"That is my name, sir."
"Humph! So, the boy has got some sense, after all," muttered the old man.
Ruth suddenly felt that there was a deep meaning in the old man's look and a reason for his curiosity. She asked faintly:
"What boy, sir? Whom do you mean?"
"That whippersnapper, Luke Shepard."
"Oh!" Ruth exclaimed. "You are Neighbor!"
So that is why Luke, coming half an hour later to this very front door, spied the green umbrella and Mr. Henry Northrup's great overshoes standing together on the porch of the old Corner House.
Luke did not know at first whether it would be best to ring the bell or to run. He wavered for several minutes, undecided. Then suddenly Neale O'Neil, rounding the corner of the house, caught sight of him.
"Hullo!" shouted the ex-circus boy. "Lost, strayed, or stolen? The girls have been looking for you. Your sister is here already."
"Sh!" whispered Luke, beckoning frantically. "Somebody else is here, too."