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Page 58
The canoe began to move backward, and Hilda opened her eyes, which
had been tightly closed. Neither of the two spoke until they were
in open water again, and the swamp left behind.
"I am sorry!" said Roger then, almost apologetically. "I am sorry
that happened. The poor creature had been shot, and was badly
wounded; it would only have lingered in pain."
"Oh yes, I know; I am so glad you were there, to help it out of
the suffering."
"But now you will never want to come here again, I fear."
"Oh, but I shall!" cried Hilda. "I am not so silly as that, truly
I am not. I shall always think of this as the loveliest place I
know; and--"
"Well, and--what?" asked Roger.
"Oh, nothing! Only--well, it is your own place," said Hilda
frankly, "and I shall always think of you here, in the dear
Cheemaun, with the enchanted princesses--I mean the sandpipers--
and the fish-hawk, and all the rest of it."
"If it is mine, I may do what I like with it, and I give it to
you. Will you have it?"
"Oh, we will share it together!" cried Hilda eagerly; and then
bethought herself, and blushed in her usual ridiculous way, and
wondered if the back of her neck were blushing too. It was, and
Roger saw the crimson mounting to the pretty ears and losing
itself in the fair hair; and he wondered--and wondered again, and
then remembered that people sometimes blushed when they were
angry. He was a very, very stupid Roger, in some ways; but in a
moment Hilda began to talk as cheerfully as possible, and to ask
about all the birds they had seen, so Roger was relieved, and they
paddled home to breakfast in a very pleasant way.
CHAPTER XVI.
GOOD-BY.
The golden morning passed all too quickly; the mornings always
did, out at camp. There was the merry dish-washing, the sweeping
and setting to rights, and then all separated to their different
tasks,--fishing, boat-mending, cooking, photographing or
surveying, till the hour of noon brought them together again for
the swimming. Roger departed on his wheel, having business in the
village.
The three girls sat down before a huge basket of mending, "Three
against Thebes," as Bell said, and plied their needles diligently.
Hildegarde felt as if she were sewing in a dream; her fingers
flew, for she could almost sew in her sleep, but her thoughts were
away in the Lonely Cove, with the wild creatures and the
stillness. She would like to go back there, she thought, with--
well, she would like to go back there, and stay, long hours, till
the spirit of the place had sunk deep into her heart. She had felt
it, the touch of its hand in passing, the brushing of its robe,
but that only showed her how little she knew, how infinitely more
there was to learn, to see, to love. She shut her eyes and tried
to call back the scene, all grey and silver, glimmering in the
faint early light.
Was not this really life, the life of nature, of the woods and
fields? Would not one grow better, purer, to stay always in this
lovely wilderness, where every leaf had a voice, every stone
showed forth its steadfast lesson, every morning and evening was
full of joy and peace? Why should one ever go back to places where
people talked and gossiped and made formal calls?
Such new worlds, too, were opening before her! Not only this great
one of nature, but the sister world of science, which till now had
been only a name. She had always thought of "scientific people"
much as she would of the inhabitants of Mars, never having been
thrown with any in this short life, which seemed to her so long,
so full. As she said to her friend here, she had had many lives
already, all beautiful, joyful beyond measure; but this strange
world, where they spoke a language of their own, where all the men
wore spectacles and long beards, and all the women short hair and
spectacles,--this world she had never thought even to peep into.
And now--behold! the magic door had been opened by friendly hands;
opened only a little way, it was true, but wide enough for her to
see at least beyond the threshold,--and it was fairy-land! As for
the long beards and the spectacles,--Hildegarde laughed to
herself, a little soft, happy laugh.
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