“And I am Ben’s half-brother, so you and I are half-cousins.”
He tried to speak in playful jest.
“No, we’re not related at all!”
“Then we shall have to become related, at an early day.”
“Uncle Philip is my uncle by marriage, but not my blood uncle. I am a cousin to Ben through my mother and his mother, who were sisters. So if I have no blood relationship with Uncle Philip, your father, I have none with you, for your mother was not related to me in any way.”
“And I say again I am glad of it.” He retained his jesting tone, though his mood was serious. “But if you marry me you are going to marry bad luck, for it seems that my name is Davison. You know the rhyme:
“‘To change the name and not the letter,
Is to change for worse and not for better.’”
“You insist on joking about it. You know that Davison was not my father’s name, but only the name I took when Uncle Philip adopted me.”
“And that will break the bad luck spell!”