“Sit by me, Belle,” pleaded Jack. “I won’t let the bad thunder hurt you.”
“We’ll all sit by each other!” proposed Walter.
This was a signal for a general change of places, each boy pretending to protect a girl.
“Now don’t let’s get off the track,” went on Cora, when quiet had been restored. “Are you all sure that you want to go directly to the Cove, and don’t care for a little side trip before reaching there? Of course it’s going to be fine at the shore, and there’s enough variety so that each one can find something she or he likes–rocks, ocean, sandy beach, a lighthouse—”
“Where they do light housekeeping?” asked Ed, softly.
“Please don’t,” Cora begged.
“Any nice girls down there?” asked Jack, making eyes at Eline.
They all started as a particularly loud clap of thunder followed a vivid flash of lightning, and the wind rose suddenly, moaning through the trees.
“I don’t believe it will amount to much,” was Walter’s opinion. “Probably only a wind storm.”
“But I guess I’d better put down the windows on the West side,” remarked Cora. “I’ll be back in a moment—”