`` Are them people friends of yours ? '' she asked in a low tone . `` Yes , '' he muttered . `` Well , let us go ashore if they want us to , '' she said calmly . `` I do n't mind . '' For three seconds Winslow hesitated . Then he pulled ashore and helped Nelly to alight on a jutting rock . There was a curious , set expression about his fine mouth as he marched Nelly up to Mrs. Keyton-Wells and introduced her . Mrs. Keyton-Wells 's greeting was slightly cool , but very polite . She supposed Miss Ray was some little country girl with whom Burton Winslow was carrying on a summer flirtation ; respectable enough , no doubt , and must be treated civilly , but of course would n't expect to be made an equal of exactly . The other women took their cue from her , but the men were more cordial . Miss Ray might be shabby , but she was distinctly fetching , and Winslow looked savage . Nelly was not a whit abashed , seemingly , by the fashionable circle in which she found herself , and she talked away to Will Evans and the others in her soft drawl as if she had known them all her life . All might have gone passably well , had not a little Riverside imp , by name of Rufus Hent , who had been picked up by the picnickers to run their errands , come up just then with a pail of water . `` Golly ! '' he ejaculated in very audible tones . `` If there ai n't Mrs. Pennington 's hired girl ! '' Mrs. Keyton-Wells stiffened with horror . Winslow darted a furious glance at the tell-tale that would have annihilated anything except a small boy . Will Evans grinned and went on talking to Nelly , who had failed to hear , or at least to heed , the exclamation .
The mischief was done , the social thermometer went down XXXXX zero in Nelly 's neighbourhood .
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