Every day Mr Washington and the two boys went hunting or fishing, played golf or swam in the cool mountain lake. John found that Mr Washington was completely uninterested in any ideas or opinions except his own. Mrs Washington was always reserved and shy. She was quite indifferent to her two daughters and was only interested in Percy, with whom she had long conversations in Spanish at dinner.

Jasmine, the older daughter, looked like Kismine but was not so pretty. Her favorite books were about girls from poor families. Percy and Kismine seemed to have the arrogant attitude of their father - they were both selfish.

John was fascinated by the castle, and one day he asked Percy, "Who built this wonderful castle?"

"Oh," he answered, "I'm embarrassed to tell you, but it was a man who worked in the film industry. He was the only person we found who could work with an unlimited amount of money - although he couldn't read or write."

Towards the end of August John was sorry that he had to return to school. He and Kismine decided to run away and get married the following June.

"It would be nicer to get married here," Kismine said, "but I could never get father's permission to marry you. The best thing is to run away. It's terrible for rich people to get married in America because they have to inform the newspapers."

"I know," said John.

One afternoon late in August one of Kismine's comments changed the entire situation and terrified John.

They were in their favorite place and between kisses John said sadly, "Sometimes I think we'll never marry. You're too wealthy, too magnificent. You're not like other girls because you're too rich. I should marry the daughter of a rich businessman and be happy with her half-million dollars."

"I knew the daughter of a rich businessman once," said Kismine. "She was a friend of my sister who visited us."

"Oh, then you've had other guests?" John asked.

"Oh, yes," she said quickly, "we've had a few."

"But wasn't your father afraid they would tell others about this place?"

"Well, yes," she answered. "Let's talk about something more pleasant."

But now John was curious.

"Something more pleasant!" he said. "What's unpleasant about this? Weren't they nice girls?"

John was very surprised when Kismine started to cry.

"Yes - that - that's the trouble. I liked some of them very much. And Jasmine did too. But she continued inviting them anyway. I couldn't understand it."

John suddenly went cold.

"Do you mean... What happened to them?" asked John.