"You are sure there is nobody else?"
"I am sure. There could never be anybody else - after that first night
when I waked you from sleep."
"It is forever, then?"
"Forever."
Billy sighed. "I'll wait, then - until eternity shrivels up."
They sat for a long time, silent.
"Here comes somebody," Billy said suddenly. "It's one of the girls," he
added after a moment of listening. "I'll leave you, I guess."
He melted into the darkness.
A woman appeared, dragging herself along by means of the rail. It was
Lulu, a strange Lulu, a Lulu pallid and silent, but a Lulu shining-eyed.
She pulled herself over to Julia's side. "Julia!" "Julia! Oh, Julia!"
Lulu's voice was not voice. It was not speech. Liquid sound flowed from
her lips, crystallizing at the touch of the air, to words. "Julia, I
came to you first, after Honey. I wanted you to know."
"Oh, Lulu," Julia said, "not - - ."
Her eyes reflected the stars in Lulu's eyes. And there they stood, their
two faces throwing gleam for gleam.
"Yes," said Lulu. Suddenly she knelt sobbing on the floor, her face in
Julia's lap.
G.
Mid-afternoon on Angel Island.
Four women sat in the Honeymoon House, sewing. Outside the world still
lay in sunshine, the land cut by the beginning of shadow, the sea
streaked with purple and green.
"Why didn't you bring the children?" Julia, asked.
Lulu answered. "Honey and Frank were going in swimming this morning, and
they said they'd take care of them. I'm glad to get Honey-Boy off my
hands for an afternoon."
"And why hasn't Peachy come?" Julia asked. I stopped as I went by," Lulu
explained. Oh, Julia, I wish you didn't live way off here - it takes us
an hour of crawling to pull ourselves along the path. Angela hadn't
waked up yet. It was a longer nap than usual. Peachy said she'd come
just as soon as she opened her eyes. I went in to look at her. Oh, she's
such a darling, smiling in her sleep. Oh, I do hope I have a girl-baby
sometime."
"I do, too," said Clara. "Peterkin's fun, of course. But I can't do the
things for a boy that I could for a girl."
"I'd rather have boys," Chiquita said; "they're less trouble."
"Would you rather have boys or girls, Julia?" Lulu asked.