“Boys! of course. But then, boys grow to be men. And men like Stephen Duncan are charming. One can afford to have a little trouble.”
“O, Fan! how can you talk so?”
“I wasn’t born blind or dumb. I cannot account for it in any other way. Now, I dare say, Miss Prim, you are thinking of the two hundred dollars at the end of the summer, and all that it is to buy.”
“It has to be earned first.”
“We will take Mrs. Green’s cheerful view of boarders. ‘They are not much trouble in the summer, when you only eat ’em and sleep ’em.’”
I could not help smiling at the quotation.
“I wish it were Stephen instead. And how he talks of running over to England! Not making as much of it as we should of going to New York. It is just royal to be rich. Rose, I think I shall marry for money, and set a good example to the five girls coming after me; for, my dear, I have a strong suspicion that you will be an old maid.”
“O, Fanny, to-morrow will be Sunday, and the baby’s christening.”
“Dear little Tot! yes. And we must set her a pattern of sweetness, so that she may see the manifest duty of all women. So, good-night, Mother Hubbard of many troubles.”
Fan gave me two or three smothering kisses, and subsided. I tried to do a little serious thinking, but was too sleepy; and, in spite of my efforts, I went off in a dream about her and Mr. Duncan walking up the church aisle together, Fan in a trailing white dress. I awoke with the thought in my mind. But it was foolish, and I tried to get it out.