Ed was silent, for the girls were returning. Hazel had her brown arms around Cora while Bess looked at Laurel as if she expected every moment her chum might evaporate. Walter towed on behind the little party.
"I must go down to the landing, Jack," Cora said. "I expect a registered letter, and it is most important that I get it at once."
Now this was the very thing that Jack did not want her to do—to get into the crowd of curious ones that would be sure to be congregated about the landing.
"Could I not fetch it? You don't want to leave the girls when they have just come up," Jack interposed.
"I am afraid this time I will have to get my own mail," said Cora with a smile. "Ed can run me down and we will come straight back."
This was finally agreed upon, although Jack did not like the arrangements. He called Ed aside and warned him not to let Cora leave the boat, not to let her speak to anyone, and not to let any one intercept her. "You can tell about those lawyer fellows," he finished. "They might think it their legal duty to interview her, for they know she has been let into the hermit's secret."
Ed readily promised all Jack said, punctuating his remarks with a display of arm muscle which meant that anyone would have to pass pretty close to it to reach Cora while she was in his company. Then they left.
Jack sat down on the ledge near the water. He was not given to the "glooms" but surely he had had more than his share of serious business lately. How it would end was his cause for anxiety. So he was pondering when Laurel touched his arm.
"Father would like to speak to you," she said in a faint voice. "He seems to think he knows you."
Jack jumped up suddenly. "He spoke to me very rationally last night," he said; "perhaps that is what he means."