“A-ha, a criminal!” cried Walter.
“That only makes him the more romantic,” declared Paul.
“It doesn’t help our case one bit,” said Jack. “Haven’t you heard of how women will deck a murderer’s cell with flowers?”
“I don’t think he’d have the nerve to be a murderer,” remarked Belle. “His specialty is stealing purses.”
And while the boys listened intently and threw in occasional indignant exclamations, the girls told of the young man’s attempt to scrape acquaintance, and of how later he had almost succeeded in getting possession of Cora’s purse.
“The cur!” growled Jack. “I wish I’d happened along when he was trying to get fresh!”
“You helped me out just the same, even if you weren’t there,” replied Cora. “You ought to have seen how he made tracks for his buggy when I said my brother would be along shortly.”
“You see,” said Jack, throwing out his chest, “how the terror of my name has preceded me.”
“It’s comforting anyway,” chimed in Walter. “It proves that we men are good for something.”
“And that the girls ought to have us with them all the time as trusty knights and vassals,” added Paul.