Ralph Stock

“ Sprague considered a moment, then lay back on the sand and laughed.
“Not a bit,” he said; “but poor, dear Mrs. Adams! What will she do without her lunatic? And the star boarder—I suppose she laughed with something more than her eyes when you had finished?” ”

“ Sprague emitted a sound usually described as “Pshaw!” although it is nothing like it, and flung a pebble into the sea with unnecessary force.
“It does,” he said emphatically. “Of course,” he added, after a pause, “you can always kick her out. 'Ask for her room,' I believe is the right term.”
“She's paying two pounds a week,” said Meg thoughtfully. “I wonder what she is?”
Her hearer preserved a discreet silence.
“She's very anxious to meet you,” she added presently.
Sprague was lying face downward on the sand, and out of the corner of her eye Meg saw his body stiffen perceptibly. ”

“ Presently he looked up, and became instantly engrossed in the progress of the carnival.
“We can see splendidly from here,” he said eagerly. “What on earth are they doing?”
Meg's eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Ah,” she said, “we don't get first-night plays, but we do have surf carnivals. That's the landing of Captain Cook. Look—there's his sloop, and there he is in the whaleboat going ashore. Those are the aboriginals—see them squatting in semicircles on the sand?”
A gunshot boomed from the sloop anchored beyond the breakers, and echoed up the cliffs beyond the beach. ”