"I suppose we are—cousins by marriage."
"I'm a cousin by marriage too," announced Dicky; with his mouth full of cake; "we're all cousins."
"In that case, Dicky, let me give you cousinly advice—not to speak with your mouth full!"
"No, Miss Crane—I won't."
"Hullo, young man," cried Gerald; "and who's Miss Crane I'd like to know?"
"This is, of course—your Mrs. Arkel, but my Miss Crane. She ought to have waited till I was grown up, and I'd have married her," said Dicky with all the solemnity in the world.
"You precocious young rascal," laughed Arkel, ruffling the boy's hair. "Are you staying for any time in town, Hilda?"
"No, only for a few days. But, Gerald, this is an unexpected pleasure to see you. I thought you had joined the noble army of toilers in the city, and weren't visible except by night?"
"Nor am I, as a rule. Needs must you know when a certain gentleman's on the box. But, as I was telling my wife, to-day I felt I couldn't stand the place, so I toddled home. It's a case of reward for a lapse from virtue for once in a way."
"Well, hard work's good for you, I've no doubt. At all events, you had plenty of play once," said Hilda, putting on her gloves and rising to go.