I got very dirty, though, and I have no doubt I
looked as ridiculous as I felt, and for that I expected to be tenderly
dealt with; but when I went to ask after the child, a few days later, a
neighbour told me that its mother was out, and it was a good thing too,
as she had been heard to declare she would 'go for that lady the next
time she saw her, for flingin' of her bairn about!'"
When she had told the story, Ideala was horrified to find that the
fact, which she had overlooked, of her having risked her life to save
the child struck us all much more forcibly than the ingratitude that
amused her.
Although her sense of humour was keen, it was not always, as I said
before, the humorous side of a subject that struck her. I found her one
day looking utterly miserable.
"What has happened?" I asked. "You look sad."
"And I feel sad," she answered. "I was just thinking what a pity it is
those gay, pleasure-loving, flower-clad people of Hawaii are dying
out!"
She was quite in earnest, and could not be made to see that there was
anything droll in her mourning poignantly for a people so remote.
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