“Nothing special.”
“What do you mean, special? Come, out with it!”
“Of course there was my poor old maiden aunt, Miss Melinda. You’ve heard of her?”
“Only as a name.”
“She did her best to change that. When she was fifty-four she eloped with the coachman. Only they couldn’t get any one to marry ’em, so she had to come home.”
“What was wrong? Was the coachman married already?”
“No. But he was a trifle colored.”
“Interesting line of relatives you carry. What about the remainder of the tribe?”
“Just about the usual run of old families, I guess. One of the other aunts used to do a little in the anonymous letter line and break up happy families. Then, of course, Cousin Fred used to pull some fairly interesting stuff when he had the d-t’s, but the claim that Uncle Simeon’s first wife dressed up as the Van Cortland Manor ghost isn’t—”
“Enough said! I didn’t ask for a new edition of the Chronique Scandaleuse. How would you like to tell all this to the court, and through it to the newspapers?”