Lady Larkspur

Book Excerpt: ...e, cruising the seven seas in pursuit of husbands. Nobody with an aunt to his credit can pretend to be alone in the world. There is something about an aunt, Singleton! Aunts must rank just a little below mothers in the heavenly kingdom. When I was a boy out in Ohio there were two great occasions every year in my life--one when I went to visit a grand old aunt I had in the country, the other when she visited us, arriving with a wagon-load of jam, jelly, salt-rising bread, pound-cake, and other unpurchasable manna.""Stop! or I'll call the food censor," I pleaded, picking up my hat. "Send me your copy of 'Lady Geranium, ' and I'll tell you whether it's a classic or not.""'Lady Larkspur, '" he corrected with a shudder. "You shall have it by trusted messenger to-morrow."I wired Antoine that I would reach Barton-on-the-Sound the following day. This was September, 1917. The former servants of the Tyringham were established on the place by my uncle the year before he dropped business ca.