With a beating heart, Miss Ross led him down the pathway towards the river, the boy kicking out his feet and taking huge steps with his short legs in a state of high triumph and glee.
Presently, at the water's edge, he looked wistfully up in his companion's face and asked:
"Ain't we going back? Never going back—never—no more?"
"Would you like never to go back, darling?" said Jin, stooping to fold him in her arms.
"I want to go back to Moley!" answered Johnnie, now panic-stricken, and making up his face for a cry.
Heavy drops of rain began to fall, and at the same moment a boat, shooting suddenly round a bend in the river, grated its keel on the shallows under the bank.
CHAPTER XXIII.
"STRANGERS YET."
The rower of this boat, whose back was necessarily turned to the shore, wore a pea-jacket, with its collar turned up to the brim of a black hat, such as is not usually affected by watermen, either professional or amateur. Through Jin's beating heart shot a sickening throb of misgiving and alarm. She turned cold and faint, catching up her boy and hugging him instinctively to her breast.