re scattered
here and there the one-time fort bore anything
but a martial air.

But something of the spirit of the past must
have been in the air that afternoon, or perhaps,
the spirit of the coming changes; for this
picnic--though by no means lacking in charm--was
not as gay and filled with light-hearted
chaff as usual. There was more talking in
quiet groups, or really serious searching for
some trace of those long-ago days of storm and stress.

With the coming of evening, the fire was
lighted and the cloth laid within range of its
flickering shadows. The night breeze had
sprung up and from outside the sloping
embankment they caught the sound of the waves
breaking on the beach. True to their
promise, the minister and Dr. Brice appeared at
the time appointed and were eagerly welcomed
by the young people.

Supper was a long, delightful affair that
night, with much talk of the days when the
fort had been devoted to far other purposes
than the present; and the young people,
listening to the tales Mr. Allen told in his quiet yet
strangely vivid way, seemed to hear the slow
creeping on of the boats outside and to be
listening in the pauses of the wind for the
approach of the enemy.

"I'll take it back, Paul," Tracy told her, as
they were repacking the baskets. "Even the
old fort has developed new interests."

"And next summer the 'S. W. F. Club' will
continue its good work," Jack said.

Going back, Pauline found herself sitting
in the stern of one of the boats, beside her
father. The club members were singing the
club song. But Pauline's thoughts had
suddenly gone back to that wet May afternoon.

She could see the dreary, rain-swept garden,
hear the beating of the drops on the
window-panes. How long ago and remote it all
seemed; how far from the hopeless discontent,
the vague longings, the real anxiety of that
time, she and Hilary had traveled. She
looked up impulsively. "There's one thing,"
she said, "we've had one summer that I shall
always feel would be worth reliving. And
we're going to have more of them."

"I am glad to hear that," Mr. Shaw said.

Pauline looked about her--the lanterns at
the ends of the boats threw dancing lights out
across the water, no longer quiet; overhead,
the sky was bright with stars. "Everything
is so beautiful," the girl said slowly. "One
seems to feel it more--every day."

"'The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the
Lord hath made even both of them,'"