The Two Destinies

rites, and tells

pte

water

s, by the winding green shores of the little lake. Come to me once more, my child-love, in the innocent beauty of your first ten years of life.

son were floating on the waters of the lake which,

creek at the south end, the boats were kept - my own pretty sailing boat having a tiny natural harbor all to itself. In a creek at the north end s

r, hand in hand, to see the last bird

in size, the arches and their net-work followed the secret windings of the creek inland to its end. Built back round the arches, on their landward side, ran a wooden paling, high enough to hide a man kneeling behind it from the view of the bi

iff on my father's estate. He was, besides, a skilled master in the art of decoying ducks. The dog that helped him (we used no tame ducks as decoys in Suffolk) was a litt

he bailiff, and we

rouched behind the paling, and peeped through the outermost dog-hole, which commanded a full view of the lake. It was a day wi

d ducks - collected within easy reach of the decoy - placidl

, stepping forward quietly, passed through the hole, so as to show himself on the

her, then half a dozen to

toward the strange four-footed creature, planted motionless on the bank. By twos and threes, the main body of the waterfowl gradually followed the advanced guard

ng behind the palin

on the water, the wild fowl wondered and waited. In a minute more, the dog had trotted round, and had shown himself throug

nce of Trim took place, through a third hole in the paling, pierced further inland up the creek. For the third time irresistible curiosity urged the ducks to advance further and further inward, under the fatal arches of the decoy. A fourth and a fifth time the game went on, until the dog had lured the water-fowl from point to point into the inner recesses of the decoy. There a last appearance of

e to its end, little Mary laid her hand on my shoulder

got something to show you that is b

t is

rise. I won'

u give m

put her slim sun-burned arm

ses as you l

oking aside at the moment from his ducks, discovered us pursuing our boy-and-girl courtship in

our father comes home, do you think he will approve

great dignity, "I shall tell him the truth.

laughing, and looked b

f. "They're only children. There's no ca

f us was a lady aged ten, and the other was a gentleman aged thirteen. We left t

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