"But I didn't realize it would be so noisy. I could never read aloud against this roaring."
"Oh, we'll go back among the dunes. That's easy," returned Mr. Evringham.
"You don't want to hear one of these little tales, father," said Julia, flushing.
"Why, he just loves them," replied Jewel earnestly. "I've told them all to him, and he's just as interested."
Mrs. Evringham did not doubt this, and she and the broker exchanged a look of understanding, but he smiled.
"I'll be very good if you'll let me come," he said. "I forgot the ribbon bows, but perhaps you'd let me qualify by holding Anna Belle. Run and get into your clothes, Jewel, and I'll find a nice place by that dune over yonder."
Fifteen minutes afterward the little party were comfortably ensconced in the shade of the sand hill whose sparse grasses grew tall about them.
Jewel began pulling on them. "You'll never pull those up," remarked Mr. Evringham. "I believe their roots go down to China. I've heard so."
"Anna Belle and I will dig sometime and see," replied Jewel, much interested.