"Why, he might!" she insisted. "For all we know, he may be a widower for the third or fourth time, or divorced, with any number of children! If such a person proposed to Julia, you know yourself she'd hate to be disappointing!"
Her husband laughed. "I don't think she'd go so far as to actually accept 'such a person' and write home to announce her engagement to the family. I suppose most of her swains here have been in the habit of proposing to her just as frequently as she was unable to prevent them from going that far; and while I don't think she's been as discouraging with them as she might have been, she's never really accepted any of 'em. She's never been engaged before."
"No," Mrs. Atwater admitted. "Not to this extent! She's never quite announced it to the family before, that is."
"Yes; I'd hate to have Julia's job when she comes back!" Julia's brother admitted ruefully.
"What job?"
"Breaking it to her admirers."
"Oh, she isn't going to do that!"
"She'll have to, now," he said. "She'll either have to write the news to 'em, or else tell 'em, face to face, when she comes home."
"She won't do either."
"Why, how could she get out of it?"