'I beg pardon,' said the Reverend Mr. Sanders.
'Is she dead and gone to heaven, and that's why you say "unto the Lord"?' continued Prudence Jane.
'I wonder, Imogen,' he said, 'if you would mind beginning over again.'
'I say, is Eliza Anna Bomination your grandmother?' repeated Prudence Jane. 'Aunt Annie says she's written down in the middle of your Bible where all people's relations are, and she sounded like a grandmother; they always have such horrid names.'
The minister looked across at the velvet sofa with eyes that entirely contradicted the gravity of his face.
'No,' he said, 'I'm sorry, but she isn't. I wish she were. I never heard of such a jolly grandmother.'
'Is she an aunt?' pursued his small interlocutor.
'I'm afraid that she's not even related by marriage,' he replied.
'Isn't she written down in the middle of your Bible at all?' said Prudence Jane.
The minister shook his head.