Page:Leah Reed--Brenda's summer at Rockley.djvu/236

220 Did you notice, Brenda, the strange expression in her eyes?”

“I believe that I was half in a dream,” said Julia, “but I am wide enough awake now.” During the rest  of the journey, the three girls laughed and chatted as  if they had had nothing more serious than shopping on their minds.

Now it happened that on this very day when Brenda and the others went to the city, Amy, feeling a little  lonely, decided to go out rowing. It was in the afternoon when she started, for she wisely waited until the sun  had moderated.

She had to walk nearly a mile to reach the little cove near which lived an old fisherman from whom she was  in the habit of hiring a boat. He charged her so little for it, that Amy occasionally could afford this luxury. The boat was cheap because it was shabby, old-fashioned in design, and never in demand. Amy, indeed, and Fritz were the only persons who ever hired it, and the old man  would have been willing to let Amy have it for nothing. “She has such a pleasant way with her,” he said to his wife, “that I’d be almost willing to let her have it for  nothing, and she’s as careful with it as if she was my own  daughter, I’m sure of that.” Now although the old boat  was shabby, it was safe and strong. Mrs. Redmond had made sure of its character before giving Amy permission  to go out in it alone. Mrs. Redmond herself had given Amy her first lessons in rowing, and she knew that in  the neighborhood of the cove there was little chance of