ng parson has the managing of her."

The easy-going parson, however, had no such misgivings. He caught the
child up in his arms with a whoop of welcome.

"Well run, my Princess Bluebell! Hullo, Tommy! Who are you saluting so
deferentially?"

"Only that vicious old white cat, Lady Harriet," said Tommy. "Hullo,
Tessa! Your legs get six inches longer every time I look at 'em. Put her
down, St. Bernard! She's going to race me to The Grand Stand."

"But I want to go and see Uncle Everard and Aunt Stella at The Nest,"
protested Tessa, hanging back from the contest. "Besides Aunt Mary says
I'm not to get hot."

"You can't go there anyway," said Tommy inexorably. "The Nest is closed
to the public for to-night. They are going to have a very sacred and
particular evening all to themselves. That's why they wouldn't come in
here with us."

"Are they love-making?" asked Tessa, with serious eyes. "Do you know, I
heard a blue jay laughing up there this morning. Was that what he
meant?"

"Something of that silly nature," said Tommy. "And he's going to be a
public character is Uncle Everard, so he is wise to make the most of his
privacy now. Ah, Bhulwana," he stretched his arms to the pine-trees,
"how I have yearned for thee!"

"And me too," said Tessa jealously.

He looked at her. "You, you scaramouch? Of course not! Whoever yearned
for a thing like you? A long-legged, snub-nosed creature without any
front teeth worth mentioning!"

"I have! You're horrid!" cried Tessa, stamping an indignant foot. "Isn't
he horrid, Uncle St. Bernard? If it weren't for that darling mongoose, I
should hate him!"

"Oh, but it's wrong to hate people, you know." Bernard passed a
pacifying arm about her quivering form. "You just treat him to the
contempt he deserves, and give all your attention to your doting old
uncle who has honestly been longing for you from the moment you left
him!"

"Oh, darling!" She turned to him swiftly. "I'll never go away from you
again. I can say that now, can't I?"

Her red lips were lifted. He stooped and kissed them. "It's the one
thing I love to hear you say, my princess," he said.

The sun set in a glory of red and purple that night, spreading the
royal colours far across the calm sky.

It faded very quickly. The night swooped down, swift and soundless, and
in the verandah of the bungalow known as The Nest a red lamp glowed with
a steady beam across the darkness.

Two figures stood for a space under the a