Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/37

Rh It was more than a mile, perhaps nearly two, that he covered before he observed a  clearing ahead of him, and then came suddenly to the edge of the woods and to the shore  again. A very neat, brown cottage stood in the open space, with a garden around it, a  fence of white palings and a green gate at the  end of the lane. Beyond the house he could see grey rocks, a little pier stretching out into  the water, a fishing boat at anchor and, as a  background to everything, the bright, sunlit  sea. He opened the gate and came slowly through the garden.

A little girl was stooping over one of the round flowerbeds, picking pansies into her  white apron. She was a short and solid little person, with thick yellow braids, very round  pink cheeks and, as she looked up at him, a  most cordial welcoming smile.

“I’m Sally Shute,” she announced somewhat abruptly and without a particle of shyness;  then, as Billy hesitated, “I believe I would  like to know who you are.”

“I’m Billy Wentworth, and I brought these strawberries from Captain Saulsby,” the boy  answered, a little abashed at this sudden  plunge into the business of getting acquainted.