grinned Leo . `` Brace up , old fellow . It 's not so bad as it might be . She 's quite a respectable girl . We wrote you all about it three weeks ago and broke the news as gently as possible . '' `` I left for the East a month ago and have been wandering around preying on old college chums ever since . Have n't seen a letter . There , I 'm better now . No , you need n't fan me , Sis . Well , no family can get through the world without its seasons of tribulations . Who is the party of the second part , little brother ? '' `` Alice Graham , '' replied Mrs. Grant , who had a habit of speaking for her children , none of whom had the Carston nose . `` Alice Graham ! That child ! '' exclaimed Selwyn in astonishment . Leo roared . `` Come , come , Sel , perhaps we 're not very progressive here in Croyden , but we do n't actually stand still . Girls are apt to stretch out some between ten and twenty , you know . You old bachelors think nobody ever grows up . Why , Sel , you 're grey around your temples . ''
`` Too well I know it , but a man 's own brother should n't be the first XXXXX cast such things up to him .
about around as between for in of through to without