But Worth had begun upon the construction of a raft, and was not in a home-going mood. Thus encouraged by his young friend the man who mended the boats sat down on a log.
"When did you begin to want to know about the 'underlying principles of life'?" His smile quoted it, though less mockingly than tenderly.
Katie was silent.
"Was it the day she came?" he asked quietly.
She gasped. Was he—a wizard? But looking at him and seeing he looked very much more like a man than like anything else, she met him as man should be met. "The day who came? I don't know what you mean."
"The girl. Was it the day you took her in? Saved her by making her save you?"
She was too startled by that for pretense. She could only stare at him.
"I saw her before you did," he said.
She looked around apprehensively. The man who mended the boats knowing about Ann? Was the whole world losing its mind just because it had been such a hot day?
But the world looking natural enough, she turned back to him. "I don't understand. Tell me, please."