Miss Wiggin continued to laugh. “It would have to be a few teeth, as he’s lost almost all that he ever had, and he’s so old that he’s half deaf and getting blind. That’s why he didn’t warn me that you were coming. If you hadn’t shown that you were scared, he’d never have made an offer to touch you.�
“How was I to know that?� demanded the man on the limb, flushing. “On such short notice I couldn’t tell whether he was a senile and harmless old dog or a young and savage one bent on making a meal off my person.�
“You’re an awful coward, aren’t you?� asked the girl, rising to her feet and regarding him with open contempt.
She was slender, willowy, and graceful. He considered that she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen, and he wondered how, even with the sunbonnet hiding her face, he had made the blunder of mistaking her for a middle-aged woman. He felt his heart thumping queerly. He also felt his face burning beneath her unmasked disdain.
“Let me explain,� he pleaded hastily.
“It isn’t necessary,� she cut him short. “I don’t suppose there are any Reginalds to be found outside the pages of fiction.�
“The Daphnes,� he returned, “are myths.�
She tossed her head. “Besides being a ’fraid cat,� she retorted, “you’re just about the most impolite person I ever met. What were you doing prowling around in this field, anyhow?�
“Being in haste to secure a conveyance to Albion for two gentlemen whose motor has broken down back yonder on the road, I was making a short cut to town and avoiding the most of the hill. The gentlemen must catch the three-forty train at Albion. It is now,� he stated, balancing himself on the limb and taking out his watch, “seven minutes past two.�
“And twenty-three miles to Albion. Your gentlemen will have to hurry.�