"Ha!" ejaculated the old man, stopping abruptly. "So! I find you at last, do I?"
"Ye-yes, sir," stammered Ruth.
To tell the truth, he looked so fierce, he had such a hawklike eye, and he spoke so harshly that he fairly frightened the oldest Corner House girl. She felt as though he must think she had been hiding from him purposely.
"I was in your town here once before looking for you. You were not to be found," he said.
"Ye-yes, sir," admitted Ruth. "I guess I was out that day."
"Out? I didn't know where to hunt for you," growled the old man, shaking the green umbrella and looking as fierce, Ruth thought, as though he might like to shake her in the same way.
"Ye-yes, sir," she stammered.
"Don't say that again!" roared the stranger. "Speak sensibly. Or are you as big a fool as most other females!"
At that Ruth grew rather piqued. She regained her self-possession and began to study the old man.
"I'm not sure how foolish you consider all women to be, sir," she said. "Perhaps I am merely an average girl."