ract children. Let him be asked to tea, and they can play in the
nursery."

"Thank you," said my sister. "Now I'll break it to you. Subject to
the usual formalities, Jill will marry that boy within the year."

"B-but it's absurd," bubbled Berry. "It's out of the question. They'd
be like the Babes in the Wood. What that he-child's doing on his own,
I can't imagine. I should think he's a ward in Chancery who's given
his guardians the slip. And the two together'd make a combination
about as well fitted to cope with Life as a mute with a megaphone."

"On the contrary," said Daphne, "they'll get on splendidly. They'll
turn the world into a playground. Wherever they go, everybody'll drop
their tools and go down on their knees and play with them." She
laughed delightedly. "I tell you, it'll be like a fairy tale."

"Of course," I said, "I see what it is. You're at your old games."

"I'm not," was the fierce retort. "D'you think I want to lose Jill?
But she'll have to go some day. It's inevitable. And the only thing
she could ever really love is a playmate. The finest lover in the
world would never find the trick of Jill's heart. Only a child can do
that. She might marry him easily--the lover, I mean. And she'd be
happy, of course. But she'd miss the biggest thing in life. Well,
eligible playmates are pretty scarce. I've been watching for one for
years. Mind you, I don't say this boy's going to do. There may be a
score of reasons that put his suit out of court. But, on the face of
it, he's nearer the mark than anything I've seen."

Thoughtfully we turned back the way we had come...

After a long silence--

"Any way," said Berry gloomily, "the first thing to do 's to find out
who he is. Perhaps Jill's done it."

"That," said my sister, "is the very last thing she'd think of."

We returned to where Ping and Pong were standing, to find that Jonah
and Adele had disappeared, while Jill was being taught to drive the
two-seater. The environs of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges do not make a
good school, but master and pupil cared not for that. Indeed, they
were so engrossed in their exercise that our approach was unobserved.

The two were at the top of their bent.

Flushed with excitement, laughing, chattering like old friends, lady
and squire were having the time of their lives. They were, certainly,
wonderfully matched. If Jill was a picture, so was the boy. His
gravity was gone. The fine, fra