"Hi, there, young lady!"
"Hi, yourself,--what d'you want?"
At the water's edge, a girl of sixteen stopped in the act of launching a
small skiff. She straightened her lithe figure and faced about, her
brown hair blowing in the breeze, turning a pair of snapping grey eyes
inquiringly upon the young man who walked down the beach toward her.
"Miss Dixon, isn't it?" asked the stranger, his deeply tanned features
breaking into an engaging smile. "I'm not sure I recognized you at first
in the bathing suit--"
"No matter how you were dressed I'm sure I wouldn't recognize you,"
returned Dorothy, shortly. "I've never laid eyes on you before--that's
why."
The young man laughed. "Quite right," he said, "you haven't. But I
happen to be a near neighbor of yours, and I've seen you."
"Up at New Canaan?"
"Yes. Dad has taken the Hawthorne place,--bought it in fact."
For a full minute the girl stared at this tall young man with the blonde
hair and the jolly smile. Surprise left her speechless.