“Why,” said Nellie rather contemptuously, “think a moment. In the first place his looks. Any girl, at least any very young girl, might easily be carried away by such striking good looks.”
“Humph!” said Overton, pushing out his lips dubiously. “You think him good-looking?”
“Don’t you?”
“A well-built figure,” he answered, yielding a point.
“An unusually well-shaped head, and a wonderful line of jaw,” said Nellie. “I may be prejudiced against Bob, but I never denied him looks.”
“Well,” said Overton, “we’ll grant him looks. Has he anything else?”
“Yes,” replied the girl, “the fact that he is amusing. Seeing him as I do, day in and day out, I realize how unfailingly pleasant and kind he is—in small things. And then he has another quality more difficult to define—a sort of humorous understanding of another person’s point of view, which leads to a kind of intimacy, whatever your intention may be.”
“Bless me,” cried Overton, “you begin to alarm me. I fear you are describing a pretty dangerous fellow. My only consolation is that Louisa has never mentioned his name, nor indeed done anything to make me think she was interested in him.”
Nellie did not look relieved. “Perhaps,” she answered, “it is not the sort of thing that a father is the first person to know.”
Overton shook his head sadly as he rose to go.