“Yes, sir, your little Fanny,” Guy replied, boldly. “I’m in love with her.”
“Well, that’s not anything remarkable, after all,” said Wallace. “I believe most of the boys down home are. She always was a great hand for the boys. They like her easy way with them, I suppose. Well, I’m very glad you like Fanny. I’m sure it’s a compliment to the whole family. You must see a lot of pretty girls during the Winter.”
“But I want to marry her,” Guy insisted. He did not like the old gentleman’s manner, and yet, oddly enough, it reminded him of Fanny’s.
“Oh, you do, do you?” Wallace held his right hand over his lips. “Well, that’s a pretty serious matter, isn’t it? I thought perhaps you were just feeling your way round. Lots of boys down home like to talk to me about Fanny. They’re just trying to get the lay of the land, I suppose. But I generally laugh at ’em, an’ I tell ’em she’s hardly out of her pinafores yet. You see, by the time she gets through college——”
“Through college?” Guy gasped.
Wallace gave the young fellow a severe look. “Yes. Why not? Don’t you believe in college education for women? Well, I declare, you college fellows are pretty selfish! You get plenty of education yourselves, but you——”
“Oh, I don’t care anything about that,” Guy interrupted. “Let them have all the education they want. But Fanny doesn’t want to go to college. She only wants——”
“Eh? What did you say she wanted?” Wallace asked, shrewdly.
“She wants me,” said Guy, with as much modesty as he could display.
“Oh, she does, does she? How do you know that?”