Page:Caroline Lockhart--The full of the Moon.djvu/72

 at the L.X. ranch-house on the Esmeraldas. How'd you like it?"

Miss Spiser stared at her brother, while Fritz Poth, flicking flies from the window of the hotel office where Nan received her callers, gave him a mocking, sidelong glance which might have dampened the enthusiasm with which Nan accepted the invitation had she seen it.

"How very, very nice of you, Miss Spiser!" she cried at once, all eagerness, as she turned to that still dumfounded lady who, within her memory, had not been asked to join her brother on any jaunt for pleasure.

"I—we'd like it v-very much if you will come," she stammered, having been given her cue in a warning glance from his eyes.

"I know of no reason why I cannot," declared Nan, her eyes sparkling. "I've rather exhausted the rides about here and have read all the books and magazines Mr. Poth can borrow for me, so the prospect has looked a little dull. The one promise mother exacted from me was that I would not go prowling about the country unchaperoned, and this quite solves the problem, doesn't it?"