“Oh, thank you, sir!” said the bigger girl. “We’re much obliged!”
“Yes! A knight to the rescue, eh? Do you live on this block, little lady?” he asked, and when he smiled his face was a whole lot pleasanter than it was in repose.
“Yes, sir. Right there at Number 80.”
“Number 80?” repeated the gentleman, with some interest. “Is there a family in your house named Kenway?”
“Oh, yes, sir! We’re the Kenways—two of them,” declared Tess, while Dot was a little inclined to put her finger in her mouth and watch him shyly.
“Ha!” exclaimed the stranger. “Two of Leonard Kenway’s daughters? Is your mother at home?”
“We—we haven’t any mother—not now, sir,” said Tess, more faintly.
“Not living? I had not heard. Then, who is the head of the household?”
“Oh, you want to see Ruth,” cried Tess. “She’s the biggest. It must be Ruth you want to see.”
“Perhaps you are right,” said the gentleman, eyeing the girls curiously. “If she is the chief of the clan, it is she I must see. I have come to inform her of her Uncle Peter Stower’s death.”