“‘I am. You cannot think of any girl whom you have visited again and again, of late?’
“‘Visited!’ exclaimed he. ‘Why, then she is not one of our Elmington guests!’
“I fixed my eyes upon him, and saw nothing, though I had always thought him as transparent as glass. It was my turn now to be bewildered. ‘What!’ I exclaimed, ‘can’t you guess, now, to whom I allude?’
“Gazing at me with the look of one who had totally lost his reckoning, he shook his head slowly from side to side. I was positively vexed. There came over me the impatient feeling of a teacher who is striving in vain to hammer an idea into the head of a numskull. ‘Well, then,’ said I, with some heat; and throwing out my arm at full length, I pointed across the River.
“‘Across the River, too,’ said he, with contracted features. ‘Upon my word, this conundrum grows interesting.’ And with his eyes fixed upon the sand, he stroked his tawny beard. ‘Across the River—let me see—Miss Jenny Royal—dinner-call—no other visit. The Misses Surrey—party-call. Miss Adelaide Temple—breakfast—going to pay my respects to-morrow. Anywhere else? No. Well,’ said he, suddenly throwing up his hands, ‘I give it up! What is the answer?’
“I looked at him for a moment, but could make nothing of him. ‘There! There! There!’ I exclaimed, at last, stabbing at Oakhurst with my forefinger.
“‘Where?’ asked he, looking across the River and up and down the shore opposite.
“‘There! There!’
“‘You seem to be pointing to Oakhurst.’
“My arm dropped across the gunwale.