"By George, I like your devotion to the old chap!" he exclaimed. "I hope a girl will stick by me as squarely when I am beginning to totter."
"Have you ever been as good to one?" she asked quite seriously, and wondered why he laughed.
"Well, I doubt if I ever have, but I'd like very much to begin."
"You're not a grandfather, Mr. Jonathan."
"No, I'm not a grandfather—but, when I come to think of it, I'm a cousin."
She accepted this with composure. "Are you?" she inquired indifferently after a minute.
While she spoke he asked himself if she were really dull, or if she had already learned to fence with her exrustic weapons? Her face was brimming with expression, but, as he reminded himself, one never could tell.
"I haven't any cousin but you, Molly. Don't you think you can agree to take me?"
She shook her head, and he saw, or imagined he saw, the shadow of her indignant surprise darken her features.
"I've never thought of you as my cousin," she answered.