the gypsy
brown skin and her cheeks were hot with color.

"A wildwood elf of scarlet and brown!" thought Philip and hospitably
flicked away a twig or so with his handkerchief that she might sit down.

"There's water plantain over there in the bog," he said lazily, "and
swamp honeysuckle. And see," he turned out his pockets, "swamp apples.
Queer, aren't they? Johnny says they're good to eat. The honeysuckle
was full of them."

Diane bit daintily into the peculiar juicy pulp.

"A man of your pernicious good humor," she said greatly provoked, "is a
menace to civilization. You sap all the wholesome fire of one's most
cherished resentment."

"I know," admitted Philip humbly. "I'll be hanged yet."

"I can't see what in the world you find so absorbing over here," she
commented with marked disapproval. "All the while I was getting supper
I watched you. And you merely smoked and flipped pebbles in the pool
and kept supper waiting."

"You're wrong there," said Philip. "I've been thinking, too."

"I'd like to know just why you've been thinking so deeply!"

"Honest Injun?"

"Honest Injun!"

"Well," said Philip slowly, "I've been reviewing the possible mishaps
incident to a caravan trip to Florida."

"Mishaps!" Diane studied him in frank displeasure. "Are you a fussy
pessimist?"

"By no means. Merely--prudent." Philip's eyes narrowed thoughtfully
and he fell silent.

The iris shadows beyond the river deepened. A firefly or so flickered
brightly above the fields of clover. In the soft clear twilight,
fragrant with the smell of clover and water lily and rimmed now by the
rising moon, Philip found his resolution of the afternoon difficult to
utter. The pool at his feet was a motionless mirror of summer stars.
Surely there could be nothing but peace in this tranquil world of tree
and grass and murmuring river. And yet--

"Do take that ridiculous pipe out of your mouth and say something!"
exclaimed Diane restlessly. "You look as if you were smoking a
pumpkin! Besides, the supper's all packed up in hot stones and grass
to keep it hot. Why moon so and shoot pebbles at the frogs?"

"Well," said Philip abruptly, "do you mind if I say that your trip
seems a most imprudent venture?"

"By no means!" replied Diane with maddening composure. "But it's only
fair to warn you that my aunt's already said all there is to say on the
subject. The horses may drop dead," she reviewed swiftly on her slim
brown fin