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four that I hold strongly. One is that people, on the whole,
had better not marry their cousins. Another is that people
in an advanced stage of pulmonary disorder had better not
marry at all.’
The old man raised his weak hand and moved it to and
fro before his face. ‘What do you mean by that? You look at
things in a way that would make everything wrong. What
sort of a cousin is a cousin that you had never seen for more
than twenty years of her life? We’re all each other’s cousins,
and if we stopped at that the human race would die out. It’s
just the same with your bad lung. You’re a great deal better
than you used to be. All you want is to lead a natural life.
It is a great deal more natural to marry a pretty young lady
that you’re in love with than it is to remain single on false
principles.’
‘I’m not in love with Isabel,’ said Ralph.
‘You said just now that you would be if you didn’t think it
wrong. I want to prove to you that it isn’t wrong.’
‘It will only tire you, dear daddy,’ said Ralph, who mar-
velled at his father’s tenacity and at his finding strength to
insist. ‘Then where shall we all be?’
‘Where shall you be if I don’t provide for you? You won’t
have anything to do with the bank, and you won’t have me
to take care of. You say you’ve so many interests; but I can’t
make them out.’
Ralph leaned back in his chair with folded arms; his eyes
were fixed for some time in meditation. At last, with the air
of a man fairly mustering courage, ‘I take a great interest in
my cousin,’ he said, ‘but not the sort of interest you desire. I

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