"Oh, Ben!" I was amazed. Quiet, apparently contented Ben!
"Yes, I'm going to set out for that. If you don't put up a mark you can't help shooting at random. Of course it will take a long while and hard study, but one reason why I like you so much is that you're fond of books, and have more real sense than most girls. And, Ruth, you could be a perfect lady. It's born in some people, and when it isn't they never get quite up to the mark."
"Oh, thank you," I returned, amused, as he made a little pause. "On what pedestal am I to be put?"
I had no idea of what he would say, and somehow I was not a little bewildered by his ambitious projects.
"Well, when I get up to the place where I can care for a wife, I want you. You would read and study and talk with a fellow, and keep him up to the mark, too. I was glad you didn't want to marry Homer, not but what he will make a splendid, devoted husband, but house and wife and children will be his boundaries. He will vote the Democratic ticket because his father did, not from any principle or conviction. Oh, do you remember how you and Norman once quarrelled about politics?" and he laughed.
He made a gesture with his hand, and I never understood before how much fine dignity Ben possessed.
"After all this, if you haven't really fallen in love with any one else, I shall ask you. But if you do meet with any one you prefer this must not stand in the way. I don't believe you will be the kind of girl who is always reaching out after lovers. Your father will want to keep you."
"Oh, that is it," I interrupted. "Father has forbidden my having any lovers for a long while yet."
"We will be friends just as we have been. I'll come and talk over my plans with you. Mother, you see, wouldn't understand. I like your father's bright, trenchant remarks, too. There's some width to his brain. But all the other will be put off until the right time comes—laid away on the shelf of the future, not to be meddled with. And now if father scolds about my throwing up a good business chance, you will understand why I do it."