Alix nodded with a cautious look at her father who was out of
hearing.

"No, nor I! We've always taken him rather for granted," she
admitted. "Only I've been rather wishing, lately, that Peter
wasn't such an unflattering, big-brotherish, every-day-neighbour
sort of person."

Still Cherry regarded her steadily with an awakening look in her
eyes.

"Why lately?" she asked.

"Because," said Alix, briskly and unromantically, "I think Peter
would like me to--well, to stop taking him for granted!"

"But Peter's lame--" Cherry submitted, doubtfully.

"You can't call a shortness left from a broken leg LAME!" Alix
protested. "Peter isn't brawny, but he's never been ill. And he's
not a child. He's thirty-seven. And I imagine he's awfully lonely.
And then I imagine it would please Dad--" "Dad has always been
ridiculously fond of him," Cherry said, thoughtfully. Peter--
possibly in love with Alix! She had never even suspected it.
Peter's attitude toward them all had been more paternal than
anything else. Cherry and her sister could not remember life
without Peter, but he had always been Dad's friend, rather than
theirs. He had rebuked them; he had patiently asked them not to
chatter so; he had criticized their grammar and their clothes and