"Oh no, not grand," insisted I, "but very jolly. We mean to enjoy ourselves, I can tell you."
"That's right," said he; "so do I."
But he could not get away from the subject of Joyce.
"Has your sister gone far?" asked he, in a minute.
"I don't know," I answered, quite determined to throw no light upon the subject of where she was and with whom.
A direct question made it difficult now to keep to this determination.
"Do you know if my nephew has been here this afternoon?" was the question.
I looked down intently at my work.
"Yes, he came," answered I. "He sat some while with father, till father went out."
I did not add any mention of where he had been since. It was a prevarication of course, but I thought I did it out of a desire to spare the squire's feelings. He asked no more questions. He sat silent for a while.