"You're so sympathetic," I couldn't help saying.
"Am I?"
"Yes. Do you know, I feel almost as if you were my brother?"
"Oh, that settles it! It's all up with me."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Whichever way I look I find nothing but sisters. I've had to promise myself to be a brother to Miss Van Buren, too, to-night."
"Don't you mean you promised her?"
"No, for I haven't done that yet. But it will probably come later."
"Would you rather not be our brother?" I hope I didn't speak reproachfully.
"We—ell, my first idea was that an aunt was the only relative I should have with me on this trip. Still, I'd have been delighted to be a brother to one of you, if I could only have kept the other up my sleeve, as you might say, to be useful in a different capacity."