"What do you mean, Mona ?" "What I say; are you _sure_ ?" "Funny thing to ask.

Well,--I am and--I'm not." "Now, what do _you_ mean ?" "I'll tell you." And then he told her how queer he thought it that Azalea had had no letters from her father since her arrival,--nor any letters at all from Horner's Corners.
"And she's so sly about it," he wound up; "why once she wrote a letter to herself, and pretended it was from her father!" "I can't make it out," Mona mused.

"If her father were dead, she'd have no reason to conceal the fact.

Nor if he had remarried.

And if he has done anything disgraceful--maybe that's it, Bill! Maybe he's in jail!" "I've thought of that, Mona, and, of course, it's a possibility.