“Oh,” said Mrs. Diaz. She made a pattern in the sand with her sunshade point. “How long are you staying at Peep-Hole?” she asked.
“Oh, not long,” said Jack.
“Your bedrooms are in the tower, aren’t they?” asked Mrs. Diaz, looking straight at Jack. Jack looked straight back.
“Yes,” he said. “They are.”
“Can you see the Old House from your bedrooms?” asked the golden-haired woman.
“I’ll look and see when we get back to-night,” answered Jack.
Just then the children heard the sound of Dimmy’s tea-bell and they scrambled up, glad to be able to get away from the strange woman’s questions. Mike took a bundle of the rope with him, meaning to go on with the untangling of it at Peep-Hole. But Jack signalled quietly to him to leave it, so he put it down.
“Good-bye,” said the children politely, and ran over the sands at top speed.
“Jack, you were clever at answering those awkward questions of hers!” panted Mike. “I don’t know what I would have said if she had asked me if I could see the Old House from our bedroom window!”
“Jack said he’d look and see when we got back tonight!” giggled Peggy. “How did you think of that answer, Jack?”