"My brothers have gone outside," said Kitty. "There is only my father and—and a stranger."
"A stranger?" said Nahnya.
Kitty was not going to blurt out her secret. Her friend's mind must be prepared by delicate stages for its reception. "We have a white man stopping with us," she said very off-hand.
Nahnya was not blind to the self-conscious air and the blush. Her arm tightened affectionately about Kitty.
"Why did you run away from us like you did?" asked Kitty hastily, to create a diversion.
Nahnya shrugged. "I was afraid they thank me, and make a fuss," she said uneasily. "I feel like a fool then."
"You silly dear!" cried Kitty embracing her afresh.
There was a new demonstrativeness in Kitty, a breathless ardour that in itself was enough to tell the other woman something had happened since their parting.
"So you have a visitor," she said teasingly. "I think he is young, yes?"
Kitty tucked in an end of Nahnya's braid that was escaping. "Fairly young," she said.