felt he could not bear that, and his attention slid at once from such
finality to the dust motes in the bluish sunlight coming in: Thrusting
his hand up, he tried to catch some. Bella ought to have dusted that
piece of air! But perhaps they weren't dust--only what sunlight was made
of, and he looked to see whether the sunlight out of doors was the same.
It was not. He had said he would stay quiet in the hall, but he simply
couldn't any more; and crossing the gravel of the drive he lay down
on the grass beyond. Pulling six daisies he named them carefully,
Sir Lamorac, Sir Tristram, Sir Lancelot, Sir Palimedes, Sir Bors, Sir
Gawain, and fought them in couples till only Sir Lamorac, whom he had
selected for a specially stout stalk, had his head on, and even he,
after three encounters, looked worn and waggly. A beetle was moving
slowly in the grass, which almost wanted cutting. Every blade was
a small tree, round whose trunk the beetle had to glide. Little Jon
stretched out Sir Lamorac, feet foremost, and stirred the creature up.
It scuttled painfully. Little Jon laughed, lost interest, and sighed.
His heart felt empty. He turned over and lay on his back. There was a
scent of honey from the lime trees in flower, and in the sky the blue
was beautiful, with a few white clouds which looked and perhaps tasted
like lemon ice. He could hear Bob playing: "Way down upon de Suwannee
ribber" on his concertina, and it made him nice and sad. He turned over
again and put his ear to the ground--Indians could hear things coming
ever so far--but he could hear nothing--only the concertina! And almost
instantly he did hear a grinding sound, a faint toot. Yes! it was a
car--coming--coming! Up he jumped. Should he wait in the porch, or rush
upstairs, and as they came in, shout: "Look!" and slide slowly down the
banisters, head foremost? Should he? The car turned in at the drive. It
was too late! And he only waited, jumping up and down in his excitement.
The car came quickly, whirred, and stopped. His father got out, exactly
like life. He bent down and little Jon bobbed up--they bumped. His