"Is Mrs. Douglas an elderly lady?"
"Oh dear no! She isn't young, but she isn't what you would call elderly; her hair isn't white. Have a cigar?"
"Thank you. And what family has she?"
"Three girls, awfully jolly girls, too; and then there's little Carl."
"I did not think she had any young child."
"No, she hasn't; Carl is Mrs. Douglas's grandchild. Leila is his mother. You see she was only married a few months when she lost her husband, and this little chap was born after his father died, and Leila had to come back home because she was left so badly off."
"Then the girls will be quite grown-up, I suppose?"
"Yes; Phyllis is the youngest, and she's nineteen. Marjorie is my age, our birthdays are on the same day; we shall come of age next month. They're really awfully nice girls! I don't know which I like best, Marjorie or Phyllis; sometimes I think I like one, sometimes the other."
"It's a case of 'How happy could I be with either,'" said Captain Fortescue, laughing. "Fernbank, I think, they live?"
"Yes, it's up on the hill close to the bridge. They have a nice little garden. Leila lies out on her couch in it in summer. She's an invalid now, and has been for months, and they're afraid she'll never be very strong."