d him tell Di he was
going to wear a placard on his breast announcing to all and sundry that
the ankle was improving, etc. And now she must go and ask this stale
question again.

Kenneth was tired of inquiries about his ankle. But then he had not
often been asked about it by lips with such an adorable kissable dent
just above them. Perhaps that was why he answered very patiently that
it was getting on well and didn't trouble him much, if he didn't walk
or stand too long at a time.

"They tell me it will be as strong as ever in time, but I'll have to
cut football out this fall."

They danced together and Rilla knew every girl in sight envied her.
After the dance they went down the rock steps and Kenneth found a
little flat and they rowed across the moonlit channel to the
sand-shore; they walked on the sand till Kenneth's ankle made protest
and then they sat down among the dunes. Kenneth talked to her as he had
talked to Nan and Di. Rilla, overcome with a shyness she did not
understand, could not talk much, and thought he would think her
frightfully stupid; but in spite of this it was all very wonderful--the
exquisite moonlit night, the shining sea, the tiny little wavelets
swishing on the sand, the cool and freakish wind of night crooning in
the stiff grasses on the crest of the dunes, the music sounding faintly
and sweetly over the channel.

"'A merry lilt o' moonlight for mermaiden revelry,'" quoted Kenneth
softly from one of Walter's poems.

And just he and she alone together in the glamour of sound and sight!
If only her slippers didn't bite so! and if only she could talk
cleverly like Miss Oliver--nay, if she could only talk as she did
herself to other boys! But words would not come, she could only listen
and murmur little commonplace sentences now and again. But perhaps her
dreamy eyes and her dented lip and her slender throat talked eloquently
for her. At any rate Kenneth seemed in no hurry to suggest going back
and when they did go back supper was in progress. He found a seat for
her near the window of the lighthouse kitchen and sat on the sill
beside her while she ate her ices and cake. Rilla looked about her and
thought how lovely her first party had been. She would never forget it.
The room re-echoed to laughter and jest. Beautiful young eyes sparkled
and shone. From the pavilion outside came the lilt of the fiddle and
the rhythmic steps of the dancers.

There was a little disturbance among a group of