"A most remarkable thing for you, is it not?" Douglas asked, mentally blessing the professor for becoming sleepy, and Nan for going for the lilies.
"It certainly is. It has been a long time since I have not read to father every Sunday afternoon."
It seemed to Douglas as if heaven had suddenly opened to him as he sat there by Nell's side. She looked more beautiful than ever, so he thought, clad in a simple dress of snowy whiteness, open at the throat, exposing a little gold cross, pendant from a delicate chain fastened around her neck. Her dark, luxuriant hair was brushed carefully back, though a few wayward tresses drifted temptingly over cheek and brow. Her dark sympathetic eyes beamed with interest as Douglas related his experiences of the day, and his conversation with the invalid girl.
"I am so thankful that Jean knows the truth," she quietly remarked when
Douglas had finished. "But isn't it terrible what Ben did to her at
Long Wharf! I knew he was bad, but I had no idea he would do such a
thing as that."
Further private conversation was now out of the question on account of Nan's arrival with her girl friend. She was carrying a large bunch of dripping white water-lilies, which she flung down upon the ground.
"My, what a nice little cosy time you two are having," she exclaimed.
"It is too bad that you have to be disturbed."
"It certainly is," Douglas laughingly replied. "We were quite happy here by ourselves. Why didn't you stay longer out on the river?"
"Because I don't like to see people too happy, that is the reason," and Nan flopped herself down upon the ground, and began to weave a wreath of lilies with her deft fingers. "Come, Sadie," she ordered, "you make one, too. My, it's hot! Nell's always cool and never flustered," she continued, as she snapped off a stem and tucked a lily into its proper place.
"It's necessary for some one to be cool," her sister replied. "I do not know what would happen if I didn't try to keep my senses."
Nan merely tossed her head and went on with her work. She was certainly a remarkable specimen of healthy, buoyant girlhood, with face aglow and eyes sparkling with animation. What a subject she would make for an artist, Douglas mused as he watched her as she worked and talked.