"You seem to be looking for something. You watch the girls so closely, you're always hanging around, and--" He smiled broadly. "Thanks for that. 'Hanging around,' in my own parsonage. That is the gratitude of a loving family!" Aunt Grace smiled. "Well, I see there's nothing much the matter with you. I was seriously worried. I thought there was something wrong, and--" "Sort of mentally unbalanced, is that it? Oh, no, I'm just watching my family." She looked up quickly. "Watching the family! You mean--" "Carol," he said briefly. "Carol! You're watching--" "Oh, only in the most honorable way, of course. You see," he gave his explanation with an air of relief, "Prudence always says I must keep an eye on Carol. She's so pretty, and the boys get stuck on her, and--that's what Prudence says. I forgot all about it for a while. But lately I have begun to notice that the boys are older, and--we don't want Carol falling in love with the wrong man. I got uneasy. I decided to watch out. I'm the head of this family, you know." "Such an idea!" scoffed Aunt Grace, who was not at all of a scoffing nature. "Carol was born for lovers, Prudence says so. And these men's girls have to be watched, or the wrong fellow will get ahead, and--" "Carol doesn't need watching--not any more at least." "I'm not really watching her, you know. I'm just keeping my eyes open." "But Carol's all right. That's one time Prudence was away off." She smiled as she recognized a bit of Carol's slang upon her lips. "Don't worry about her. You needn't keep an eye on her any more. She's coming, all right." "You don't think there's any danger of her falling in love with the wrong man?" "No." "There aren't many worth-having fellows in Mount Mark, you know." "Carol won't fall in love with a Mount Mark fellow." "You seem very positive." "Yes, I'm positive." He looked thoughtful for a while. "Well, Prudence always told me to watch Carol, so I could help her if she needed it." "Girls always need their fathers," came the quick reply. "But Carol does not need you particularly. There's only one of them who will require especial attention." "That's what Prudence says." "Yes, just one--not Carol." "Not Carol!" He looked at her in astonishment. "Why, Fairy and Lark are--different. They're all right. They don't need attention." "No. It's the other one." "The other one! That's all." "There's Connie." "Connie?" "Yes." "Connie?" "Yes." "You don't mean Connie." Aunt Grace smiled. "Why, Grace, you're--you're off. Excuse me for saying it, but--you're crazy. Connie--why, Connie has never been any trouble in her life. Connie!" "You've never had any friction with Connie, she's always been right so far. One of these days she's pretty likely to be wrong, and Connie doesn't yield very easily." "But Connie's so sober and straight, and--" "That's the kind." "She's so conscientious." "Yes, conscientious." "She's--look here, Grace, there's nothing the matter with Connie."