"It is kind of you to say that, Marion." Jack's face flushed. "You couldn't be nicer if you were my real sister."
"And mother loves you so much."
"I know that, too—otherwise she wouldn't have taken me in as she did."
"What put it in your head to ask me this to-day?"
"Something St. John Ruthven said to Darcy Gilbert. St. John said I was an upstart, a nobody."
"St. John had better mind his own business! It was not cousinly for him to interfere!" And Marion's face flushed.
"I suppose he doesn't look at me in the light of a cousin. He considers me an intruder."
"Well, if he won't count you a cousin he need not count me one either—so there!"
"But you must not hurt yourself by standing up for me," cried Jack hastily.
"I will not hurt myself—in the eyes of those whose respect is worth considering. In the eyes of the law you are my real brother, for my parents adopted you. St. John must not forget that."