“You thought it was just an umbrella on the sand, with no one under it, did you?” asked the lady, still smiling.
“No, we knew somebody was under it, ’cause we saw you,” said Janet. “But we thought it was Mr. and Mrs. Keller. We know them, and Ted thought it would be fun to knock over their umbrella and holler ‘boo!’ at them. And we did,” she concluded.
“Only it wasn’t Mr. and Mrs. Keller,” grimly sighed Ted. “We’re sorry,” he went on.
“And we beg your pardon,” added Janet.
The man was now smiling again, and the lady laughed aloud.
“Oh, you dear children!” she exclaimed. “How funny you are!”
Ted was glad if any one could see a joke in it. He couldn’t, for he thought the strange man and woman would surely tell his father what had happened.
“So you thought we looked like friends of yours, did you?” asked the lady. “Well, mistakes will happen, and we will forgive this one. No harm is done,” she said, as Ted brought back the umbrella, which had rolled a little way over the sand.
“Do you children live here?” asked the lady, who, except for her white hair, did not look like Mrs. Keller.
“No, ma’am. We just came here for the summer vacation,” explained Ted, who had stuck the end of the umbrella handle down in the sand again.