"Don't ask me to straighten it out. The ramifications of Southern kinships are beyond me. She is a beauty--very dark and tragic." "That is kind of you--to run the risk of Senator Burleigh going off at a tangent," said Miss Carter, sharply. "By the way, you cannot deny that you have given him encouragement; you have neither eyes nor ears for any one else when he is round." "He is usually the most interesting person 'round;' and I have a concentrative mind. But I never intend to marry, and Senator Burleigh has never even looked as if he wanted to propose. By the way, Molly has actually asked him to come to the Adirondacks for a few days. Can't you and your father come for a month or two? Jack has promised to stay with us the whole summer, and we'll be quite a family party." "Yes, I will," said Miss Carter, promptly. "I haven't been in the Adirondacks for six years and I should love it." "Harriet Walker--that's our new cousin--will be with us too, most likely. She looks delicate, and I shall try to persuade her that she needs the pines." "Ah! Look out for the Senator--in the dark pine forests on the mountain." "I don't know why you should be so concerned for me. I usually have kept an admirer as long as I wanted him." "Oh, no offence, dear. The dark and tragic lady merely filled my eye at the moment. By the way, Mrs. North thinks of going to the Lake Hotel this summer. Isn't that close by your place?" "It is just across the lake. There is your old General. He does look like an ogre, and he's got a patch of green mould on his nose. You ought to take better care of him." "He looks so much better than he did in life that I have no fault to find. The doctor has told Mrs. North that the pine forests may do her all the good in the world, prolong her life, and Mr. North has written to see if he can get an entire wing for her. I hope he can go too, but he always seems to have so much to do at home in summer. I do like him. He's the only man I know who, I feel positive, never could make a fool of himself." "I am half starved. Come home and have your breakfast with me." "I should like to. Senator North--" "There is Mr. Burleigh on horseback--with Mr. Montgomery. He _will_ look well in bronze--but they only put Generals on horseback, don't they? There--he sees me. I am going to ask them to come in to breakfast." "I believe you like him better than you think, my dear. Your eyes shine like two suns, and I never saw you look so happy." "The morning is so beautiful and I am so glad that I am alive. I know exactly how much I like Mr. Burleigh." XIV "Do all Southerners make such delicious coffee?" asked Senator Burleigh, as the four sat about the attractive table in the breakfast-room. "The Southerners are the only cooks in the United States," announced Miss Carter. "The real difference between the South and the North is that one enjoys itself getting dyspepsia and the other does not."