Evening star., 1922-05-24

a blufr above the curving beacn
between Shoreham and Wading river.
A bronze-haired person in the rear
seat, who adored every inch OF Lons
Island sound. leaped to the seat ~
salute its blue waters.
BLESS its old heart" she crieo al
fectionately. Every year se's
scrumptiouser!"
She was out of the car and tpgeing
at the camp kit under the seat oeiore
the other passengers had stirred.
"Do we eat right away" asked
Poppy Dubois.
Hal Biaisdell laughed. ;,
I'VE do not, Miss Ignorance! ne
Knocked her. Mistress Merry, int'i taie
the novice in the solemn r"es esrtiv as
you can. ,.,ond,v
arm through Poppys. ,,ar;r,ape
This is a sort OF spring plis@;nsa pix @
of the Blaisdell boys" she explaineu,
"It.s really great compliment to De
invited. j hope you had q iate ,hrae an
large breakfast, for it's at !east in,, IN
hours more before we eat. we loh .hat
a trail back through the wo0os .n .;ii
bring us out about two hours from
now down the beach where you see
that brook splashing through; ana we
end there and simply wallow IN iouu; i
roll ourselves in coats ana russ si
watch the sunset 1t makes you shv'
all made over" she ended almost shy-
iy. ''as though nothing could oother
you for just ages.
A trifie ashamed of her sentiments
outburst she let herself siide uown IL
the sandy embankment exactly as ner
own babies would have done had they
been there. and picked herself up 10
run down the beach, tossing handtuls
Of shining orange jingle shells INTO
the air.
Richard slocum. who had been
listening to her. looked at MISS bu-
bois and smiled.
You mustn't be surprised at any.
thing Mrs. Lindsay says or Goes
| he warned the amazed girl. She
| riams own words. 'is a sort OF Mrs:
Peter Pan. she some times forgets
\ to be grown up" .r
He stood with folded arms. stu
| watching Merry, while Miss Dubois
| helped Paul Gresham and Hal bring
the rest of the baskets to the beach.
He felt, ruefufly, that he was hum
Lred years older than these laugh
| ing youngsters. He told himself that
\ it was the last time he would ever
picnic with them. He hadn't meant
to join the party today. not until he
saw the quick CLEAN .in Paul Gres-
| hams eyes when Halls mother had
suggested asking the Lindsays. he
| had taken an ineXplicable dislike
! to Gresham. He didn't like the idea
of his playing around with Merriam.
| Already he had hinted as much to
| that reckless young matron. But he
/ felt that he ought to warn her still
further.
He told himself over and over that
! he had at last conquered his love for
| h h,,t h An1nra feel
ing that he must protect her than
! he could stop watching her as she
| ran along the shining beach
BY the time the larger car had
| small car had collected an enormous
pile of driftwood. cached their be-
| longings In sheltered hollow be-
| hind the dunea end were lined up to
jeef,r thertAsaief. arrivals.
MAdge HawIey and the Arnold
ombankment. Their smart spring
| fnery seemed a trife out of place.
jerry Blaisdell reached over Caro-
| line Arnold's shoulder and casually
confiscated vanity box.
life for the e-next few hours, young
| woman" he chuckled. You and your
| sister and that Madge person might
| as wen forget your noses right now"
."Aren.t we going to stay here"'
| Jerry. like his brother. left Mrs.
! Lindsay to break the news.
| We're going to walk" Merriam
| explained the ritual again. But
you'll adore 1t because the woods are
probably chuck-a- block with arbutus
unless we're too early for 1t. Jerry.
I'm scared stin that we are, the air
+, Is SO cold" She consulted her wrist
| watch. Shall we say everybody back
at this point exactly two hours from
Two hours."- gasped the Hawley
girl.
Takes that long to initiate a girl
in woodcraft." Jerry grinned at her.
"'You hain't been nowhere and you
| hain't seen nothin' until you've been
behind the scenes in these-here-now
| woods"
The path was rather narrow. Quite
naturally eleven persons couldn't all
| walk together. Before they were half
| way around the bend every lassie had
her laddie. That is, Hal Blaisdell had
| bois and disappeared down his
particular pine-archedS aisle. "Yumpy''
Johnson found himself annexed by
Madge. who had astutely grasped the
first principles of Jerry's "woodcraft"
idea But Jerry had gallantly launch
arm, nonchalantly daring any man to
make him give up either one Of them.
II loves to do nah spring courtin'
in pairs" he announced with twink
| ling eyes. But over His shoulder he
winked meaningly at Paul Gresham
as he swung the girls along.
Gresham did not take the hint He
was watching Merriam, who had
strolled close to her sulky husband
to give him q chance to mako up their
noontime tiff She simply couldn't
hold grudge against her beloved
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