nscious of an unnatural tone in
her voice. "The light is fading; it is time to join the others."

He looked at her, but she was still watching the flow of the river, and
did not meet his eyes.

"Is there any need for such haste?" he asked. "I haven't said many words
to you to-day. Old friends have been crowding round me, and----"

"Naturally," she broke in coldly; "but you can talk as well anywhere
else. And Jamie must be sent to bed."

She turned sharply away towards the path by which they had come to the
clearing. Then all at once she spoke in another tone--

"What has become of the child?"

"He was standing close to you a moment ago," Arnold answered quickly.
"Jamie, where are you? Jamie!" he called, in a loud, ringing voice.

Elsie went flying along the path with the speed of some hunted wild
creature. All else was forgotten in her intense anxiety. She had been
absorbed in her own foolish feelings, she thought bitterly, and had left
the boy to his own devices. How wrong it was to have lost sight of him
for an instant in such a perilous spot! Oh that she had never brought
him here!

She seemed to have suffered hours of misery in those few seconds of
suspense. The path turned abruptly, opening out upon the little pier,
and just at the turn she was confronted by Jamie himself. He met her
with a very red face.

"I done it," he began confusedly. "No, I never done it exactly, but it's
gone. It come untied. I gived it one tug, and I nearly tumbled in."

"Oh, you naughty boy, to go close to the edge of the water!" sobbed
Elsie, catching him in her arms and kissing him. "I won't let you leave
me for an instant till I put you into nurse's hands. My own dear,
troublesome darling! If anything had happened to you I should have
died!" She was not conscious of Arnold's presence just then. Words
poured fast from her lips as she held the boy to her heart in an ecstasy
of relief. She was still on her knees upon the path, still trembling
like a leaf, when Mr. Wayne's voice fell upon her ear.

"Well, of all the young rascals I ever met, he's the biggest! Why, you
scamp, what made you do such a thing?"

"I never done it exactly. I--I--just gived it one tug. I--I----" Jamie's
quivering lips failed to complete the sentence. His face worked like a
queer gutta-percha visage for a moment, and then he burst into a hearty
roar which must have startled every living thing on the island.

Arnold muttered something which was luckily