“Weel, he’s honest—as to his reasons, at any rate,” said her father.
“Oh! that is what I gathered, rather than what he said. He is out of the reach of duns. That he did say.”
“He doesna seem to me like an ill-disposed youth,” said Miss Jean.
“Oh, no, auntie! He’s nice and agreeable, and—all that; but he is—soft,” said May laughing.
Her father looked as if he were going to say something sharp, but he did not.
“His sister is very fond of him, and very good to him, he says. And he must be a heavy handful whiles,” said Jean gravely.
“In what way?” asked her father.
“Oh! just having him on her mind to keep sight of, and amuse, and keep out of mischief, as he says. Just fancy the weariness of it?”
“You seem to have gathered a good deal from him, as well as your sister,” said Mr Dawson, not well pleased. “And you find him a heavy handfu’, do you? I have thought whiles that you get on very well with him.”
“Oh, yes, I get on very well with him! I’m not responsible for him, ye ken, and that makes all the difference.”