nd when I
told her it belonged to my mother's side of the house--the
Fairbankses--and came over on the third trip of the Mayflower she said
no doubt she and I could claim relationship, as she, too, was a
Fairbanks. And then she said to Miss Ann that people in the south paid
so much more attention to relationship than they did in the north and
no doubt she was as close to me as Miss Ann was to you.

"Then I got out that book your Grandmother Knight set such store by,
with all of her family written down in it and a picture of the old
original Fairbanks home, and Mrs. Throckmorton nearly fell over
herself reading it and hunting out where she belonged in it and
finally she found her line and then, sure enough, she and I are closer
relations than you and Miss Ann. Then she called me Cousin Prudence
and asked me to call her Cousin Betty. I'm afraid I can never get the
courage to do that, but it does kind of tickle me for them to be
claiming relationship with me too. We are the same folks we have
always been."

"So we are, Mumsy, but perhaps the other fellow has had a change of
heart. Does Cousin Ann like having so many callers?"

"Indeed she does, and she never stops telling them what a fine girl
you are. Sometimes I can't believe she is really talking about my
little Judy, she makes you out so wonderful. Mrs. Throckmorton--Cousin
Betty--said she had got a letter from Mrs. Robert Bucknor, written
from Monte Carlo, telling all about the good times they are having. It
seems that that Mildred has caught a real beau. Cousin Betty's
daughter said she hoped he'd be more faithful than Tom Harbison, and
Cousin Betty hushed up. Evidently she didn't want me to know about Tom
Harbison--not that I want to know. This beau is a count and rich and
middle aged. It looks as though it might be a match. All of the
ladies, even Miss Ann, thought it would be a good thing if Mildred
married rich and lived abroad. They didn't want anything but good
fortune for her, but I could tell they'd like to have her good fortune
fall in foreign parts.

"At first Miss Ann was right stand-offish with Mrs. Throckmorton, but
that lady went right up to her and kissed her and said, 'See here,
Cousin Ann, you might just as well be glad to see me, because I am
very glad to see you, and to see you looking so well and so
comfortable and I'm also glad to see your pretty white hair and to
know you've got some legs.' And Miss Ann laughed and said, 'Thank you,
Cousin