It was Miss Elizabeth Somerville, a second cousin of their father. She came into the library in rather unseemly haste for one of her usual dignity.
"Where is your father?" she demanded, without the ceremony of greeting the girls. "I must see him immediately. Your mother, too, of course, if she wants to come down, but I must see your father."
"In about two months," said Helen coolly. Helen was especially gifted in tackling Cousin Lizzie, who was of an overbearing nature that needed handling. "He and Mother have gone to Bermuda."
"Bermuda in the summer! Nonsense! Tell me when I can see him, as it is of the greatest importance. I should think you could see that I am in trouble and not stand there teasing me," and since it was to be a day of tears, Cousin Lizzie burst out crying, too.
"Oh, Cousin Lizzie, I am so sorry! I did not mean to tease. I am not teasing. Father is ill, you must have noticed how knocked up he has been looking lately, and the doctor has taken him with Mother to New York. They have just gone, and they are to sail on a slow steamer to Bermuda and Panama in the morning. Please let us help you if we can."
"You help! A lot of silly girls! It is about my nephew Lewis!" and the poor lady wept anew.
"Lewis! What on earth can be the matter with him?" chorused the girls.
"Shipped? Oh, Cousin Lizzie, you can't mean it!" exclaimed Douglas, drying her eyes as she began to realize that she was not the only miserable person in the world whose ambitions had gone awry.
"I am sure if he has been fired, it is from no fault of his own," declared Nan, who was a loyal soul and always insisted that her friends and relatives were in the right until absolute proof to the contrary was established.
"Well, whether it was his fault or not, I am not prepared to say. 'Where there is so much smoke there must be some fire.'"
The girls had to smile at this, as there was never a time when Cousin Lizzie did not have a proverb ready to suit the occasion.
"Yes, but the fire might not have been of his kindling," insisted Nan.
"Please tell us what the trouble is, Cousin Lizzie, if you don't mind talking about it," begged Douglas. "Has Lewis really left West Point for good? I can't believe it."
"The trouble is: 'Evil communications corrupt good manners.' If Lewis had not been with the companions that he has chosen, he would not have gotten into this trouble. Surely Solomon was wise indeed when he said: 'Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son, but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father.' I am glad my poor brother is dead and not here to witness his son's disgrace."