"Julia," and now it was Lulu who questioned, "why do you not marry Billy
when you love him so?" The seriousness of her tone, the warmth of
affection in her little brown face robbed this question of any
appearance of impertinence.
"Lulu," Julia answered simply, "I don't know why. Only that something
inside has always said, 'Wait!'"
"Well, you did well," Peachy said bitterly, for, at least, Billy loves
you just as much as at first. I don't see him racing over to the
Clubhouse the moment his dinner is eaten. I don't see him spending his
Sundays in long exploring tramps. I don't see him making plans to go off
into the interior for a week at a time."
"But he would be just like all the others, Julia," Clara exclaimed
carefully, "if you'd married him. Keep out of it as long as you can!"
"Don't ever marry him, Julia," Chiquita warned. "Keep your life a
perpetual wooing."
"Marry him to-morrow, Julia," Lulu advised. "Oh, I cannot think what my
life would have been without Honey-Boy and Honey-Bunch."
"I shall marry Billy sometime," Julia said. "But I don't know when. When
that little inner voice stops saying, 'Wait!'"
"I wonder," Peachy questioned again, "what would have happened if - "
"It would have come out just the same way. Depend on that!" Chiquita
said philosophically. "It was our fate - the Great Doom that our people
used to talk of. And, after all, it's our own fault. Come to this island
we would and come we did! And this is the end of it - we - we sit
moveless from sun-up to sun-down, we who have soared into the clouds.
But there is a humorous element in it. And if I didn't weep, I could
laugh myself mad over it. We sit here helpless and watch these creatures
who walk desert us daily - desert us - creatures who flew - leave us
here helpless and alone."
"But in the beginning," Lulu interposed anxiously, "they did try to take
us with them. But it tired them so to carry us - for or that's - what in
effect they do."
"And there was one time just after we were married when it was all
wonderful," said Peachy. "I did not even miss the flying, for it seemed
to me that Ralph made up for the loss of my wings by his love and
service. Then, they began to build the New Camp and gradually everything
changed. You see, they love their work more than they do us. Or at least
it seems to interest them more."