Prelude to ...

Jacqueline Lawson

E

Amanda stepped daintily across the brook, her fingers lightly touching Seely's outstretched hand.

"How pretty," Seely thought, her mind filled with Amanda's fragile beauty. She had on a lemon-colored dress that made her black hair shine with dancing lights. The sun darkened and brightened through the leaves, playing around that lovely head.

Amanda drew her hand away and Seely leaped across the brook. "Where shall we go?" Amanda breathed in her soft little girl's voice.

"Oh, anywhere," Seely answered. "I just love to walk in the woods, don't you?" She cut an exuberant caper in the old leaves, throwing up dust that floated in a cloud around her.

"You'll get all dirty," Amanda protested faintly, drawing back a little. Seely looked scornful. "What difference does that make?" She looked down

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