"I love to play I'm a silly little child," lisped Flossie Fay rumpling up her mass of fair hair, and casting a look of appealing innocence at Cephas Mitchell. "May I sit here, Mr. Mitchell, and pretend to be a foolish little girl?"
"Does she have to pretend?" whispered Ethel to Gwen. Gwen made a little grimace and began to arrange some slips of paper she held in her hand. These she distributed. "Why didn't your sister come?" she asked as she stopped before Kenneth.
"Some friends arrived unexpectedly. I left them begging my sister to return with them to Blue Hill."
"Will she go?"
"I don't know. I think she showed signs of weakening when I came away. I appeared to be the stumbling block, though I assured her I could do perfectly well by myself, and could take my meals at the Grange."
Gwen passed on with her slips, and soon everyone was laughing over the absurdities which were written as telegrams.
One game followed another, but not once did Kenneth find himself by Gwen's side, nor had he a chance to tell her of his piece of good luck. Indeed it was Rob Denmead who made it known during the process of toasting marshmallows. "That is a stunning picture of yours, Hilary," he said. "That one you sold to Dr. Andrews."
Gwen turned eagerly. "Which was it?" she asked.
"One that shows a single big toss-up wave," Rob told her. "The doctor is pleased as Punch to own it."
"I love that one, too," said Gwen. "The doctor shows good taste. I quite envy him his possession." She looked pleased and excited. The fire had brought a brighter color to her cheeks, and exercise had loosened the curling tendrils of dark hair about her face. Kenneth's eye followed the graceful lines of the slender throat, the picturesque pose of the supple body. He thought he would like to paint her just as she looked then, the firelight falling on her face and white frock. "I don't suppose she is what the world at large would call a raving beauty," he said to himself, "for her charm is too subtle. In my opinion she is the most artistic girl I ever saw, and that expression is simply divine."