"Did you meet Frisco at the same time?"
"Joyce's father? I did."
"Wait a moment," said Robin, "I wanted to tell Herrick the precise relationship between myself and Colonel Carr, but I grew confused. Was not my mother his niece? I forget. I am so muddled."
"No. It is this way. The uncle of Colonel Carr, a younger brother of his father was turned out of doors by the grandfather. He went to the States and married. He died leaving a widow and daughter. The widow died and the daughter married an American. Your father was the son, and he married your mother. You are their son. Therefore you were a kind of third or fourth cousin to Carr. Your father Frisco was a second cousin. I think it is this way, but," Santiago shrugged his shoulders "your English relationships are so very confusing."
"Cousins will do," said Herrick. "Did Carr know that Frisco--we will continue to call him so as it is rather confusing--did Carr I say, know that Frisco was his second cousin?"
"Yes! For that reason he allowed Mrs. Joyce an annuity of five hundred a year."
"Why was it not continued to our friend here?"
Don Manuel laughed. "I think the Colonel and Frisco had quarrelled by then, and Carr had told him to look after his own brat."
"How dare you?" cried Robin jumping up.
"My friend, I repeat what the Colonel said. That is all."