“And a collection of pearls of all colors, set in bracelets, necklaces and rings, which he has been collecting for years as a wedding present for his wife,” said Gladys with grave ardor.
Indeed, the solemnity of all these announcements seemed to Carter so funny that she said with a little laugh:
“What are you all so serious about? There does not seem to me anything profoundly solemn in all this.”
“The subject of Jim Stafford is more serious than you realize, perhaps,” said Gladys. “I think it best to tell you that we all think that he is going to make you an offer of marriage.”
Carter looked from one to the other with genuine surprise.
“I don’t believe it,” she said, and the next minute a crimson flush suffused her face, and she added in a tone of indignation, “If there is the least chance of such a thing it must be prevented.”
“Prevented!” said three voices at once in different tones of surprise and protest.
“Yes—prevented,” Carter said. “I like him too much to want to hurt his feelings, and if what you say is so, he must be stopped before he goes farther.”
“Carter Ayr,” said Gladys, in a tone of voice thoroughly provoked, “I’d like to know what you are thinking of and what you expect! You Southern people do act as if you owned the earth! What prospects in life have you got to make you throw away such a chance as this—the most brilliant marriage that any girl here could hope to make! If Jim Stafford asks you to marry him—as I believe he will—I’ll not believe it that you’ll be such an idiot as to refuse him.”
Carter rose to her feet, and flashed upon her a pair of angry eyes.