And Ralph laughed.

“I never saw such a person,” said Fanny, pouting.

“By the bye,” said Ralph.

“Well, sir?”

“What was there so interesting in the toes?”

“They were lovely.”

“Anything else?”

“Beautiful.”

“That all?  Come, now, tell me the charm in those feet which you young ladies designated, I remember, as ‘teensy,’ and expressed your desire to ‘tiss.’  Shocking perversion of the king’s English—­and in honor of nothing but two dirty little feet!” said Ralph.

The storm which was visited upon Ralph’s unhappy head for this barbarous criticism was dreadful.  Fanny declared, in express terms, that he was a monster, an ogre, and with a stone in his breast instead of a heart.  To which Mr. Ralph replied, that the best writers of ancient and modern times had nowhere designated as a monster the man who was not in raptures at the sight of babies;—­whereupon Miss Fanny declared her disregard of writers in general, and her preference for babies—­at which stage of the discussion Ralph began to whistle.

Why not catch the laughter of those youthful lips, and tell how the young men and maidens amused themselves that fine autumn day?  Everything innocent and fresh is beautiful—­and there are eyes which shine more brightly than the sun, voices which make a softer music than the breezes of October in the laughing trees.  Redbud’s face and voice had this innocence and joy in it—­there was pleasure in the very sound of it; and such a delicate kind of light in the soft eyes, that as they went, the young men felt more pure, and bowed to her, as something better than themselves—­of higher nature.

The light of Fanny’s eyes was more brilliant; but Redbud’s were of such softness that you forgot all else in gazing at them—­lost your heart, looking into their lucid depths of liquid light.

One heart was irremediably lost long since, and, gone away into the possession of the young lady.  This was Verty’s; and as they went along he gazed so tenderly at the young girl, that more than once she blushed, and suffered the long lashes to fall down upon her rosy cheek.

Fanny was talking with Ralph;—­for these young gentlemen had made the simple and admirable arrangement, without in the least consulting the ladies, that Verty should always entertain and be entertained by Redbud, Ralph quarrel with, and be quarreled with, by Fanny.

Each, on the present occasion, was carrying out his portion of the contract; that is to say, Verty and Redbud were quietly smiling at each other; Ralph and Fanny were exchanging repartees.

They came thus to the knoll which they had stopped upon in the forenoon.

The fine kite—­tied to a root, as we have said—­was hovering far up among the clouds, swaying and fluttering its streamers in the wind:  the various colors of the paper, and the flowers almost wholly indiscernible, so high had it ascended.