“Oh, I do now,” Bess capitulated. “I just love him. Do you know that’s the first time since we’ve known her, that we’ve seen her as embarrassed as she makes us sometimes. How I wish we had stayed just a moment longer.”
“What’s this about your just loving someone?” Adair turned around to join in the conversation.
Bess blushed.
“Well, all I can say is,” he went on when she failed to answer. “I hope it’s not that girl back there that we just met that you’re being so enthusiastic about. Don’t like her at all myself. No character. She’s snippy. She’s deceitful. Can’t even talk without putting on airs. Can’t stand her. Hope she’s no friend of yours.” He turned to Nan as he said this last.
Nan shook her head and said nothing further. She felt, and rightly so, that it was unnecessary to discuss Linda among people who did not know her. This was a consideration that Linda would never have shown Nan. In fact, time and again, Linda had purposely attempted to blacken Nan’s character in front of strangers. This was one reason that Bess, loyal as she was to Nan, disliked Linda so much.
“Can’t tolerate people who are affected,” Adair MacKenzie went on blustering as the car drove out into the street. “And didn’t like that man she was with either. He didn’t have a very honest look about him.”
“But he was nice-looking.” Bess let the words out before she realized what she was doing, and the wrath of Adair MacKenzie descended upon her.
“Nice-looking! That’s all you think of. Nice-looking, bah! Can’t judge people by their looks. It’s what’s in their eyes and their hearts that counts. Have to see that before you can accurately decide what they are. Anybody can dress up and make a good appearance. You, Bessie,” he lowered his tone at a look from Alice, “you’ve got to learn something about true values before you get much older. You’re a nice sort of girl, but you put too much emphasis on money and worldly goods. You’ll have to be taught sometime that they are not so important as you think.
“That goes for all of you,” he ended, sweeping them all with his glance. “You’ve all had easy lives, so you don’t know yet, really, what’s worth while and what isn’t.”
“Now, that girl back there,” he resumed his talk after a few moments of silence, “she has no conception what-so-ever of worth. What’s her name, anyway?” he asked.