[93] Miss Newman laughed. "I am glad you take it that way, though the truth is, we didn't know we were leaving it for you."
"I am afraid I drank up all the milk," Edna went on. "I hope you will not need it for your supper."
"No, we shall not, for neither of us takes milk in tea and they will bring more for the morning."
"Did Rudolph think that anything dreadful had happened to Louis?" asked Edna after a pause.
"No, he seemed to think that no one could take the boat without Dick Fenton's knowledge, and said that anyhow there were no oars in it, as Dick always took the oars up to the house."
It was a great relief to hear this, and Edna began to feel much more hopeful. "Only," she said, "I don't see why he didn't come back."
"That is where the mystery is," acknowledged Miss Newman.
The mystery was not solved till an hour later when not only Rudolph, but Louis himself appeared. Miss Eloise was entertaining Edna with a story that the time might not hang too heavily. The bad weather had made a porch party out of the question, and this afternoon Edna was the only listener. The fairy prince had but just entered into the tale when a knock at the door scattered all hope of his ever being recognized as the little bird on a bough.
Edna flew to the door, reaching it less clumsily this time as she had resumed her own frock which [94]was now quite dry. "It's Louis! It's Louis!" she screamed. "Oh, Louis, why didn't you come? I was in such a trouble about you."
"Well, I'll tell you how it was," said Louis, entering the room. "It wasn't my fault at all. I went down and got into the boat, but I found there were no oars, so of course there wasn't any use for me to try to go out in it. While I was sitting there Dick came along; he's the man the boat belongs to, you know. 'Hallo, sonny,' he said, 'Waiting for a trip to sea?' I said I was just sitting there pretending I was out at sea. 'I'm going to draw my pots,' he said, 'Want to come along?' Now, you know, Edna, of course I couldn't miss such a chance as that, for I had never seen anyone draw lobster-pots, so of course I said yes, I'd like to go. I didn't think we would be gone very long, and I knew you would stay until we got back. I never thought about the tide coming in, or would have made Dick wait till I had gone to tell you not to wait."