“It will be all right, Neale O’Neil. You know it will. Your father couldn’t go wrong.”
“You’re a pal worth having, Aggie,” he whispered to the girl.
“I would like to see my father,” he said to the lawyer. “Do you think we could go to Cedar Island in the houseboat?”
“Of course we can!” exclaimed Mr. Howbridge. “We’ll go as soon as we can get her afloat.”
“And that won’t take long; she didn’t seem to be in a bad position,” said Tom. “Come on, we’ll go over now,” he went on, nodding to his father and his brother.
“I have an Alice-doll on the boat,” said Dot, taking a sudden liking to Henry.
“You have?” he exclaimed, taking hold of her hand which she thrust confidingly into his. “Well, that’s fine! I wish I had a doll!”
“Do you?” asked Dot, all smiles now. “Well, I have a lot of ’em at home. There’s Muriel and Bonnie Betty and a sailor boy doll, and Nosmo King Kenway, and then I have twins—Ann Eliza and Eliza Ann, and—”
“Eliza Ann isn’t a twin any more—anyway not a good twin,” put in Tess. “Both her legs are off!”
“Oh, that’s too bad!” exclaimed Henry sympathetically.