ly.

"And, if so," I went on, "will he lend us the money to pay the rent
with?"

"Er--yes," said Celia. "That's it."

* * * * *

So for a month we have lived in our Castle of Stopes. I see Celia there
in her pink sun-bonnet, gathering the flowers lovingly, bringing an
armful of them into the hall, disturbing me sometimes in the library with
"_Aren't_ they beauties? No, I only just looked in--good luck to you."
And she sees me ordering a man about importantly, or waving my hand to
her as I ride through the old barn on my road to the golf course.

But this morning she had an idea.

"Suppose," she said timidly, "you _wrote_ about Stopes, and Mr. Barlow
happened to see it, and knew how much we wanted it, and--"

"Well!"

"Then," said Celia firmly, "if he were a gentleman he would give it to
us."

Very well. Now we shall see if Mr. Barlow is a gentleman.

THE SANDS OF PLEASURE

Ladies first, so we will start with Jenny. Jenny is only nine, but she
has been to the seaside before and knows all about it. She wears the
fashionable _costume de plage_, which consists of a white linen hat, a
jersey and an overcrowded pair of bathing-drawers, into which not only
Jenny, but the rest of her wardrobe, has had to fit itself. Two slim
brown legs emerge to bear the burden, and one feels that if she fell over
she would have to stay there until somebody picked her up.

She is holding Richard Henry by the hand. Richard Henry is four, and this
is the first time he has seen the sea. Jenny is showing it to him.
Privately he thinks that it has been over-rated. There was a good deal of
talk about it in his suburb (particularly from Jenny, who had been there
before) and naturally one expected something rather--well, rather more
like what they had been saying it was like. However, perhaps it would be
as well to keep in with Jenny and not to let her see that he is
disappointed, so every time she says, "Isn't the sea lovely?" he echoes,
"Lovely," and now and then he adds (just to humour her), "Is 'at the
sea?" and then she has the chance to say again, "Yes, that's the sea,
darling. Isn't it lovely?" It is obvious that she is proud of it.
Apparently she put it there. Anyway, it seems to be hers now.

Jenny has brought Father and Mother as well as Richard Henry. There they
are, over there. When she came before she had to leave them behind, much
to their disappointment. Father was saying, "Form fours,