"Home from the sea...."

"Well, Brother Ned, I was expecting to see you in a sailor suit, with an eye patch and one trouser leg pinned up. Instead you look like Percy Bysshe Shelley."

Alexis (Daddy Doll) had hair like Ned's, before he dyed it black.

"The newest thing in wooden legs, and I hardly even need a cane. Keep leaving the d---d things on trolley cars. Listen, Lexi, I've started writing a book about my travels. I wondered, now that you have Granny Gray's idyllic country estate, would you accommodate me with an attic hideaway and a crust of bread now and then? Just somewhere I can sit and think, and maybe write a word or two."

"We can do you a bit better than that," Daddy says. "We had the devil of a time tunneling through Granny's hoard of trash and treasures, but across the passageway from our kitchen, there's a room we've just finished raking out. I'll show it to you later, and until we find you a bed and a chair, you can sleep in my study. Here's Beauty with a snack and a drink for us. Welcome home, old salt!"