“I can see no hurry for such an event,” Scott replied.
“Why, her father is so interested in his business that he has no time to devote to her, she says, and she feels her loneliness greatly. I hope we shall be able to keep her with us a few weeks at least. Her father says, too, that he is afraid some other will carry off the prize.”
“She certainly should possess enough firmness not to be so easily captured, and I should not consider it much of a prize that could be drawn without an effort to secure it. I am decided on waiting another year, at least.”
Mrs. Wilmer said nothing more. She knew that firmness was one of the strongest features of her son’s nature, and she knew, also, that he, as a rule, was right. He seldom settled on a matter without having first looked it thoroughly over, and when a decision was made, no force of argument could change his views. The closing of the curved lips showed plainly that Scott Wilmer never surrendered to any trifling argument. Although in nowise conceited, he yielded not to another’s opinion without first being convinced by a process of reasoning satisfactory to himself. His face was a fine one, and although not strikingly handsome, was 9 wonderfully attractive and beaming with intelligence. His auburn hair curled loosely around his broad white brow, and his hazel eyes were clear and searching. June often said to him:
“Please, brother Scott, don’t look at me so hard; I would rather not do as I want to than to have you look at me like that.”
His love for his young sister was very strong, and he was indulgent as far as consistency would allow, but when he found, as he often did, that she was inclined to be self-willed, he would look at her in that searching way, which really meant more, and had a more lasting impression on her than harsh words could have done. June dearly loved her brother, and she would sooner have disobeyed either parent than her brother Scott, and when she went to Mr. Wilmer with a request which he considered unreasonable, he would caress her and answer carelessly:
“Oh, go and ask Scott.”
Mr. Wilmer’s health had become impaired by too close attention to business, and at the present time he had retired on a comfortable income, and the affairs of the family had inadvertently fallen upon Scott, who, though young in years, was an adept in the transaction of business. He possessed his father’s strong ambition, and, at the present time, was studying law, and hoped to be admitted to the bar in another year. He was in no hurry to trouble his mind with love affairs, and he really wished that Irene’s visit could be postponed; although he was too much of a gentleman to say so, even to his mother.