“That being the case,” remarked Harlan, with a certain acidity in his tone, “I’ll go back to my work.”
The old lady appeared again as Harlan slammed the library door, and suggested that Dick should go away.
“Polite hint,” commented Mr. Chester, not at all disturbed. “See you later.” He went out, whistling, with his cap on the back of his head and his hands in his pockets.
“I reckon you’re a new relative, be n’t you?” asked the lady guest, eyeing Dorothy closely. “I disremember seein’ you before.”
“I am Mrs. Carr,” repeated Dorothy, mechanically. “My husband, Harlan Carr, is Uncle Ebeneezer’s nephew, and the house was left to him.”
“Do tell!” ejaculated the other. “I wouldn’t have thought it of Ebeneezer. I’m Belinda Dodd, relict of Benjamin Dodd, deceased. How many are there here, my dear?”
“Miss St. Clair, Mr. Chester, Mrs. Holmes and her three children, Uncle Israel Skiles, and you two, besides Mr. Carr, Mrs. Smithers, and myself.”
“Is that all?” asked the visitor, in evident surprise.
“All!” repeated Dorothy. “Isn’t that enough?”
“Lord love you, my dear, it’s plain to be seen that you ain’t never been here before. Only them few an’ so late in the season, too. Why, there’s Cousin Si Martin, an’ his wife, an’ their eight children, some of the children bein’ married an’ havin’ other children, an’ Sister-in-law Fanny Wood with her invalid husband, her second husband, that is, an’ Rebecca’s Uncle James’s third wife with her two daughters, an’ Rebecca’s sister’s second husband with his new wife an’ their little boy, an’ Uncle Jason an’ his stepson, the one that has fits, an’ Cousin Sally Simmons an’ her daughter, an’ the four little Riley children an’ their Aunt Lucretia, an’ Step-cousin Betsey Skiles with her two nieces, though I misdoubt their comin’ this year. The youngest niece had typhoid fever here last Summer for eight weeks, an’ Betsey thinks the location ain’t healthy, in spite of it’s bein’ so near the sanitarium. She was threatenin’ to get the health department or somethin’ after Ebeneezer an’ have the drinkin’ water looked into, so’s they didn’t part on the pleasantest terms, but in the main we’ve all got along well together.