Here was a boy, a rather grown-up boy, who appeared to have the manners of a young man. He naturally put his hand to the arm of either or both girls if they seemed to need the least assistance in climbing the uncertain rocky way that led to the small cliff.
Now, if that had been Tom or any of the other boys, they might have had a hearty laugh should Millie Graham or Gloria Doane “take a header.”
Naturally the girls thought of such a possibility, yet rather daintily did they “pick their steps” under the guidance of the stranger.
Millie was especially susceptible. She “found her tongue” as Jane would have expressed it, and she chattered so incessantly about the wonders of Barbend that Gloria felt already an alien.
“And when you want to, you can go out to the Light House,” chirped Millie, as they landed on Baldy Rock.
“That’ll be fine,” replied the stranger.
“And you’ll be sure to be interested in the big lights—”
“Oh, yes. I mean to take that all in.”
“And we know the Light House Keeper, Peter Bender, don’t we, Glo?”
“Yes,” said Glo.