“Hoo—hoo! Hoo—hoo!” he called suddenly, throwing back his head. His eyes went to the windows of the cedar room. Soon a faint answering “Hoo—hoo!” resounded. He sprang up the steps, and grew hesitant before the closed door. But in another moment it swung open and Haidee appeared. She put her arms about the boyish visitant.
“I’ll kiss you on each eyelid,” I heard her say. “That means happy dreams. Go to sleep and dream of ‘Mina, Nainie, and Serena’—oh, I forgot! They are for little girls’ dreams. What shall I tell you to dream of?”
“P’r’aps I’ll dream of ‘Dwainies’ and ‘Winnowelvers’—what lives in Spirkland—an’ all them things you telled me about, shall I?” Joey responded chivalrously.
“I think it would be very lovely if you would,” Haidee’s tender tones replied. And then the kiss was given—a kiss “like the drip of a drop of dew.”
I heard Joey’s abashed, “Good night—good night, Bell Brandon.” Then he beat a hasty crashing retreat through the underbrush, and my wonder woman came down the steps and stood at my side.
“What a glorious sky!” she exclaimed. “Soon there’ll be a trail of star dust across that mauve vastness up yonder. I wish I might go down to the river and see the reflections.”
There was a wistful young note in her voice.
“Nothing easier,” I assured her. “You seem quite at home on your crutches. I think we can manage.”
And so it happened that we watched the sun set together, sitting side by side on the green plush river bank. It was a gorgeous setting, and a more gorgeous afterglow. The meadows across the river were like a wavy robe of pink silk. The stars crept out and floated low like skimming butterflies. The river was amber and gold. Haidee wore the blue robe that I found so distracting. As she talked, from time to time, she turned her head and gazed, pensive-eyed, across the water, and I saw the black loop of her hair, the line of cheek and throat that moved me to such profound rapture. I sat there awkward and tongue-tied while she told me that old Lundquist and a couple of hands from the village had begun repairs at Hidden Lake.
“I have enjoyed your hospitality,” she said earnestly, “but I must go as soon as the cabin is in condition. Wanza will go with me. You are hospitable even to the birds,” she finished smilingly. “I think you must have Finnish ancestry.”