"Since Mr. Crocker isn't at home we may as well be walking back to the cottage," Penny remarked after the three had chatted for a moment. "Rudy may muster his courage and take after me again."
"I'll go along with you," said Michael falling into step with the girls. "I came to see Herman Crocker too."
Neither Penny nor Susan offered any comment. They were quite sure that the young man had been crouching behind the hedge. They believed that he had observed Mr. Crocker drive away, and they thought that probably he had been watching their own movements.
During the walk back to the cottage, the girls chatted pleasantly with Michael. Susan, unaware that the young man had been uncommunicative regarding his past history, began to ask him casual questions about his home town.
"You were born in the west, Penny tells me," she commented.
"That's right," the young man agreed uneasily.
"I'd never have suspected it," Susan went on. "You don't talk like a westerner. Did you live on a ranch?"
Michael shook his head. He hesitated and then said in a low tone:
"I spent most of my early life in an orphan's home. It was a place called Glenhaven."
"Why, there's a Home in this state by that name!" cried Penny.