He had met them at a ball game three weeks before, and he had been very busy holding their acquaintance ever since.
"We're going to catch the echo, and keep it, too!" shouted Jack.
"It's mocking you now," said Dorothy, with a laugh.
"I know it," said Jack, "but we'll catch it, and fasten it so it can't get away."
"How will you fasten an echo?" Nancy asked, turning, and looking over her shoulder as the little phaeton sped past.
"Trust us to find a way!" cried Jack, and the others laughed as if they already knew exactly how to do it.
They left the road, and, vaulting over the wall, crossed the open field, singing a gay, rollicking song as they went.
"They just say they're going hunting for the echo," said Dorothy, "and they say it for fun, but I wonder where they are going, and what they truly are going to do."
The groom, riding nearer, touched his hat.
"Please, Miss Dorothy, I heard the lads saying that there's an old house over near that mountain, where a hermit lived years ago, and they're off to find it if they can."