They had driven over the crest of a hill.
Below them was a pond, looking almost like a river so long and winding was it.
A bridge spanned it midway and from there to its lower end, where an amber-hued belt of sand-hills shut it in from the dark blue gulf beyond, the water was a glory of many shifting hues-the most spiritual shadings of crocus and rose and ethereal green, with other elusive tintings for which no name has ever been found.
Above the bridge the pond ran up into fringing groves of fir and maple and lay all darkly translucent in their wavering shadows.
Here and there a wild plum leaned out from the bank like a white-clad girl tip-toeing to her own reflection.
From the marsh at the head of the pond came the clear, mournfully-sweet chorus of the frogs.
There was a little gray house peering around a white apple orchard on a slope beyond and, although it was not yet quite dark, a light was shining from one of its windows.
"That's Barry's pond," said Matthew.
"Oh, I don't like that name, either. I shall call it-let me see-the Lake of Shining Waters. Yes, that is the right name for it. I know because of the thrill. When I hit on a name that suits exactly it gives me a thrill. Do things ever give you a thrill?"
Matthew ruminated.