“And that red hair’s going to get you in trouble sometime,” he continued his characterization. “Got a temper now. I can see that. A ready tongue too, I’ll wager. But you’ll get by if you can go on laughing at yourself. You’ve got a sense of humor. Keep it.”
“Yes, sir,” Laura answered as meekly as she could. She had already been warned, on the train, by Bess as to what to expect, so this frank analysis of her character did not take her altogether by surprise.
“And you, Miss,” the old Scotsman went on around the circle of girls enjoying himself hugely as he characterized his young cousin’s friends, “you,” he was looking at Amelia as he spoke, “are the one that has all of those clocks. You’re too serious. You’ll learn down here in this lazy country that time just doesn’t matter. Ask anybody to do anything for you and he’ll nod his head slowly and mutter, if he’s got enough pep, ‘Si, si, señor, mañana!’ He’ll do anything in the world you want him to do, mañana, and mañana never comes.
“However, you and I will get along. I like you. You are punctual. It’s a virtue. Never been late for anything in your life, have you?”
Amelia hardly knew what to answer, for Adair had made time seem both important and unimportant.
“Speak up,” the old man looked at her kindly now. “Don’t be modest like my young cousin here. Well, never mind,” he passed Amelia by as he saw that he had embarrassed her beyond her ability to speak. “I’ll take care of you later,” he ended before he turned to Rhoda.
“From the West, aren’t you?” he questioned the proud brown-eyed young girl. “Can tell in a minute. That carriage, the way you hold your head, your clear eyes. Even if I hadn’t heard that Western accent, I would have known.” Adair MacKenzie was proud of his ability to read character, and as he went from one of the young lassies to the other, he was pleased with himself and pleased with them, for their quiet acceptance of his outspokenness.
“A city girl. Just a little too shy.” Grace’s turn came last, and she had been dreading it. “You’ve got to learn to stick up for your own rights,” he had struck home here, he knew, and though he realized that Grace could take it with less equilibrium than any of the rest, he wasn’t going to spare her.
“Say, ‘boo,’ to you,” he went on, “And you’ll run. Isn’t it so?”
Grace said nothing, but nodded her head.