brier and nettles lay before the mouth. They hid the foot of the kiln
and made a snug and secluded spot. Bridetown clustered in its elms far
below; then the land rose again to protect the hamlet from the south;
and beyond stretched the blue line of the Channel.

The men sat here and smoked, while Estelle hunted for flowers and
feathers.

She came back to them presently with a bee orchis. "For you," she said,
and gave it to Raymond. "What the dickens is it?" he asked, and she told
him. "They're rather rare, but they live happily on the down in some
places. I know where." He thanked her very much.

"Never seen one before," he said. "A funny little pink and black devil,
isn't it?"

"It isn't a devil," she assured him; "if anything, it's an angel. But
really it's more like a small bumble-bee than anything. Perhaps you've
never seen a bumble-bee either?"

"Oh, yes, I have--they don't sting." Estelle laughed.

"I thought that once. A boy in the village told me that bumble-bees have
'got no spears.' And I believed him and tried to help one out of the
window once. And I very soon found that he had got a spear."

"That reminds me I must take a wasps' nest to-night," said her father.
"I've not decided which way to take it yet. There are seven different
ways to take a wasps' nest--all good."