Gave me a bit of a shock, I can tell you, to see the old punt
dashing down to the gates, with you sitting huddled up in the bottom,
with your hair hanging wild, and your face the colour of chalk. You
looked like a young Medusa."

"Sounds attractive, I must say! Medusa froze _other_ people's blood,
not her own," declared Darsie, tilting her chin with a little air of
offence, at which her companion laughed triumphantly.

"Oh, _you're_ better; you're coming round again all right! I was afraid
you were going to faint. I don't mind telling you that you were jolly
plucky. Most girls would have started screaming miles before, but you
held on like a Briton. How do the arms feel now? Rather rusty at the
hinges, I expect. The stiffness will probably spread to the back by to-
morrow, but it'll come all right in time. It is a pretty good weight,
that punt, and I had to pull for all I was worth... Don't you think
you'd better come up to the house and have some tea?"

"Yes, please. And you can change your clothes, too. I should feel so
miserable if you caught cold."

"No fear of that. I'm used to splashing in and out of the water half a
dozen times a day. You need have no anxiety about me."

"But--the trousers?"

"Oh, bother the trousers! I piled that on a bit, just to prevent you
from getting sentimental. _They're_ all right!" Ralph paused a moment,
then, "I say!" he cried anxiously, "is this going to get you into
trouble with the aunt? Need you say anything about it, do you think?
I'll swear to secrecy, if you say the word, and not a soul need know."

Darsie debated the point thoughtfully while the two walked side by side
along the gravelled paths, and finally arrived at a conclusion.

"I think, on the whole, I'll tell! Aunt Maria allowed me to go out
alone as a great concession, and it was mean to take advantage and run
risks. So upsetting for her if I were killed in her house! So I'm in
honour bound to confess, and promise not to do it again."

"You might do something else just as bad! Probably she'll withdraw her
permission and keep you under her thumb as she did those first weeks."

"She _may_; but I don't think she _will_! I think she will appreciate
my confidence," said Darsie, with a grandiloquent air, at which her
companion whistled softly, his face twitching with amusement. He was
much more natural and boyish in his manner than on either of the
previous occasions on which Darsie had met hi