length.

"Don't go yet--just let me look at you a minute
more! The only girl I ever had in my life--and she's
the prettiest thing God ever made on this earth. Ain't
I the lucky boy?"

"We must go now," she cried, blushing again under
his burning eyes.

He dropped her hands suddenly and saluted military
fashion.

"All right, teacher! I'm the little boy that does
exactly what he's told."

They strolled leisurely along the shining sands in
silence. Now and then his slender hand caught hers and
crushed it. The moment he touched her a living flame
flashed through her body--and through every moment of
contact her nerves throbbed and quivered as if a
musician were sweeping the strings of a harp. If this
were not love, what could it be?

Her whole being, body and soul, responded to his.
Her body moved instinctively toward his, drawn by some
hidden, resistless power. Her hands went out to meet
his; her lips leaped to his.

She must test it with time, of course. And yet she