Page:Caroline Lockhart--The full of the Moon.djvu/43

 stay?" inquired Mr. McCaffrey, affecting a large yawn of nonchalance.

"My plans are very indefinite."

"Well, well." His voice vibrated with sympathy, though Mr. McCaffrey was merely sparring for time.

There really seemed no alternative but to believe that her presence was due to the third reason which accounted for strange young women in Hopedale, yet everything about Nan forbade the familiar inquiry as to whether she was "headed for Doña Marianna's place."

Mr. McCaffrey could not remember when he had felt himself so baffled, so puzzled, so utterly at sea as he now found himself by her non-committal answers.

He had an uneasy feeling, too, that he had not been nearly so subtle as he had intended. A mischievous sparkle in Nan's eyes gave rise to the thought, and his large ears reddened perceptibly as the impression grew.

"My skin 'll crack wide open if you leave this here soap-suds on it much longer," came plaintively from the barber-chair.