ges, and I
climbed and splashed with the best, and Mr Dudley twinkled his eyes at
me, and said, "Well jumped, Babs!" and lifted me down from the stiles as
if I had been a doll. He must be terrifically strong, for I am no light
weight, and he didn't seem to feel me at all.

After that morning we were constantly meeting, and we grew to be quite
friends. He has thick, crinkly eyebrows, and is clean-shaven, which I
like in his case, as his mouth has such a nice expression. He went on
treating me as a child, and father seemed to think it was quite natural.
He likes to pretend I am young, poor dear, so that I may be his
playmate as long as possible.

Yesterday father went in to see some cottagers, and Mr Dudley and I sat
outside on a log of wood, and talked while we waited for him like this.
He--patronisingly--

"I suppose it's a great treat for you to getaway from school for a time.
Where is your school? Town or country? Brighton--ugh!" and he made a
grimace of disgust. "Shops--piers--hotels--an awful place! Not a bit
of Nature left unspoiled; the very sea looks artificial and unlike
itself in such unnatural surroundings!"

"Plenty of crocodiles on the bank, however--that's natural enough!" I
said pertly. I thought it was rather smart, too, but he smiled in a
superior "I-will-because-I-must," sort of way, and said--

"How thankful you must be to get away from it all to this exquisite
calm!"

I don't know much about young men, except what I've seen of Spencer and
his friends, but they would call exquisite calm by a very different
name, so I decided at once that Mr Will Dudley must have had a secret
trouble which had made him hate the world and long for solitude.
Perhaps it was a love affair! It would be interesting if he could
confide in me, and I could comfort him, so I looked pensive, and said--

"You do get very tired of the glare and the dust! Some of the girls
wear smoked glasses in summer, and you get so sick of marching up and
down the front. Do you hate Brighton only, or every towny place?"

"I hate all towns, and can't understand how anyone can live in them who
is not obliged. I have tried it for the last five years, but never
again!" He stretched his big shoulders, and drew a long breath of
determination. "I've said `Good-bye' for ever to a life of trammelled
civilisation, with its so-called amusements and artificial manners, and
hollow friendships, and"--he put his hand to his flannel collar