"And the fur trappers live on house-boats, renting their
hunting rights. But Jeems owns his own land. Now some northerners are
prospecting for oil. They have a queer sort of car which can travel
either on land or water. And Pere Armand has church records that date
back to the middle of the eighteenth century. And--"
"So that's where you were from four until almost six," Val laughed. "I
don't know that I approve of this riotous living. Will Jeems take me to
pick the lilies too?"
"Maybe. He wanted to know why you always moved so carefully. And I told
him about the accident. Then he said the oddest thing--" She was staring
past Val at the oaks. "He said that to fly was worth being smashed up
for and that he envied you."
"Then he's a fool!" her brother said promptly. "Nothing is worth--" Val
stopped abruptly. Five months before he had made a bargain with himself;
he was not going to break it now.
"Do you know," Ricky said to Charity, "if you really need Jeems this
morning, I think I can get him for you. He told me yesterday how to find
his cabin."
"But why--" The objection came almost at once from Charity. Val thought
she was more than a little surprised that Jeems, who had steadfastly
refused to give her the same information, had supplied it so readily to
Ricky whom he hardly knew at all.
"I don't know," answered Ricky frankly. "He was rather queer about it.
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