“I hope she is right,” said the girl, and then, with a return to her joyous self: “Oh, wouldn’t it be spiffy if she really does become famous! I can see just how puffed up we shall all be when we read the reviews of her pictures, like this—‘Miss Grace Evans, the famous star, has quite outdone her past successes in the latest picture, in which she is ably supported by such well known actors as Thomas Meighan, Wallace Reid, Gloria Swanson, and Mary Pickford.’”
“Why slight Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin?” suggested Guy.
The girl rose.
“Come on!” she said. “Let’s have a look at the pools—it isn’t a perfect day unless I’ve seen fish in every pool. Do you remember how we used to watch and watch and watch for the fish in the lower pools, and run as fast as we could to be the first up to the house to tell if we saw them, and how many?”
“And do you remember the little turtles, and how wild they got?” he put in. “Sometimes we wouldn’t see them for weeks, and then we’d get just a glimpse, so that we knew they were still there. Then, after a while, we never saw them again, and how we used to wonder and speculate as to what had become of them!”
“And do you remember the big water snake we found in the upper pool, and how Cus used to lie in wait for him with his little twenty-two?”
“Cus was always the hunter. How we used to trudge after him up and down those steep hills there in the cow pasture, while he hunted ground squirrels, and how mad he’d get if we made any noise! Gee, Ev, those were the good old days!”
“And how we used to fight, and what a nuisance Cus thought me; but he always asked me to go along, just the same. He’s a wonderful brother, Guy!”
“He’s a wonderful man, Ev,” replied the boy. “You don’t half know how wonderful he is. He’s always thinking of some one else. Right now I’ll bet he’s eating his heart out because Grace is going away; and he can’t go, just because he’s thinking more of some one’s else happiness than his own.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.