tream, a mild affair in fine
weather, was swollen into a mighty volume of water that swirled along
high above its usual banks, and dropped with a roar over the fall. It
was a splendid sight, well worth the walk and the wet. They stayed
watching it for some time, till Regina suddenly shivered with cold.

"The wind's bitter here. I vote we get a move on," she suggested. "Let
us go down the bank and take that lower path. It will lead out into the
road by the old mill. It's nicer to go home another way."

The lower path was boggy, but a little extra wet made no difference to
the already soaked party. They tramped steadily on, enjoying the woods
and the view of the water. At one point the Stripling made a discovery.
Stopping and peering down the bank he announced briefly:

"Great Judkins! Wild raspberries as large as life. Come on, you girls!"

There was indeed quite a feast waiting below. Owing to the bad weather
few people had passed that way lately, and the fruit had had time to
ripen. Derrick, Regina, and Lesbia descended upon it like three
blackbirds, and spent a scratchy but blissful ten minutes gathering and
eating all they could reach. Tangles of raspberry canes tear worse than
almost anything in the world, and mackintoshes and fingers suffered
badly. Regina, reaching over for a particularly large and ripe specimen,
lost her hat. It fell a long way down the bank on to the rocks by the
stream and disappeared.

"O bother!" she cried. "Now my hat's gone. And however am I going to get
it back? Derrick, just fetch it for me, will you?"

Derrick plucked the raspberry which Regina, in her agitation had missed,
and shook his head.

"'The snail he said too far, too far'," he quoted. "That hat's done for.
You'll never see it again. It's probably dancing down-stream."

"It's probably nothing of the sort. I expect it's lying on the rocks if
you'd only go and look for it. What a slacker you are."

"Thanks awfully! So pleased to hear your opinion of me. I'm ever so
flattered, I assure you."

"Lesbia! Don't you think he ought to go and fetch my hat?"

"Lesbia doesn't think anything of the sort. I can see it in her eye. Do
you, Lesbia?"

Thus appealed to, Lesbia was in a tight corner. Privately she thought
Derrick would probably have fetched the hat if Regina had only asked him
nicely. She tried to hedge.

"Shall I drop mine too?" she said jokingly, taking off her own hat and
twirling it on her finger for fun. "Perhap