“Who is this that cometh out of the water? My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy—”
“Fair warning!” he announced. “One—two—three!” And when she gave no sign of yielding, he strode out from the waves.
“His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold; his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.”
He stood confronting her, the water playing about his feet.
“Thou are beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners. Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me!”
“If that’s in the Bible, I suppose it’s all right,” said Bunny.
“ ‘King Solomon’ lost a fortune,” said the lady on horseback, “so it’s the only pageant I was ever in, and it’s the only poetry I can recite. But I dare say if I had been in a Greek pageant I could quote something appropriate, for I read they used to run naked in the games, and it did not embarrass them. Is that true?”
“So the books say,” said Bunny.
“Well then, let’s be Greek! You are a runner, I have heard. Are you in training?”
“Partly so.”