"
Mrs. Black condescendingly expressed her opinion that the rocker was a
"dear."
"I love old-fashioned things," she said. "So does Mr. Black. Don't you,
Phelps?"
"Yes," replied that gentleman. His love did not appear to be
over-enthusiastic.
"But do tell us about your little legacy," went on the lady. "Of course
we have heard all sorts of ridiculous stories, but we know better than
to believe them. Why, we even heard that you were worth a million.
Naturally, THAT was absurd, wasn't it? Ha! ha!"
Captain Dan opened his mouth to reply, but his wife flashed a glance in
his direction, and he closed it again.
"Yes," said Serena, addressing Mrs. Black, "that was absurd, of course."
"So I told Phelps. I said that the way in which these country people
exaggerated such things was too funny for anything. Why, we heard that
your cousin had died--that is, _I_ heard it was a cousin; Phelps heard
it was an uncle. An uncle was what you heard, wasn't it, Phelps?"
"Yes," said Phelps. It was his second contribution to the conversation.
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