"
"So--so it is," exclaimed the irrepressible Jean, plunging himself to
the elbows in his pan of dough. "Then hurry to the cabin, Jan, and see
what sort of a birthday gift Melisse has got for you."
CHAPTER XVI
BIRTHDAYS
The big room was empty when Jan came quietly through the open door. He
stopped to listen, and caught a faint laugh from the other room, and
then another; and to give warning of his presence, he coughed loudly
and scraped a chair along the floor. A moment's silence followed. The
farther door opened a little, and then it opened wide, and Melisse
came out.
"Now what do you think of me, brother Jan?" She stood in the light of
the window through which came the afternoon sun, her hair piled in
glistening coils upon the crown of her head, as they had seen them in
the pictures, her cheeks flushed, her eyes glowing questioningly at
Jan.
"Do I look--as you thought--I would, Jan?" she persisted, a little
doubtful at his silence. She turned, so that he saw the cluster of
soft curls that fell upon her shoulder, with sprigs of bakneesh half
smothered in them. "Do I?"
"You are prettier than I have ever seen you, Melisse," he replied
softly.
There was a seriousness in his voice that made her come to him in her
old impulsive, half-childish way.
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