There was a pause.
Then—“Where we going now, Eepersip?” for Eepersip was gradually working off to a hill which was a peak of Mount Varcrobis, north of Eiki-ennern Peak.
“Fleuriss,” said Eepersip, with a strange emotion in her voice, “have you ever seen the sea?”
“No, but I heard Mother talking about it once. She said maybe you had gone down there; and she told me it was lots of blue water, and there were boats there. Did you really go there?”
“Yes; it’s so beautiful, Fleuriss. The sun makes the waves sparkle like gold, and the great white gulls with their long, narrow wings go gliding, circling over the water, sometimes plunging down and catching fish underneath. And there is white sand there, soft sand, and shells and pretty pebbles, and little fishes swimming. And when it’s windy the waves come dashing up on the rocks, flinging spray high in the air. And there is seaweed, too, Fleuriss, green seaweed that goes floating up and down as the waves stir it. And corals, too. Oh, my little sister, it’s so, so beautiful. I would show you how to leap into it from the rocks, and how to swim—to be a mermaid and play with the gulls and the fishes, dressed all in seaweeds!”
“Oh, Eepersip! let’s go now!”
“And I have a little cottage down there for you to live in—a pretty little cottage just like your home.”
“Oh, how nice!”
“And we shall go riding up and down on the great waves, Fleuriss, while the seagulls scream over our heads. We shall go ’way out of sight of land and find islands and rocks out there. And the waves are tremendous when it’s windy—very windy.”
“Oo—”
“Fleuriss!” And Eepersip caught her little sister in her arms—glad that she had succeeded in entrancing her with the sea.
“But, Eepersip,” said Fleuriss, doubtfully, “where are we going now?”
“I thought, Fleuriss, that we’d go to that great hill over there—do you see?”
“Yes.”
“Go over there so that you can see from ’way of how beautiful it is.”
“Oh yes; I’m crazy to see it!”
Eepersip saw that this hill was wooded on one side, but on the far side it was like a pasture—she could see sunlight glinting on it. On they went, often stopping to pick flowers, to dig up roots, or to refresh themselves at some little tinkling brook or mossy spring. Once as they were pushing through a fence of low beech-branches they came to a spring all surrounded with green moss—oh! so soft. There were ferns nodding beside it, and one or two strange pink orchids gazed at themselves admiringly in its surface. At the bottom were white stones. A cool, green frog plopped into it as they arrived. And Fleuriss was fascinated. She sat there for a long time, watching him reappear for air, then bob down again when he saw that they were still watching him.
Again they came into a great meadow dotted with flowers. Butterflies with soft wings stroked Eepersip’s cheeks caressingly. Fleuriss danced through the flowers, looking, as Eepersip thought, like a little butterfly herself. The sky was a heavenly deep blue—a rich deep blue, yet filled and sparkling with all the gold of the sun and all the coolth of snow. She could see for miles into it, as if it had suddenly come nearer than usual. She reached up and could almost see her fingers touching it. What a strange sensation!
But Fleuriss had a stranger one. As Eepersip danced along, it seemed as though her feet barely touched the ground. The flowers and grasses swayed gently beneath her, but they were not crushed. And Fleuriss felt a bit of dread coming into her mind—dread of living and staying with this strange sister. What if she should grow tired of Fleuriss and run off? Suppose she should change into a tree—a leaf—a sprite? But Fleuriss fought with this feeling—because she wanted to live by the ocean, and to do the things that Eepersip had promised.
After a while they came to the foot of the great hill. They slept down there, near a tiny lakelet, in the soft grass and among the flowers, with the tinkle, tinkle of a little brook in their ears all night. The next morning they climbed the hill together, and it was very steep and rocky. Fleuriss had to be helped often, and grew tired before she reached the top. But Eepersip lured her on by the promise of seeing the ocean, and they struggled painfully up.
The sea stretched away to the horizon, blue and sparkling as it met the sky. Fleuriss was spellbound.
“Eepersip, is that the sea?” she asked.
“Yes, Fleuriss—the sea, the sea!”
Off to the north was a range of high blue-green hills, and off beyond them higher ones, and higher—billowing mountains—and beyond them was a range of snowy peaks, rising, sharply outlined, into the blue. The lakelet where they had slept was like an opal set with dark green pines. But those mountains—! never before had Eepersip seen anything like them. The sea was not nearly so beautiful. And again she felt that longing which she had felt when she saw the sea—but a more passionate longing.
And Fleuriss? How could she climb those great peaks—she, who had had great difficulty even with the little hill? Well, Fleuriss could grow more used to such things, and then they would go together. But Fleuriss—Fleuriss barefoot, dressed in ferns—on those snowy summits! No, it would be impossible for years and years. She would have to wait—or else go alone.
But the hill had other things than just the view. For there were the loveliest little winding lanes, and bright open places, and close spots where they could hardly push through the bushes; great patches of delicious soft grass, then again enormous smooth-topped rocks from where they had first found the long-sought vision of the sea.
