`` I am a stranger here . '' `` Well , I hardly thought you 'd be foolish enough to be out there if you knew , '' said the other in mollified accents . `` The place ought not to be left without warning , anyhow . It is the most careless thing I ever heard of . There is a big hole right off that point and nobody has ever been able to find the bottom of it . A person who got into it would never be heard of again . The rocks there form an eddy that sucks everything right down . '' `` I am very grateful to you for calling me in , '' said Katherine humbly . `` I had no idea I was in such danger . '' `` You have a very fine bunch of seaweeds , I see , '' said the unknown . But Katherine was in no mood to converse on seaweeds . She suddenly realized what she must look like -- bare feet , draggled skirts , dripping arms . And this creature whom she had taken for a lunatic was undoubtedly a gentleman . Oh , if he would only go and give her a chance to put on her shoes and stockings ! Nothing seemed further from his intentions . When Katherine had picked up the aforesaid articles and turned homeward , he walked beside her , still discoursing on seaweeds as eloquently as if he were commonly accustomed to walking with barefooted young women . In spite of herself , Katherine could n't help listening to him , for he managed to invest seaweeds with an absorbing interest . She finally decided that as he did n't seem to mind her bare feet , she would n't either . He knew so much about seaweeds that Katherine felt decidedly amateurish beside him . He looked over her specimens and pointed out the valuable ones .
He explained the best method of preserving and mounting them , and told her XXXXX other and less dangerous places along the shore where she might get some new varieties .
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