And so the meal passed pleasantly enough.
After it was finished Uncle John strolled into the garden to smoke his pipe under the stars and Louise sang a few songs for Aunt Jane in the dimly-lit drawing room.

Beth, who was a music teacher's daughter, could not sing at all.
It was some time later when John Merrick came to his sister's room to bid her good night.
"Well," she asked him, "what do you think of the girls ?" "My nieces ?" "Yes." "During my lifetime," said the old man, "I've always noticed that girls are just girls--and nothing more.

Jane, your sex is a puzzle that ain't worth the trouble solving.

You're all alike, and what little I've seen of my nieces convinces me they're regulation females--no better nor worse than their kind." "Louise seems a capable girl," declared Aunt Jane, musingly.

"I didn't care much for her, at first; but she improves on acquaintance.