Page:A Girl of the Limberlost.djvu/317

Rh eyes was an exalted light. On she came to the blue-bordered pool lying beside her path. A turtle scrambled from a log and splashed into the water, while a red-wing shouted, "O-ka-lee!" to her. Mrs. Comstock paused and looked intently at the slime-covered quagmire, framed in a flower riot and homed over by sweet-voiced birds. Then she gazed at the thing of incomparable beauty clinging to her fingers and said softly: "If you had known about wonders like these in the days of your youth, Robert Comstock, could you ever have done what you did?" Elnora missed her mother, and turning to look for her, saw her standing beside the pool. Would the old fascination return? A panic of fear seized the girl. She went back swiftly. "Are you afraid she is going?" Elnora asked. "If you are, cup your other hand over her for shelter. Carrying her through this air and in the hot sunshine will dry her wings and make them ready for flight very quickly. You can't trust her in such air and light as you can in the cool dark woods." As she talked she took hold of her mother's sleeve, anxiously smiling a pitiful little smile that Mrs. Comstock understood. Ammon set his load at the back door, returning to hold open the garden gate for Elnora and Mrs. Comstock. He reached it just in time to see them standing together beside the pool. The mother bent swiftly and kissed the girl on the lips. Ammon wheeled and was busily hunting moths on the raspberry bushes when they