"Well, I can't help that, can I?" he said, with the air of one arguing patiently with a lunatic.
Ethel shrugged her shoulders and departed.
"He's reading some old book in the barn," he heard her announce, "and he says——"
Here he foresaw complications and hastily followed her.
"Well, I'm comin', aren't I?" he said, "as fast as I can."
Cousin Mildred was sitting on the lawn. She was elderly and very thin and very tall, and she wore a curious, long, shapeless garment of green silk with a golden girdle.
"Dear child!" she murmured, taking the grimy hand that William held out to her in dignified silence.
He was cheered by the sight of tea and hot cakes.
Cousin Mildred ate little but talked much.