"What a charming girl your cousin is!" he exclaimed, abruptly.
"You seem to think so," I answered, smiling.
He flushed a little; the lantern jaw grew longer.

"I admire her, of course," he answered.

"Who doesn't?
She is so extraordinarily handsome." "Well, not exactly handsome," I replied, with more critical and kinsman-like deliberation.

"Pretty, if you will; and decidedly pleasing and attractive in manner." He looked me up and down, as if he found me a person singularly deficient in taste and appreciation.

"Ah, but then, you are her cousin," he said at last, with a compassionate tone.