Perhaps she murdered him in his sleep--eh, Louise?"
"Sir," said Louise, much offended, "you are speaking of my mother."
"Ah, yes. It's the same one your father spoke of," he answered,
unmoved. "But that's neither here nor there. The fact is, I've found
two nieces," looking shrewdly from one face into the other, "and I
seem to be in luck, for you're quite pretty and ladylike, my dears."
"Thank you," said Louise, rather coldly. "You're a competent judge,
sir, I suppose."
"Tolerable," he responded, with a chuckle. "So good a judge that I've
kep' single all my life."
"Where did you come from?" asked the girl.
"From out on the coast," tossing his grizzled head toward the west.
"What brought you back here, after all these years?"
"Family affection, I guess. Wanted to find out what folks yet belonged
to me."
An awkward silence followed this, during which Uncle John relighted
his pipe and Beth sat in moody silence. Louise drew a pattern in the
gravel with the end of her parasol. This new uncle, she reflected,
might become an intolerable bore, if she encouraged his frank
familiarity.
"Now that you are here," she said, presently, "what are you going to
do?"
"Nothing, my dear.
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