After the dance they went down the rock steps and Kenneth found a little flat and they rowed across the moonlit channel to the sand-shore ; they walked on the sand till Kenneth 's ankle made protest and then they sat down among the dunes . Kenneth talked to her as he had talked to Nan and Di . Rilla , overcome with a shyness she did not understand , could not talk much , and thought he would think her frightfully stupid ; but in spite of this it was all very wonderful -- the exquisite moonlit night , the shining sea , the tiny little wavelets swishing on the sand , the cool and freakish wind of night crooning in the stiff grasses on the crest of the dunes , the music sounding faintly and sweetly over the channel . '' ' A merry lilt o ' moonlight for mermaiden revelry , ' '' quoted Kenneth softly from one of Walter 's poems . And just he and she alone together in the glamour of sound and sight ! If only her slippers did n't bite so ! and if only she could talk cleverly like Miss Oliver -- nay , if she could only talk as she did herself to other boys ! But words would not come , she could only listen and murmur little commonplace sentences now and again . But perhaps her dreamy eyes and her dented lip and her slender throat talked eloquently for her . At any rate Kenneth seemed in no hurry to suggest going back and when they did go back supper was in progress . He found a seat for her near the window of the lighthouse kitchen and sat on the sill beside her while she ate her ices and cake . Rilla looked about her and thought how lovely her first party had been . She would never forget it . The room re-echoed to laughter and jest . Beautiful young eyes sparkled and shone . From the pavilion outside came the lilt of the fiddle and the rhythmic steps of the dancers . There was a little disturbance among a group of boys crowded about the door ; a young fellow pushed through and halted on the threshold , looking about him rather sombrely . It was Jack Elliott from over-harbour -- a McGill medical student , a quiet chap not much addicted to social doings . He had been invited to the party but had not been expected to come since he had to go to Charlottetown that day and could not be back until late . Yet here he was -- and he carried a folded paper in his hand .
Gertrude XXXXX looked at him from her corner and shivered again .
Charlottetown Kenneth Nan Oliver Walter day first ices sand-shore wavelets