"Why, yes," said Maggie; "but then he's our uncle, you know. I guess he has a right if he has a mind to."
"But he makes more intimate than Uncle John, and we've known him ever so long, and Uncle Yuthven only a little while. Why, Maggie, he kisses mamma!"
"Well, he is her own brother," said Maggie, "and Uncle John is only her step-brother,—no, that's not it—her brother-of-law—that's it."
"What does that mean, Maggie?"
"It means when somebody goes and marries your sister. If somebody married me, he'd be your brother-of-law."
"He sha'n't!" said Bessie, quite excited. "He's a horrid old thing, and he sha'n't do it!"
"Who sha'n't do what?" asked Maggie, rather puzzled.
"That person, that brother-of-law; he sha'n't marry you; you are my own Maggie."
"Well, he needn't if you don't want him to," said Maggie, quite as well contented to settle it one way as the other. "And you needn't feel so bad, and sit up in bed about it, Bessie, 'cause you'll take cold, and mamma forbid it."