“Where are you going, Reuben, with your good clothes on?”
“Nowheres,” and he blushed painfully.
“Oh, you must be going somewhere,” she insisted, for he seemed but a little boy.
“Oh, I jest took half a day off and come over to see you folks,” he went on, and this time his ears were included in the general red color scheme of his face.
“That was nice of you,” went on the Guardian, while the girls tried hard not to giggle. “Won’t you sit down?”
“No, ma’am. I thought maybe some of you girls would like to come for a row,” and he motioned to a small, and not altogether water-tight boat that he had moored near the little dock.
“We can’t all get in that boat, Reuben,” said Marie.
“No ma’am, I—er—I only thought of taking one!”
Reuben fussed with his straw hat, while the girls, after a first gasp of surprise, looked at each other.
“Which—one—Reuben?” asked Mrs. Bonnell softly.