"'Frenny?'" echoed Cherry, who had laughed until actual tears
stood in her eyes.

"That's short for 'friend,' do you see? Because of this platonic
intellectual friendship that started everything, you know. She'd
catch up his hand and say, 'Frenny, show Uncle what an
aristocratic hand you've got.' My dear, she'll keep me awake
nights repeating things he's said to her: 'He's so wonderful,
Alix. He's the simplest and at the same time the cleverest man I
ever knew.'"

"He sounds awful to me," Cherry said.

"He's not, really. Only it seems that he belongs to the oldest
family in America, or something, and is the only descendent--"

"Money?" Cherry asked, interestedly.

"No, I don't think money, exactly. At least I know he is getting a
hundred a month in his uncle's law office, and Dad thinks they
ought to wait until they have a little more. She'll have
something, you know," Alix added, after a moment's thought.

"Your cousin?" Martin asked, taking his pipe out of his mouth.

"Well, her father went into the fire-extinguisher thing with Dad,"
Alix elucidated, "and evidently she and Justin have had deep,
soulful thoughts about it. Anyway, the other day she said--you
know her way, Cherry--'Tell me, Uncle, frankly and honestly, may