“I am so glad, Justin, for you!” she said, and gave him her hands without reserve.
“And I am glad!” His voice choked, as he led her back to the window, where the rumble of the street noises stilled other sounds. “I am glad; though at first I couldn’t believe it, for it seemed so improbable. But I’m sure now it is true.”
She looked at him with fond admiration; at the straight firm features, at the handsome head with its crown of dark hair, at the tall muscular form, and into the clear blue eyes. And the blue eyes looked into the brown with love in their glance.
“And you’re almost related to me,” she said, sympathetically, “for you’re Ben’s half-brother!”
He smiled at her, and tried to assume a cheerful, even a jovial tone.
“I had thought of that, and of what a good thing it is that we’re not wholly related!”
“Let me see! What is our relationship now?”
“You are my sweetheart now, and will be my wife some day!”
She flushed attractively.
“I didn’t mean that. Let me see—Ben’s mother and my mother were sisters. So Ben and I are cousins.”