.
"He talks in the coolest way, as though he had adopted the whole
family and meant to put a spoke into the domestic wheel. 'I must put a
stop to this,' or, 'That must be altered,' has been a frequent remark
of his. Mother, if he is dreadfully rich, as he says, does he mean to
make us rich too?"

"My dear, we have no claim on him."

"He thinks we have the strongest possible claim: does he not, Nan? You
should have heard him talk this afternoon! According to him, we were
never to sew gowns again; Nan and Dick were to be immediately united;
the Friary was to be pulled down, and a glorified Glen Cottage to be
erected in its stead. But mother,"--here Phillis's lip grew
plaintive,--"you won't desert your own girls, and be talked over even
by an Alcides? We do not mean to have our little deeds all put on the
shelf in that off-hand fashion. I shall sew gowns as long as I like,
in spite of a hundred Sir Harrys."

And then they perceived that under Phillis's fun there was a vein of
serious humor, and that, in spite of her admiration of her hero, she
was a little afraid that her notions of independence would be
wounded.

They became divided on the question. Mrs. Challoner, who had never had
a son of her own, and did not much like the idea of a son-in-law, was
disposed to regard her nephew warmly, and to accord to him at once his
privilege of being head of the family.

"In this case, a cousin is as good as a brother," she averred; and Nan
rather leaned to her opinion.

"You see," she said, in her practical way, addressing no one in
particular, but looking at Phillis, "it has been terribly against us,
having no one belonging to us of the same name; and it will really
give us a standing with some sort of people."

"Fie, Nan! what a worldly speech! You are thinking of that tiresome
Mayne _pere_ again."

"I have to think of him," returned Nan, not at all put out by this.
"Dick's father must be a person of great importance to me. He has
often hinted in my hearing that we have no relations, and that the
Challoner name will die out. I expect he will be rather taken aback at
Harry's appearance."

"Yes; and Dick will be jealous: he always is of other fellows, as he
calls them. You must score that up against Dick, please. Well, I won't
deny that Harry may make himself useful there: all I protest against
is the idea that he will bundle us out of this dear old Friary, and
make us grand, in spite of ourselves."

"Dear old Friary