“Yes.”

“I have known of him and you since I was old enough to remember anything.”

“Then you are really my Cousin Ernest?”

“Yes.”

“I wonder why pa said you were dead. I will tell pa he is mistaken.”

“No, Clarence, I would rather you wouldn’t. There are reasons why it is better not to say anything about it.”

“All right. Are you well off?”

Ernest smiled.

“I am not rich,” he said, “but I am comfortably fixed.”

“Do you live in California?”