"He married Mrs. Eustis, didn't he?"
"Yes; and you remember that she has a married daughter and a small grandchild. Ned said the idea of a ready-made family was fine, but he thought it immoral for him to become a grandfather before he became a father."
"Rather late for him to come to that conclusion, wasn't it?" Thatcher laughed.
"Yes; but he found two other men in the same predicament, so the three of them have formed a 'Society of Illegitimate Grandparents,' and now they're looking for more members."
"Ned would joke at his own funeral!" chuckled Thatcher.
"It isn't your age I'm objecting to," Marian explained; "it's my own. Merry's engagement makes me realize it."
"She and I are going to make you forget that you have any age at all," Huntington declared.—"But when you interrupted me I was going to speak of a really important matter.—We mustn't be unmindful of poor Hamlen."
"No, indeed," Marian replied seriously. "Happiness is selfish, isn't it, in making us temporarily forgetful? Poor Philip!"
"We are doing him no injustice," he reassured her; "in fact I think the news I can take will please him. But I want you and Merry to go back to Boston with me."
"Whatever you think is wise shall be done," she acquiesced, "but wouldn't it be better for you to go ahead to prepare him for our coming?"