"My dear fellow—the precise nature of my mission is, of course, a secret." Captain Cope looked suddenly at John Quincy. "By the way, I once knew a very charming girl from Boston. A relative of yours, no doubt."
"A—a girl," repeated John Quincy, puzzled.
"Minerva Winterslip."
"Why," said John Quincy, amazed, "you mean my Aunt Minerva."
The captain smiled. "She was no one's aunt in those days," he said. "Nothing auntish about her. But that was in Honolulu in the 'eighties—we'd put in there on the old wooden Reliance—the poor unlucky ship was limping home crippled from Samoa. Your aunt was visiting at that port—there were dances at the palace, swimming parties—ah, me, to be young again."
"Minerva's in Honolulu now," Roger told him.
"No—really?"
"Yes. She's stopping with Dan."
"With Dan." The captain was silent for a moment "Her husband—"
"Minerva never married," Roger explained.