"If she had such a father don't you suppose he would have found her out long ago?" she would ask. "He must have known her mother's people and it would have been easy enough to find them." So Mary Lee's hopes for the moment would be crushed, though they would soon grow apace as some new possibility presented itself, and she would come to Nan with some such remark as: "Surely Miss Dolores's uncle would know about her father."
"But he won't tell," Nan would remind her. "He promised her aunt on her death bed as she had promised her father before her never to tell who he was. It is like the most mysterious sort of story."
Sunday afternoon came their opportune moment to confide in Mr. Pinckney. Jean and Jack were absorbed in a trayful of sea shells which afforded them no end of amusement. They were playing a Sunday play, they explained. The red deep lacquer tray was the Red Sea, the white shells were the children of Israel who were to go over on dry land; the colored shells were the Egyptians who should be drowned in crossing, for Jack had a tumbler of water ready for the right moment. She assured Nan that Mrs. Roberts had told her the water would hurt neither shells nor tray and they expected much satisfaction in overwhelming Pharaoh and his host.
Mrs. Corner with Miss Helen was talking to Mrs. Roberts in a corner of the pleasant living-room, Carter and the señorita had sauntered into the garden and therefore Nan and Mary Lee pounced upon Mr. Pinckney as he was taking his after dinner cigar on the veranda.
"Now, Miss Zeph," he said as the two girls settled themselves near him, "you can just tell me a story. I feel lazy and want to be amused."
Nan looked at Mary Lee. "Let's tell him about the señorita," she said suddenly.
Mary Lee looked approval. "It's a mighty romantic story," she remarked.
"Oh, but you have told it to me," he said. "I want something quite fresh and new."
"We haven't told you near all," said Nan. "Did you know, for instance, that she had an American father?"
"No." He looked surprised, then he asked: "Who was he?"