"About twenty, but some of them are rather inaccessible and others are quite in a dilapidated condition so we will not visit all. We shall begin with San Diego, for here we are within six miles of the site, then we can go on to San Luis Rey and San Juan Capistrano on our way to Los Angeles, and then we can decide where we shall want to stay for the winter."
"I think it's awfully nice here," remarked Jack.
"Yes, but there might be a still nicer place," said Jean sagely, "and then we'd be sorry when we came to it that we hadn't looked further. You know we have said all along that we wanted to be near Mr. Pinckney," she reminded Jack.
"Oh, yes, that is so; we do want to do that, for then we may get boxes of candy every little while," returned Jack cheerfully.
"That's not the reason," said Nan severely. "It is because he is so nice and will make us all at home. Won't it seem queer to really settle down to live in a perfectly strange place? I wonder how in the world we shall know what to buy and what to pay for it. How shall you manage, mother?" She turned to Mrs. Corner.
"I shall not bother my head over that problem till I face it," her mother made reply. "I should judge from our experiences so far that we shall not want for what we need. It is surely a bountiful country and the marketing will be the least of our difficulties."
"What is the greatest, then?"
"Deciding where it will be best to locate. There are so many charming places described in these pamphlets that I am perfectly bewildered." She laid her hand upon a pile of circulars by her side.
"I think we'd better decide to stay where you feel the best," said Nan.
"But we don't want to stay so long in one place that we can thoroughly test it till we come to the right one, and who is to know which that is?"