r.
You and I will have a dip."

Pen rose and she and Sara started toward the bath house. Jim took a long
stride round in front of the two.

"Sara, do as you please," he drawled. "Penelope will stay here with
me."

CHAPTER V

THE SIGN AND SEAL

"The river forever flows yet she sees no farther than I who
am forever silent, forever still."

MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT.

"Jim Manning, you've no right to speak to me that way," said Penelope.

Jim returned her look clearly. "You are to stay here, Pen," he repeated
slowly.

"You've got your nerve, Still!" exclaimed Sara. "Pen's as much my
company as she is yours. Quit trying to start something. Pen, come
along."

Jim did not stir for a moment, then he jerked his head toward the bath
house. "Go ahead and get into your suit, Sara. Penelope and I will wait
here for you."

Sara had seen Jim in this guise before, on the football field. For a
moment he scowled, then he shrugged his shoulders. "You old mule!" he
grunted. "All right, Pen. You pacify the brute and I'll be back in a few
minutes."

Pen did not yield so gracefully. She sat down in the sand with her back
half turned to Jim and he, with his boyish jaw set, eyed her
uncomfortably. She did not speak to him until Sara appeared and, with
an airy wave of the hand, waded into the water.

"I think Sara looks like a Greek god in a bathing suit," she said.
"You'd know he was going to be a duke, just to look at him."

Jim gave a good imitation of one of Uncle Denny's grunts and said: "He
isn't a duke--yet--and he's gone in too soon after eating."

"And he's got beautiful manners," Pen continued. "You treat me as if I
were a child. He never forgets that I am a lady."

"Oh, slush!" drawled Jim.

Pen turned her back, squarely. Sara did not remain long in the water but
came up dripping and shivering to burrow in the hot sand. Pen
deliberately sifted sand over him, patting it down as she saw the others
do, while she told Sara how wonderfully he swam.

Sara eyed Jim mischievously, while he answered: "Never mind, Pen. When
I'm the duke, you shall be the duchess and have a marble swimming pool
all of your own. And old Prunes will be over here coaching Anthony
Comstock while you and I are doing Europe--in our bathing suits."

Penelope flushed quickly and Sara's halo of romance shone brighter than
ever.

"The Duchess Pen," he went on largely. "Not half bad. For