Mrs.Le Page will look funny bathing."Then he was in the green lane again,and at once his discomfort returned to him,and he looked around his shoulder and into the hedges,and stopped once and again to listen.There was no sound.The birds,it seemed,had all fallen to sleep.The hedges,he thought,were closer about him.It was very hot here,with no breeze and no comforting sound of the sea."I wonder whether he really does come,"he thought."It must be horrid to see him--coming quite close."And the thought of the Fool also frightened him.The Fool with his tongue out and his shaking legs,like the idiot who lived near the Cathedral at home.At the thought of this Jeremy suddenly took to his legs and ran,covering the top of his jug with his hand;then,when he came out on to the strip of grass that crossed the top of the beach,he stopped,suddenly ashamed of himself.Scarlet Admirals!Scarlet Admirals!How could there be Scarlet Admirals in a world that also contained so blazing a sun,so blue a sea,and the gorgeous realities of the Le Page family.He arrived at the luncheon party hot and proud and smiling,so cheerful and stolid and agreeable that even Mrs.Le Page was compelled to say,"Really,Mrs.Cole,that's a very nice little boy of yours.Come here,little Jeremy,and talk to me!"How deeply he hated being called "little Jeremy"only Mary and Helen knew.
Their eyes flew to his face to see how he would take it.He took it very well.He sat down beside Mrs.Le Page,who very gracefully and languidly sipped at her glass of milk.
"How old are you,Jeremy dear?"she asked him.
"Eight,"he answered,wriggling.
"What a nice age!And one day you'll go to school?""In September."
"And what will you be when you're a man?"
"Oh,I don't know.I'll be a soldier,perhaps.""Oh,I'm sure you wouldn't like to be a soldier and kill people.""Yes,I would.There's lots of people I'd like to kill."Mrs.Le Page drew her skirts back a little.
"How horrible!I'm sure your mother wouldn't like to hear that."But Mr.Cole had caught the last words of the dialogue and interrupted with:
"But what could be finer,Mrs.Le Page,than the defence of one's country?Would you have our young lads grow up faint-hearted and fail their Motherland when she calls?What can be finer,I say,than to die for Queen and country?Would not every mother have her son shed his blood for liberty and freedom?No,Jeremy,not another.You've had quite enough.It would indeed be a disheartening sight if we elders were to watch our sons and grandchildren turning their swords into ploughshares--"He was interrupted by a shrill cry from Mrs.Le Page:
"Charlotte,darling,do hold your sunshade up.All the left side of your face is exposed.That's better,dear.I beg your pardon,Mr.Cole."
But Mr.Cole was offended.
"I hope no son of mine will ever show himself a faint heart,"he concluded severely.
The luncheon,in fact,had been a most dismal failure.The Coles could fling their minds back to luncheons on this same beach that had been simply riotous successes.What fun they had had!What games!What bathes?Now the very sight of Mr.Le Page's black beard was enough.Even Jeremy felt that things were wrong.Then he looked at Charlotte and was satisfied.There she sat,straight and stiff,her hands on her lap,her hair falling in lovely golden ripples down her back,her gaze fixed on distance.Oh!she was beautiful!He would do whatever she told him;he would give her Miss Noah and the apple tree;he would--A sound disturbed his devotions.He turned.
Both Mr.and Mrs.Le Page were fast asleep.
IV
"Children,"whispered Mrs.Cole,"very quietly now,so that you don't disturb anyone,run off to the farther beach and play.Helen,you'll see that everything is all right,won't you?"It was only just in time that Jeremy succeeded in strangling Hamlet's bark into a snort,and even then they all looked round for a moment at the sleepers in the greatest anxiety.But no,they had not been disturbed.If only Mr.Le Page could have known what he resembled lying there with his mouth open!But he did not know.He was doubtless dreaming of his property.
The children crept away.Charlotte and Jeremy together.Jeremy's heart beat thickly.At last he had the lovely creature in his charge.It was true that he did not quite know what he was going to do with her,and that even now,in the height of his admiration,he did wish that she would not walk as though she were treading on red-hot ploughshares,and that she could talk a little instead of giving little shivers of apprehension at every step.
"I must say,"he thought to himself,"she's rather silly in some ways.Perhaps it wouldn't be fun to see her always."They turned the corner round a projecting finger of rock,and a new little beach,white and gleaming,lay in front of them.
"Well,"said Jeremy,"here we are.What shall we play?"There was dead silence.
"We might play pirates,"he continued."I'll be the pirate,and Mary can sit on that rock until the water comes round her,and Charlotte shall hide in that cave--"There was still silence.Looking about him,he discovered from his sisters'countenances that they were resolved to lend no kind of assistance,and he then from that deduced the simple fact that his sisters hated Charlotte and were not going to make it pleasant for her in any way if they could help it.Oh!it was a miserable picnic!
The worst that he'd ever had.
"It's too hot to play,"said Helen loftily."I'm going to sit down over there.""So am I,"said Mary.
They moved away,their heads in the air and their legs ridiculously stiff.
Jeremy gazed at Charlotte in distress.It was very wicked of his sisters to go off like that,but it was also very silly of Charlotte to stand there so helplessly.He was beginning to think that perhaps he would give the thimble to Miss Jones after all.
"Would you like to go and see the pool where the little crabs are?"he asked.