"It  is  not  an  island,  though,  in  any  sense,  as  one  would
suppose.  Nor  rocky,  either,  but  with  green,  soft  as  velvet,
reaching  to  the  water's  edge.  At  one  time  its  people  thought
it  would  be  a  great  city,  perhaps  the  greatest,  but  already  the
belief  is  dying  out.  That  is  the  way,  though.  A  town
springs  up  in  a  day,  only  to  be  followed  later  by  a  rush  to
some  other  place,  and  so  everything  has  to  be  commenced
anew";  and  he  sighed,  as  if  these  transformations  had  been


158  The  Romance  of  Gilbert  Holmes

the  cause  of  many  grievous  disappointments  to  him  in  his
short  life.
44 Have  you  ever  lived  in  Rock  Island?"  I  asked,  seeing
he  wanted  to  talk.
"Yes,  for  a  while,  as  I  have  in  other  places;  but  only  to
be  caught  up  and  carried  on  to  some  new  town,"  he  replied.
"Will  you  ever  get  fixed  in  one  place,  do  you  think?"
I  asked.
"How  would  you  like  to  live  in  Rock  Island  for  a  while —
say  a  month  or  two?"  he  replied,  as  if  not  hearing  my  idle
question.
"Why  do  you  ask,  uncle?"  I  answered,  wondering  what  he
meant.
"Oh,  we  have  a  relative  there.  A  sort  of  a  cousin,  named
Rolland  Love,  and  a  very  agreeable  man,  too.  He  married
a  second  cousin  of  yours  when  young,  but  she  dying,  he  has
married  again;  so  he  is  a  cousin  and  not  a  cousin,  if  you  can
make  that  out."

"If  he  was  once  a  cousin  I  suppose  he  is  always  a  cousin,
isn't  he?"  I  answered.
