The night breeze had
sprung up and from outside the sloping
embankment they caught the sound of the waves
breaking on the beach. True to their
promise, the minister and Dr. Brice appeared at
the time appointed and were eagerly welcomed
by the young people.
Supper was a long, delightful affair that
night, with much talk of the days when the
fort had been devoted to far other purposes
than the present; and the young people,
listening to the tales Mr. Allen told in his quiet yet
strangely vivid way, seemed to hear the slow
creeping on of the boats outside and to be
listening in the pauses of the wind for the
approach of the enemy.
"I'll take it back, Paul," Tracy told her, as
they were repacking the baskets. "Even the
old fort has developed new interests."
"And next summer the 'S. W. F. Club' will
continue its good work," Jack said.
Going back, Pauline found herself sitting
in the stern of one of the boats, beside her
father. The club members were singing the
club song. But Pauline's thoughts had
suddenly gone back to that wet May afternoon.
She could see the dreary, rain-swept garden,
hear the beating of the drops on the
window-panes. How long ago and remote it all
seemed; how far from the hopeless discontent,
the vague longings, the real anxiety of that
time, she and Hilary had traveled.
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