"I don't like this time of year," Hertha said when they sat down. "It's so silent. The birds ceased singing long ago; they only call to one another now."
"The mosquitoes haven't ceased singing, I notice," Ellen replied, laughing. "Now I like this time of year best of all. October means the beginning of cool weather and work."
When Hertha went to her room that night a little breeze greeted her as she sat down by her window. It was cloudy at first, but in a few moments the clouds broke and the moonlight streamed upon the dark trees and the white sand. She watched the moon sailing through the clouds, she smelt the roses by the porch, and the wall that her will had built against her sweet and rapturous thoughts broke down, and with a rush her spirit was swept with tumultuous love.
"Cinderella," Lee said to her the next morning as she turned into the orange grove, "you've been a shockingly long time coming."
"I know it," she answered, "but there were so many things to think of, sitting by the fire."
"Don't think," he urged. "I've given it up. Don't think, but live."
And this time she lifted up her face and, without a thought, gave him a kiss.
CHAPTER V
"Hertha," Ellen said the next afternoon, "have you any plans for the future?"