Page:The House Without Windows.djvu/91

 They went into a grove of sunlit white pines and danced there together. Finally the little tiny said: "I'm hungry, Eeserpip."

"It's Eepersip,” she said, "but it doesn’t matter much. I'll find you something to eat." After a while they found some flame-coloured berries, and then Eepersip dug up some white roots of which she was fond.

The boy said: "This is jolly, it is. Is this the way you get your food?"

"Always," she said.

They played a while longer, and then someone called.

Eepersip had a strange feeling at that moment. She could not help feeling a certain reluctance when she had first played with him; then she had decided that he could not have anything to do with the civilized people she hated so, He must be separate from them, perhaps even a wild thing like herself. She felt a sensation of horror when the strange voice sounded. Then he was not alonethen he lived in a house with other people!

Startled, she cried: "Who's that?"

"My mother," he answered.

"Then you don't live here all by yourself?" She had a bitter feeling of disappointment.

"Oh, no."