"Then you should not have come to Appledore."
"Why not?"
"There is nothing here for you."
"Ah, but! What is there for you? Do you find anything here to like now, really?"
"I have been down in this 'uncomfortable place' ever since near five o'clock—except while we were at breakfast."
"What for?"
"What for?" said Lois, laughing. "If you ask, it is no use to tell you,
Mr. Caruthers."
"Ah, be generous!" said Tom. "I'm a stupid fellow, I know; but do try and help me a little to a sense of the beautiful. Is it the beautiful, by the way, or is it something else?"
Lois's laugh rang softly out again. She was a country girl, it is true; but her laugh was as sweet to hear as the ripple of the waters among the stones. The laugh of anybody tells very much of what he is, making revelations undreamt of often by the laugher. A harsh croak does not come from a mind at peace, nor an empty clangour from a heart full of sensitive happiness; nor a coarse laugh from a person of refined sensibilities, nor a hard laugh from a tender spirit. Moreover, people cannot dissemble successfully in laughing; the truth comes out in a startling manner. Lois's laugh was sweet and musical; it was a pleasure to hear. And Tom's eyes said so.
"I always knew I was a stupid fellow," he said; "but I never felt myself so stupid as to-day! What is it, Miss Lothrop?"