"Now look here, ma'am," cried Preston, looking up with sudden animation, "why couldn't he go home with me? I've lost my dog. Why couldn't he go home with me and be my dog, you know?"
"I don't see why not, if you would like him. I know Mr. Danforth would be glad to give him up to a boy so kind as you are. Where do you live?"
"At Laurel Grove, ma'am." And feeling a growing desire to stand well in the lady's esteem, he tried to explain the situation.
"But I—perhaps I sha'n't go home—that is, not to-day. I didn't know what I should do. I stopped here on the way. I hadn't decided, you know," said he, vaguely.
The lady looked at him in some surprise. Perhaps she doubted whether he could be trusted with a dog. But she did not say anything like that. "Do you live at Laurel Grove? Why, that is just where I am going. I came from Hilltop yesterday to visit the Danforths on my way, and I'm going to Laurel Grove to-day, to Dr. Gray's."
"Why, Dr. Gray is my father! And now I know who you are. You're Miss Pike! I might have known it was you," he went on, thinking aloud, "for you look just as I expected you would."
He could not dream how this little speech hurt Miss Pike. She had moved forward to shake hands with him, but at his last words her cheeks flushed and she drew back again. Was she thinking that very likely he had heard her called "that homely Miss Pike?"
But the next moment she smiled pleasantly, holding out her hand.
"And now I know who you are. You're Master Preston Gray. 'I might have known it was you, for you look just as I expected you would!'"
"Oh, Flaxie told you I wore spectacles, didn't she?" Preston was somewhat sensitive about those. "I have to wear them, for if I take them off I'm blind almost," said he by way of apology.