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224 MY COUSIN. 
in love, there was no sense in being jealous ; and 
besides, Mr. Thornton's favorable receptions had 
nothing to do with my object. So I took to hum- 
ming the Blackfoot tune, and teasing my pretty 
cousin about her favorite lover. You've no idea, 
sir, what a change it made. She denied it at 
first, then grew absolutely worried that I wouldn't 
believe her, and finally showed me a pretty 
marked preference on every occasion. But I was 
only a cousin, and nobody took any notice of it. 
Ah, sir ! those cousins play the dense with the 
girls' hearts ! They're always untangling your 
daughters silk, or bringing her the last new novel, 
or plucking her a fresh moss rose, or lifting her 
over the pebbly little brook ; and then, too, you let 
them take such long walks in the summer twilight, 
or ride for hours alone on a September afternoon, 
or sleigh away for miles on the clear, moonlight 
nights of December, with nothing but themselves 
for company and all this time when they are 
both budding into life, and fall into love as natural- 
ly as I smoke my meerschaum. Egad, sir, I've 
got two daughters myself; and, though I was 
quite a young man, I saw a good deal of your 
love matters ; and let me tell you that no cousin 
comes palavering about my house, with his flute 
and his familiarity ; for if he does, I'll either make 
my mind at once to have him as a son-in-law, or 
else kick the young rascal neck and heels down 
the staircase. Cousins, indeed! 
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