"Nahnya, is Charley in your family?" he asked bluntly.
"He is my brother," she readily answered.
Relief unspeakable flooded Ralph's breast. "Why didn't you tell me?" he cried naïvely.
"Why should I?" said Nahnya coolly.
The rebuke was lost on him. Suddenly he found the sun smiling with an extraordinary graciousness on the river, and all the pine trees seemed to be full of little singing birds—as a matter of fact there are no warblers so far north. This was a glorious adventure that he was launched upon; Romance was alive and Life was good! He derided himself now for the timid folly that had prevented him putting the question before. Meanwhile the poor fellow was struggling not to let all this show in his face.
"What you think about Charley?" Nahnya asked idly.
"I thought maybe he was your husband," Ralph said, with a great air of carelessness.
She translated to the boy, and they both laughed. Ralph joined with them. "I got no husband," Nahnya said, with a scornful lift to her chin. "I not want any. I like better to work for myself!"
She might be as independent of men as she chose, so she was not owned by any man. "That's what every girl says," he remarked with a new audacity. "Until she catches a man, and makes him work for her!"
Nahnya declined to be drawn into the game. She affected to be busy with her course ahead.