Teddy looked up at the question. “I’d know her voice anywhere.” Then, with an excitement which he could not fathom, “Am I going to----?” Hal shook his head. “I asked you because, if you do see her, you must send me word.” They turned in at a gate off the highroad. It was scarcely more than a field-track that they followed. Ahead a wood grew up, which they entered. On the other side of it, remote from everything, lay a red farmhouse. A big yard was in front of it, with stacks standing yellow in the sun and horses wandering aimlessly about. Cocks were crowing and on the thatch, like flakes of snow, white fan-tails fluttered. At the sound of wheels, an old lady, in a large sunbonnet, came out and shaded her eyes, peering through her spectacles. “Hulloa, Sarie!” cried the farmer. “Where’s the missie? We’ve brought ’er a young man.” Sarie folded her hands beneath her apron. “She’s in the garden, as she always is, Joseph.” Teddy entered the cool farmhouse, with its low rafters and spotlessness. Everything was old-fashioned, even the vague perfume of roses which hung about it. Hal touched him on the arm. “Let’s go to her. She’ll be shy with you at first Even though we called, she wouldn’t come.” He led the way through a passage into a garden at the back. It lay like a deep green well, wall-surrounded and content in the shade of fruit-trees. The trees were so twisted that they had to be held up like cripples on crutches. Paths, red-tiled and moss-grown, ran off in various directions. The borders of box had grown so high that they gave to the whole a mazelike aspect. “She’s here somewhere,” Hal whispered, with suppressed excitement. “Step gently and don’t pretend you’re looking.” They sauntered to and fro, halting now and then to listen. They came to a little brook that dived beneath the wall and ran through the garden chattering. Hal was beginning to look worried. “I wish she wouldn’t be like this. Perhaps she’s crept round us and got into the house without our knowing.” At that moment, quite near them, they heard a sound of laughter. It was soft and elfin, and was followed by the clear voice of a child. “You’re a darling. You’re more beautiful than any one in the world.” A turn in the path brought them within sight of a ruined fountain. In the center, on a pedestal, stood the statue of a boy, emptying an urn from which nothing fell. In the gray stone basin that went about the pedestal was a pool of water, lying glassy and untroubled. Through a hole in the trees sunlight slanted. Kneeling beside the edge of the basin was a little girl, stooping to kiss her own reflection. “Desire.” She started to her feet with the swiftness of a wild thing. She would have escaped if Hal had not caught her. Across his shoulder she gazed indignantly at Teddy. “He saw me do that,” she said slowly. Teddy gazed back at her and smiled. He wanted to laugh, but he was stayed by her immense seriousness. “I’m sorry,” he said.