"I'll behave," he said, pulling himself up, "but it's awfully hard, when you're all the world to me, and I am going to lose you so soon."
"You're not going to lose me—ever."
"Darling!" he murmured. "There, I'll not say it again, and I'll not touch even your little finger, if you say I mustn't. See that boat off there. It looks like Daddy Lu's."
"Where?" Gwen looked off toward the nearest island to their right. The ocean lay to their left, but from the blue waters of the bay more than one island rose to view. "I am sure it is Daddy Lu's boat," declared Gwen after a few minutes' steady outlook. "I wonder what he has been doing at Haskins' Island."
"He told me he was going there to-day to take something to the old fellow who lives on the island as sort of caretaker. You know there are only two or three summer cottages, and when their owners leave, this old man is about the only person remaining. Daddy Lu told me he goes over once in a while to see that all is well with John Bender, I believe they call him."
"The one who is in the boat is not Daddy Lu," said Gwen. "See, he is rowing as fast as he can pull. He is making straight for this island."
"Probably he is using the boat to make the trip in, and has left Daddy Lu behind till he gets back."
"Why should he do that? I don't understand it," said Gwen. "Let us go back and see."
"My dear Gwen, you look as if you thought something was wrong."
"I am afraid there is."