“‘I deny it,’ said Delance, in perfect good nature. ‘We have resigned from William’s family. As a matter of fact, I never joined it.’
“I congratulated him.
“‘It has always seemed like the merest poppycock to me––this genealogical craze of the ladies,’ said Henry. ‘When our London solicitor wrote that it would take another hundred pounds to establish the connection beyond a doubt, he gave away the whole scheme, and I resigned. It was too silly. In these days of titled chambermaids I think we shall worry along pretty well without William.’
“Then Betsey said: ‘I was reading in the county history to-day that old Zebulon Delance, who was killed in a fight with 149 Indians in 1750, was buried in a meadow back of his house.’
“‘It may be the skull of old Zeb,’ said Henry.
“‘Now there’s an ancestor worth having,’ I suggested.
“‘I wonder if it can belong to old Zeb,’ Henry mused.
“At last we got to my plan. I pictured the condition of the community as I saw it, and the inefficiency of the church and the need of a new and active power in Pointview.
“I proposed that we buy the old skating-rink and remodel it, employ the best talent in America, and start a new center of power in the community––a power that should, first of all, keep us sane, and then as decent as possible. The mathematics of the enterprise were at my fingers’ ends:
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“Initial Expenses $15,000 “Annual Outlay for Instruction 8,000 “For Music 3,500 “For Maintenance 1,000 “For Management 3,500 |