countrified little thing--"

"I don't care for that! She's your kin, and I'm prepared to love her for
that reason."

"That's a dear thing for you to say, Patty mine, but you may get more
than you bargain for. Suppose you invite Azalea and Uncle Thorpe himself
comes trotting along, too!"

"Well, I could even live through that! I don't suppose he'd bite me!"

"But I'm quite sure he wouldn't fit into your scheme of things entire!
Oh, let sleeping dogs lie, Pattibelle. Take me for my whole family,--I'm
a host in myself."

"You are,--my lord and master,--you sure are! But, all the same, I
must hunt up your little cousin. Of course her father can't come, if he
isn't invited. And I'd like to know the child. I might do something for
her,--be of some real help to her, I mean. Maybe she's longing to get
East and have the advantages I could give her."

"Maybe she's longing to stay put in her native desert."

"In that case, she can say so. I shan't compel her to come! Let me write
her, anyway, mayn't I, Little Billee?"

"Of course you may. You may write to anybody you wish; to the Sultan of
Kasharabad, if you like."

"Is he your relative?"