“My sister,” answered Grace promptly.
“That answers the question, ‘Whom do you like best—?’”
“Very well, Mr. Wood, and whom do you like best?”
“Myself, of course. Everybody does, except people who have sisters like yours.”
“Are you an egotist, then?”
“Not by intention, but by original sin, and by the fault of fate which has omitted to give me a sister.”
“Have you no near relations?” Grace asked.
“I have my father.”
“And you are not more fond of him than of yourself?”
“Is one not bound to believe one’s father, when he speaks on mature reflection, and is a very good man besides?”