“‘That’s him!’ exclaimed Ptolemy.
“‘Him who?’ I asked.
“‘Rob somebody––stepdaddy’s college chum. He wrote he was coming, and they thought they had postponed him.’
“With a sprint of speed the four Polydores surrounded your Mr. Rossiter, all talking at once. I came to the rescue, of course, and explained the situation, and we decided to follow you.
“Ptolemy was promoter for the trip and suggested the advisability of his accompanying us as courier and future nursemaid to Diogenes. He was intending to come anyway, but thought he’d wait for us. He had all his belongings packed.”
“He hasn’t many except those he had on,” said Silvia thoughtfully.
“He has some swimming trunks, two collars, two shirts, some mismated socks, homemade fishing tackle and a battered baseball bat. We came away surreptitiously to escape detection by the trio left 89 behind. I knew you wouldn’t welcome his presence––but he said he was coming anyway, so we thought we might as well bring him and express him back.”
After visiting with Beth for a few moments, Silvia and I withdrew to talk matters over confidentially.
“All’s well that ends well,” I quoth.