"Mind, Helen, Douglas says 'come in,' not 'butt in,'" said Lucy pertly. "You interrupt so much that Nan and I don't know yet what's the matter with Daddy and how we are to help him."
"Well, who's interrupting now? I haven't said a word for half an hour at least," said Helen brazenly.
"Oh, oh, what'll I do?" which was Carter talk for saying, "You are fibbing."
"Girls, girls, this is not helping. It's just being naughty," from the eldest.
"Go on, Douglas, don't mind them. Helen and Lucy would squabble over their crowns and harps in Heaven," said the peace-loving Nan. And the joke of squabbling in Heaven restored order, and Douglas was able to go on with what she had to tell.
"Dr. Wright says it is a case of nervous prostration and that a complete change is what Father needs and absolute rest from business. He thinks a sea trip of two months, and a year in the country are absolutely essential."
"And will that make him all the way well?" asked Helen. "If it does, I'll take off my yachting cap to this Dr. Wright as having some sense, after all. I mean to have a lovely new yachting suit for the trip."
Helen was by all odds the most stylish member of the family, and, some thought, the beauty; but others preferred the more serene charm of Douglas, who was a decided blonde with Titian hair and complexion to match. Helen's hair was what she scornfully termed a plain American brown, neither one thing nor the other, but it was abundant and fine and you may be sure it was always coiffed in the latest twist.
Nan had soft dark curls and dreamy dark eyes and spoke with a drawl. She did not say much, but when she did speak it was usually to say something worth listening to.
Lucy was as yet too coltish to classify, but she had a way of carrying her bobbed head with its shock of chestnut hair and tilting her pretty little pointed chin which gave her sisters to understand that she intended to have her innings later on, but not so very much later on.
"A new yachting suit! Just listen to Helen! Always got to be dressing up!" declared Lucy, ever ready for battle with the second sister. "I should think you would blush," and, indeed, Helen's face was crimson.
"Oh, I did not mean to forget Father, but if I have to have a new suit, I just thought I would have it appropriate for the sea trip."