“You don't seem interested,” she frowned, after a minute.
Alice laughed.
“Pardon me, but—I don't know the Lady, you see. Was it a good letter?”
“You know her brother.”
“Very true.” Alice's cheeks showed a deeper color. “Did she say anything of him?”
“Yes. She said he was coming back to Boston next winter.”
“Indeed!”
“Yes. She says that this time he declares he really is going to settle down to work,” murmured Billy, demurely, with a sidelong glance at her companion. “She says he's engaged to be married—one of her friends over there.”
There was no reply. Alice appeared to be absorbed in watching a tiny white sail far out at sea.
Again Billy was silent. Then, with studied carelessness, she said: