"That'll make you very late," said Harrod.
"I mean to go," said I, obstinately.
He looked at me and smiled, shaking his head a little, reprovingly. The smile made me forget everything.
"Won't you put the squire off a little to come out with me?" I begged, wistfully. "It's so beautiful on the sea."
He hesitated a moment, and I ran down to the shore, where old Eben was waiting for me. But before I had reached it I heard Harrod's firm, light step following me.
"Is this the right time to take up nets?" he asked of the fisherman.
"Women always thinks it's the right time to do a thing when they wants it," said Eben. "But I've knowed missie a little one," he added, stolidly.
He was going to call his "mate" for the other boat, two being necessary to do what they called the "seining"—that is to say, the drawing in of the net from opposite angles—but Harrod stopped him.
"I'll go out in one boat with the young lady, if you'll take the other," he said.