"Neal!" Nan looked up startled. Then she recovered herself. "Oh, your brother," she said with too great a show of indifference. "What is he doing here?"
"He came to see if we were all alive after the typhoon. The papers reported a great deal of damage in this part of the country and so he rushed over to see whether we were sound in life and limb."
"And where is he now?" inquired Miss Helen, to Nan's relief asking the question she would have put but for a self-consciousness she could not overcome.
"Oh, he has gone off with Jack. She is showing him the town, but we were tired and wouldn't go."
Gone off with Jack, very willingly of course, thought Nan. He was so little eager to see her that he had not even returned for a moment's greeting. She wondered how many letters Jack had received from him during this interval, and again she began to build up the altar of sacrifice upon which she would lay her heart. "Was it worth while going out to see the havoc?" she asked.
"Oh, I don't know. Yes, it was rather interesting to see what was going on down by the wharves. We saw a good many funny things."
"Suppose we go, Aunt Helen," proposed Nan suddenly. "We have been cooped up all morning and I have been reading about a little temple of Jizo which they say is worth while. These others don't care about temples, so we won't insist upon their going. What do you say?"
Miss Helen agreed to the proposition and they began to make ready.
"Aren't you going to stay for lunch?" queried Mary Lee.
"No, we will get something at a tea-house on the way," replied Nan, and was off without further remark.