“I don’t believe in heredity as I did once,” his wife resumed. “Aren’t scientific men rather divided about it?”
“Yes, there are those who deny that there is any inheritance of the spirit, of character, insisting that the laws of transmission affect the body only. Lee is certainly like her father in looks. He was a handsome rascal.”
“Ross is terribly smitten with her.”
Redfield coughed, uneasily. “I hope not. Of course he admires her, as any man must. She’s physically attractive, very attractive, and, besides, Ross is as susceptible as a cow-puncher. He was deeply impressed the first time he saw her, I could see that.”
“I didn’t like his going out on the veranda with her last night,” continued Mrs. Redfield, “and when they came in her eyes and color indicated that he’d been saying something exciting to her. Hugh, Ross Cavanagh must not get involved with that girl. It’s your duty as his superior to warn him.”
“He’s fully grown, my dear, and a bit dictatorial on his own part. I’m a trifle timid about cutting in on his private affairs.”
“Then I’ll do it. Marriage with a girl like that is out of the question. Think what his sisters would say.”
Redfield smiled a bit satirically. “To the outsider a forest ranger at $900 a year and find himself and horses is not what you may call a brilliant catch.”
“Oh, well, the outsider is no judge. Ross Cavanagh is a gentleman, and, besides, he’s sure to be promoted. I acknowledge the girl’s charms, and I don’t understand it. When I think of her objectively as Lize Wetherford’s girl I wonder at her being in my house. When I see her I want her to stay with me; I want to hug her.”
“Perhaps we’ve been unjust to Lize all along,” suggested Redfield. “She has remained faithful to Ed Wetherford’s memory all these years—that is conceded. Doesn’t that argue some unusual quality? How many women do we know who are capable of such loyalty? Come, now! Lize is a rough piece of goods, I’ll admit, and her fly-bit lunch-counter was a public nuisance; but she had the courage to send her girl away to be educated, denying herself the joy of seeing her develop by her side. We mustn’t permit our prejudices to run away with us.”