“Then we can’t see her!” Patsy cried out disappointedly. “I told you she said she was afraid to meet us on the beach. Listen, dearest and bestest Auntie. As we go back over the road to the house, I’ll show you the place where Dolores wants us to meet her. It’s only a little way off the road and easy to reach. There isn’t the least bit of danger from snakes. There’s a kind of natural aisle between the trees that leads to it. Dolores brought me back over it, so I know what I’m talking about.”
“You may point it out to me as we go back to the house,” was the nearest approach to consent which Miss Carroll would give. “Now all of you must hurry to the bath house and make up for lost time. It will be at least two o’clock before we reach home. I will wait for you here. Don’t stop to talk, but hurry.”
Once in the bath house, however, the Wayfarers’ tongues wagged incessantly as they speedily prepared for the homeward hike.
Very naturally the conversation centered on Dolores, of whom Patsy continued to hold forth in glowing terms.
“Wait until Aunt Martha sees her,” she confidently predicted. “She can’t help liking our wood nymph. She was a tiny bit peeved when I said that I knew there was a mystery about Dolores. There is, too. I’m sure of it. She’s not headstrong or disobedient, but she is terribly unhappy. The person she lives with, that horrible ‘she,’ I suppose, must be awfully hateful to her.”
“Do you think we could find out for ourselves where she lives?” Bee asked earnestly. “Then we might be able to help her. She may need help very badly. Your father said that she might be the daughter of a fisherman.”
“We’ll try to find out.” Patsy spoke with quick decision. “Day after to-morrow we’ll make Dad take us to where those fisher folks live. Maybe we’ll find her there. Don’t say a word about it when you meet her to-morrow. We’ll just keep it dark and do a little sleuthing of our own.”
Her companions agreeing with Patsy that this would be an excellent plan, the quartette rapidly finished dressing, locked the door of the bath house behind them and joined Miss Carroll on the beach.
“There’s the place where we are to meet Dolores, Auntie,” informed Patsy when the party reached the point on the road where she had left her new friend. “It’s right beyond those oaks. You can see for yourself that the walking is good.”
“It isn’t quite so bad as I had expected,” Miss Martha grudgingly admitted. “Since you are so determined to introduce this girl to me, I may as well resign myself to taking this walk with you to-morrow.”