he
saw much more of Miss De Voe, and Miss De Voe was in a much pleasanter
mood. They took long drives and walks together, and had long hours of
talk in and about the pleasant house and grounds. Miss De Voe had cut
down her social duties for the ten days Peter was there, giving far more
time for them to kill than usually fell to Newporters even in those
comparitively simple days.

In one of these talks, Miss De Voe spoke of Dorothy.

"She is such a nice, sweet girl," she said. "We all hope she'll marry
Lispenard."

"Do you think cousins ought to marry?"

Miss De Voe had looked at Peter when she made her remark. Peter had
replied quietly, but his question, as Miss De Voe understood it, was
purely scientific, not personal. Miss De Voe replied:

"I suppose it is not right, but it is so much better than what may
happen, that it really seems best. It is so hard for a girl in Dorothy's
position to marry as we should altogether wish."

"Why?" asked Peter, who did not see that a girl with prospective wealth,
fine social position, and personal charm, was not necessarily well
situated to get the right kind of a husband.

"It is hard to make it clear--but--I'll tell you my own story, so that
you can understand. Since you don't ask questions, I will take the
initiative. That is, unless your not asking them means you are not
interested?" Miss De Voe laughed in the last part of this speech.

"I should like to hear it."

People, no matter what Peter stated, never said "Really?" "You are in
earnest?" or "You really mean it?" So Miss De Voe took him at his word.

"Both my father and mother were rich before they married, and the rise
in New York real estate made them in time, much richer. They both
belonged to old families. I was the only child--Lispenard says old
families are so proud of themselves that they don't dare to have large
families for fear of making the name common. Of course they lavished all
their thought, devotion and anxiety on me. I was not spoiled; but I was
watched and tended as if I were the most precious thing the world
contained. When I grew up, and went into society, I question if I ever
was a half-hour out of the sight of one or the other of my parents. I
had plenty of society, of course, but it was restricted entirely to our
set. None other was good enough for me! My father never had any
business, so brought no new element into our household. It was old
families, year in and year out! From the moment I