No reply.
"Lois!" I repeated uneasily.
There was a ripple in the pool, silence, then somewhere in the darkness a faint splash.
"Good Lord!" said I. "Have you fallen in?"
"Not fallen in. But I am truly in, Euan. I couldn't endure it any longer; and you didn't seem to want to go.... So please remain where you now are."
"Do you mean to say——" I began incredulously.
And, "Yes, I do!" she said, defiant. "And I think this ought to teach you what a comrade's perfect confidence can be. Never complain to me of my want of trust in you again."
In astonished and uneasy silence, I stood listening. The unseen pool rippled in the darkness with a silvery sound, as though a great fish were swirling there in the pallid lustre of the stars.
After a while she laughed outright—the light, mischievous laughter of a child.
"I feel like one of those smooth and lurking naiads which haunt lost pools—or like some ambushed water-sprite meditating malice, and slyly alert to do you a harm. Have a care, else I transform you into a fish and chase you under the water, and pinch and torment you!"