ot been
before. Joost did not like fairs; he objected to noise, and glare, and
crowds, and all such things; neither did he care for _pooferchjes_;
they were too bilious for him. Nevertheless he agreed to join the
party; Denah was quite sure it was entirely on her account.

On the morning of the first day of the fair, Julia went into the town
to buy cakes to take with her on to-morrow's excursion. She had not
changed her mind about that; she was still fully determined to go and
spend a long day in the Dunes. She had not told the Van Heigens of the
place chosen; she and Mijnheer had much fun and mystery about it, he
declaring she was going to the wood to ride donkeys with the head
gardener's fat wife. There was another thing she also had not told the
Van Heigens--a slight alteration there had been in her plans; she was
not, as she had first intended, going alone. It had somehow come about
that Rawson-Clew was going with her; he had never seen the Dunes, and
he had nothing to do that day, and he was not going to Herr Van de
Greutz in the evening, it seemed rather a good idea that he should go
for a holiday too; Julia saw no objection to it, but also she saw that
it would not do to tell her Dutch employers. She had never mentioned
Rawson Clew to them--there had not seemed any need; she never met him
till she was clear of the town and the range of reporting tongues
there, and she usually parted from him before she reached the village
and the observers there, so nothing was known of the evening walks.
Which was rather a pity, for, as Julia afterwards found out, it is
often wisest to tell something of your doings, especially if you
cannot tell all, and they are likely to come in for public notice.

Julia bought her cakes, and went about the town feeling as
holiday-like as the gayest peasant there, although she had no
wonderful holiday head-dress of starched lace and gold plates. She did
not see any one she knew, except old Marthe, Herr Van de Greutz's
housekeeper. She had met the old woman several times when she was
marketing, and was on speaking terms with her now, so she had to stop
and listen to her troubles. They were only the same old tale; her
newest young cook had left suddenly, and she had come to the town to
see if she could get another from among the girls who had come in for
the fair. She had no success at all, and was setting out for home,
despondent, and not at all comforted to think that she would have to
trudg