“Yes, I know it.”
“Are you sure that it may not be Philip’s fine home, and stylish clothing, and the free way in which he can spend money that are attractive?”
“Mother, Philip would be himself, wouldn’t he, if he didn’t have those things? And Phil is really gifted. The first minute we met we began to talk and haven’t it all said yet. He plays wonderfully, and I guess he could make a living at that if he didn’t have any money. Then he has so much good sense, too, and is so interested in his father’s business. He asked me to let him write an accompaniment for that little lullaby I made up, and sang for them last summer, and I’m just crazy to try it. He has it finished, he says. Just wait till you see him. He is coming over to see me tonight. Or perhaps you have met him?”
“No. Mrs. Van Buskirk told me that he would arrive last night. We were invited out there last week. I shall be glad to see the boy who is so interested in my little girl, but I scarcely know what to think about it, Lilian.”
“I don’t believe you need worry, Mother. But I like Philip, better than any boy I know. And he seems so grown up now.”
“This is his last year in college, isn’t it?”
“Yes; and he told me last summer that if we get into the war he has promised his father to finish out the year anyway. Have you met Mrs. Van Ness and the Stuarts and the rest?”
“Yes, a number of the relatives. We put our letters in the church, too, and have met some fine people there. But I have been so busy getting settled that I have had time to think of little else. Several times Mrs. Van Buskirk has telephoned and brought the car around for me. We had lunch together, and went shopping for the apartment. She is charming.”
“Indeed she is, and I know she is thinking the same thing of you. Just wait till I see her. About the first thing she will say is, ‘My dear, what a lovely woman your mother is!’”
Mrs. North laughed. “I am considerably older than she, I think.”