"Yes, and we will. We will call ourselves cousins from this time forward."
"And as my Aunt Elsie, Grandma Elsie's oldest daughter, is sister to your husband, can't you and I claim kin, Zoe?" asked Evelyn.
"Certainly," promptly replied Zoe; "we will consider ourselves cousins now."
"So we will; it is a very comfortable way to settle matters," laughed Evelyn. "We have been calling you Aunt Zoe, but you are too young for that, and we have been growing up to you in age."
"So you have. Well, how soon do you expect our kith and kin to come from Viamede to their more northern homes?"
"Father says in two or three weeks," replied Lucilla, "and I hope I shall be allowed to sit up by that time. Oh, you don't know how I long to show him my little Ray of Sunshine!" she added, gently patting the sleeping babe by her side. "Oh, both Chester and I want very much to have him resemble his grandfather, my dear father, in looks, character and everything."
"As I hope and believe he will," said Zoe in tones of sympathy and encouragement.