She smiled, however, confidently: they should not play at
cross purposes much longer, she declared.
On Sunday afternoon Kate asked her eldest brother to take her driving.
"Not a motor car; I want a horse--that will let me talk," she said.
"Certainly," agreed William, with a smile; but Bertram, who chanced to
hear her, put in the sly comment: "As if ANY horse could prevent--that!"
On the drive Kate began to talk at once, but she did not plunge into
the subject nearest her heart until she had adroitly led William into a
glowing enumeration of Billy's many charming characteristics; then she
said:
"William, why don't you take Billy home with you?"
William stirred uneasily as he always did when anything annoyed him.
"My dear Kate, there is nothing I should like better to do," he replied.
"Then why don't you do it?"
"I--hope to, sometime."
"But why not now?"
"I'm afraid Billy is not quite--ready."
"Nonsense! A young girl like that does not know her own mind lots
of times. Just press the matter a little. Love will work
wonders--sometimes."
William blushed like a girl. To him her words had but one
meaning--Bertram's love for Billy. William had never spoken of this
suspected love affair to any one. He had even thought that he was the
only one that had discovered it. To hear his sister refer thus lightly
to it came therefore in the nature of a shock to him.
Pages:
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195