Jethro got to his feet and turned his back on the storekeeper and picked up the parcel he had brought.
"C-Cynthy well?" he inquired.
"I—I'll call her," said Wetherell, huskily. "She—she was down by the brook when you came."
But Jethro Bass did not wait. He took his parcel and strode down to Coniston Water, and there he found Cynthia seated on a rock with her toes in a pool.
"How be you, Cynthy?" said he, looking down at her.
"I'm well, Uncle Jethro," said Cynthia.
"R-remembered what I told you to call me, hev you," said Jethro, plainly pleased. "Th-that's right. Cynthy?"
Cynthia looked up at him inquiringly.
"S-said you liked books—didn't you? S-said you liked books?"
"Yes, I do," she replied simply, "very much."