A jealous pang shot through Irene’s heart, but she dare not reveal it, but June looked up just in time to catch the strange look that passed over her sister’s face, for she had been suspicious of Rene’s admiration for the colonel, and June never forgot the look which Irene gave her. Her eyes grew strangely large and dark, and her face flushed and paled alternately, but June was wise enough not to betray her suspicion, though she decided from that moment to find, if possible, what Irene really did think of him. Max Brunswick was a very handsome man, but she wondered that Rene could not see at once that he never would, or ever could, reach 109 the standard of true greatness that Scott occupied. She would not accuse her sister, even in thought, if she were guiltless, so she determined to satisfy herself if she could.
Irene calmed her enraged feelings enough to speak, and turning her face that the light might not fall full upon it, she said:
“Oh, as to Max Brunswick, I would not waste my time on him, when there are golden fish floating so near, and all you have to do is to bait with a smile.”
“But Brunswick is very handsome,” June said, as she arose and walked carelessly past Rene toward the mirror, and glancing at her face to note the effect of her words, “and since so many of the girls are half crazy about him, I should follow the fashion, although none of them know the first word of his pedigree. And really it is not only the young, but the married ladies as well.”
“Of course the married ones have no idea of falling in love with him, but he is such a society man, and of course it is nothing more than belongs to fashionable society to accept the attention of such men. It is very pleasant to entertain them.”
“If I ever marry I shall never accept or even wish to accept attentions from any but the man I marry.”
“Suppose that you marry a man entirely unsuited to your tastes, what then? Suppose that he is so taken up with his books or his business that he has no time or desire for pleasure of any kind, what would you do?”
The question went like an arrow to June’s heart, for she knew that Rene’s mind dwelt on her own choice, 110 though she uttered the words not thinking how they would sound to June.
“Rene,” June said in a sober tone, “I have made up my mind to one thing, and that is that I shall never be married without first studying the character of the man I intend to marry.”
“Oh, dear,” said Rene with a laugh, “you will have a great job on your hands if you set out to find what sort of a husband you are getting.”