"What do these traders come for?" he asked them, and answered himself, "To benefit themselves. And what do we come for? To benefit you. The time may be close at hand when you will have to choose between us. As you choose, so will your future be."
So the notables went back to their island homes with much to think about, and Aunt Jannet came back from Kanele, and Kenneth Blair and his friends had good reason for high hopes of the future.
It was a spring-time of hope for all of them. The work was prospering, and their hearts were full of gladness.
"Quite happy, Jean?" asked Blair, as he came up quietly and sat down beside her, where the sweet water ran into the salt, and the small waves of the lagoon creamed softly up the white sand.
"Quite happy, Jean?" asked Blair
"Happy, dear? Could any one possibly be happier? Look at that!"—Master Kenni-Kenni rolling gleefully on a white spread at her feet in a state of nudity, and gurgling paroxysms of happiness.
"He's a fine little fellow"—and he poked his son playfully in his fat little stomach, provoking fat-creased laughter and dimples and more gurgles.
"He's the finest little fellow in the whole world, and he's yours and mine, Ken. God has been very good to us, dear. I sometimes feel as if we had no right to be quite so happy while——"