We all laughed a little and agreed with father, then Rufe became aware of my presence for the first time.
"And Mistress Ann has not had a word to say upon this interesting subject," he said chaffingly, looking around as if he had not seen me before, which in truth he had not, for he had been so absorbed when I came in that he merely nodded a "good morning" without detaching his mind from his discussion. "He was so visibly impressed, too."
"Shut up, Rufe—teasing her," Cousin Eunice commanded after she had looked at my face.
"I swear I wasn't teasing," he insisted more soberly. "I don't believe Chalmers looks at a woman once a year—he hasn't time for them, and besides, he's a cold-blooded devil—but he looked at Ann many times throughout the course of the day, to say naught of 'toting' home a mud-turtle for her dear sake. Then when he was leaving last night he asked me again whether the Fieldings were related to me or to my wife."
"Did you tell him the truth or did you take the credit to yourself?" I inquired sarcastically.
"No, I confessed that the beauteous blossom springs from the same tree that produced that perfect flower, Mrs. Clayborne. But I told him that the fact of my having 'raised' you invested you with a 'dearness not your due'—from blood ties alone."
"Well, she will have the honor of being looked at by him a great many times this fall, when she goes home with us," Cousin Eunice said, then turning to mother she added: "And she will need a bushel of pretty clothes, Aunt Mary."
"I want one black dress, with a spangled yoke," I hastily put in, but was interrupted by little shrieks of disapproval from the two. "I—thought I'd have to look kind of old," I wound up, as they regarded me with amused surprise.
After breakfast was over Cousin Eunice gathered up her tablet and pencil and nodded for me to come with her.
"I want to look at your face as I write," she explained with a sympathetic smile, "for I am hopelessly stupid and commonplace. I can't even think of a surname for my hero that isn't already the name of an automobile."