“He must get fair dazed and mazed, pore man,” she declared.
“Occasionally he does. Look at me, Prue.”
She lifted her clear eyes to his, listening attentively as he went on—
“Rightly or wrongly, Sir Geoffrey dislikes marriages between folk who are near of kin.”
Prudence pouted.
“’Tis right and proper that a maid may not marry her granfer, but cousins——”
Fishpingle tried to explain that any taint, any predisposition to disease, is likely to come out with greater virulence in the children of those persons who are of kin. Prudence, however, remained unconvinced. She jumped up and stood proudly before him.
“But, Uncle Ben, we be strong and hearty as never was, me and Alfie.”
“If I can make that clear to Sir Geoffrey——”
“To be sure you can, and you will.”