Kathleen blushed at receiving so much kindness from Teddy's cousin, after having rejected him, so to clear herself she said:
"But he got over it directly. Helen Fox told me he proposed to her the week afterward."
Mrs. Stone, who was warming a dainty lace-ruffled night-gown before the fire for her guest, threw her head back and laughed heartily.
"Teddy Darrell is the worst flirt in Boston! Actually, Miss Carew, I've known that boy to be engaged to three girls at the same time!" she exclaimed, merrily.
"I suppose he can never be really in earnest," said the young girl.
Then Mrs. Stone replied, more seriously:
"I have never known him to be in earnest but once, and I have been his confidante, I believe, in all of his love affairs. He has had many fancies, but he never really loved any one but you, my dear girl."
Kathleen did not know what to say to this, and the lady rattled on:
"Well, Teddy is a good catch, if I do say it myself, for he is a real good boy, and very rich. His wife, if he ever gets one, will have a happy life; and I hope he will soon marry, for that would cure him of his little fads."