And she did. She did not touch it up a bit. She made him see her life, her people, the Benjamins, her experience at Miss Vantine's--all--through the eyes of her youth, her wistful youth. She told him about Martin Christiansen; she even confessed the fearful catastrophe with Cartel; and she did not mind when he rolled on his back and sent gusts of laughter up to the clouds. "O ye delicious, crickety Cricket!" he groaned. "Go on." "There isn't any 'on'. That's up to now. Tell me about you." And he did. He told her about his people, his young life near Dublin. How he went to an English University, how he enlisted in the war. He told her about his life in the trenches, about his wounds, about his decoration. He talked as he had talked to no one else about the whole experience of war. She sat tense and still, concentrated on his every word. When he had finished, they sat in silence for several seconds. "And that's up to now, for me." "You've got to go back?--there?" "When I'm well again." Her tell-tale face registered her distress. He laid his hand over her little brown one. "Not for a while. I shall often think of this place and this day," he said, gazing off over the sea. "Ye're a comfortable cricket, when ye want to be. I'd like to capture ye, to sing on my hearth!" [Illustration: _"Ye're a comfortable cricket, when ye want to be. I'd like to capture ye, to sing on my hearth!"_] She sprang up. "Well, I'm not ready to settle yet, so your hearth must go bare." "Like Mother Hubbard's cupboard! Where are ye hoppin' off to?" "Hotel, for lunch." "Is it time?" She nodded. He fell in step beside her. "Ye haven't missed Percy?" "I wonder what Percy's mother wanted with him," she evaded. "So does Percy's mother," he retorted. She looked up at him. "You didn't----?" "I did, Cricket; I jumped a longer jump than you did," he boasted. "Why, you old grasshopper!" she exploded. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Miss Watts found Isabelle more reasonable, more amenable than ever before in their association, and as she had made some pleasant acquaintances, she was thoroughly enjoying herself. She hoped their stay would be long. In her reports to the Bryces she conscientiously mentioned Isabelle's good behaviour and her improvement in health. She watched the career of her charge with interest and some concern. She saw with surprise that the girl had hit upon the only possible way of intriguing the interest of a spoiled darling like Captain O'Leary. She flitted like a will-o'-the-wisp before him. Larry thought that their talk on the beach had established a new relation, but he soon found that he could not rely on it. When she was particularly annoying he reminded her how sweet she had been that day, but all she could recall of it was that he had cut Percy out! If he ignored her completely, suddenly she was like a soft little rabbit in his hands, all heart-beat. She puzzled and annoyed him.