From Mr.Wilder's point, however, the contents were inscrutable; he looked from the letter to his daughter's serene smile, and relapsed into a puzzled silence.
'I should say, on the contrary, that he _doesn't_ want you to start immediately for the Dolomites,' Constance observed.
'It's a girl,' Nannie groaned.

'I suspected it from the moment we got the telegram in Lucerne.

Oh, why did I ever let that wretched boy get out of my sight ?' 'I dare say she's horrid,' Constance put in.

'One meets such frightful Americans travelling.' 'We will go up to Riva on the afternoon boat and investigate.' It was Mrs.Eustace who spoke.

There was an undertone in her voice which suggested that she was prepared to do her duty by her brother's son, however unpleasant that duty might be.
'American girls are so grasping,' said Nannie plaintively.