared to cast it's
crimson tendriIs too near~the ripples
of her linen skirt. 1t was green, that
skirt. The soft pale green that showed
in the tall nodding sword grasses be-
low them, and in the tip of a sunlit
wave curling over the beach 20 feet
down the bluff.
The tint suited her fresh girlish face
and the fluffy blond hair that futtered
little pennons in the lake breeze, and
now and then blew stray wisp peril
ously near Lennox's face as he bent
over her.
They sat on the ledge of an overhang-
ing rock that some vagrant within of
nature had tossed on the edge of the
bluff. Far below, where the shore
curved crescent wise to the south, the
summer cottages chung close to the
sides of the bluffs, like wild duck nests,
and to the west the lighthouse pier
stretched n long, white, sheltering
mother arm out into the deep blue
waters of Lake Michigan.
Only a few feet away lay Rolly, full
length on the face of the rock, his chin
on his hands, his hat pulled low over
his eyes as he watched a tiny ant hill
that reared a cone of finest sand among
the gray, red-cupped moss, and whse
clover which found living in the
crevices of the rock.
Nell sat with her back to him, but
Lennox caught his glance now and then
fixed on them, and there was a look of
knowledge in his eyes that bothered
him. Rolly was wise for six-year-old
cub, though his eyes were the eyes of a
Raphael cherub.
And only last summer, too" Nell
added, looking at him doubtfully.
"A year ago. have the ring stin.
SThat makes it convenient"
ut was darling ring" She sighed.
Her hands were ringless.
Pink pearls and solitaire" he re-
minded her, drawing tiny case from
his pocket. She watched him interest
edly as he took out the ring, the same
dear previous ring she knew so well,
and balanced it lightly on his finger
tip. So did Rolly.
1T is much prettier than any of the
others"
"Others?"
Before last summer"
None since?"
None SINCE" she answered softly,
her gray eyes looking off at the light
house. Its all the same down here.
isn't it? The hotel hops and the eter-
nal coming and going. 1 am so glad
the season is over. In the fall when
everyone has had sense enough to go
home, one owns the world way out
here"
THAT was our favorite world corner
last year. We called it Sweetheart
rock"
Rolly leaned over confidentially.
I'VE come up here every day, Jack.
All summer long. Just Nell and l."
Lennox looked at her accusingly.
You come because you remem-
bered."
Sire met his gaze deiantly.
Il don't care. j did want to remem-
Der it all, and up here it was the same,
the rocks and the lake, and the poison
ivy, and even the funny crawly
little flowers half as big as nothing.
Just the same as last year, all except
you" She smiled at him suddenly.
"And then you came, like the prince
in the fairy tale. Where did you leave
your coal black charger?"
'The yacht is off over there Just in
side the pier. VIII that do? Is the
princess sorry?"
Zone can't say. A summer comes
and goes, and it seems as though every-
thing ought to die with it. TIE rest
did. And it was only an experiment.
don't you know" -ss-
He famed himself lazily with his
hat, singing under his breath,
I'VE are engaged in a sort OF way.
And we're IN love with one another"
Don't. 1t isn't joke"
1T was last year-to you"
She was silent. He had not meant to
hurt her, but she had been so sure and
self-sufficient last year. 1t had been
only joke, a bit of nonsense born of
the summer sunshine and moonlight
witchery.
You were such a dear boy" She
broke of sprig of clover and bitit re-
hectively. but that was all. just o
boy. And you did think you were SO
delicious. Jack, SO altogether correct.
Seme@ n White S2cs suits and