“‘Yes,’ he said, reluctantly, ‘he had.’
“‘Do you know,’ I said, ‘that that little girl has set up a lofty ideal for herself. She wishes to be a perfect lady.’
“Titus said he knew that.
“‘And you,’ I said, ‘are going to be a stumbling-block. So anxious is she to imitate the members of this family in every particular that she is going to copy our bad as well as our good qualities. Now, don’t you think you ought to endeavor to shake off this habit of stammering?’
“Titus asked me if I thought she was imitating him purposely.
“‘Do you think so yourself?’ I asked.
“He gave me to understand that he did not, that she was so consumed by a burning, intense desire to improve that she unconsciously caught up everything he said, absorbed all his words, and his mannerisms with them.
“I did not need to say anything further. The boy was perfectly upset over the affair, so much so that I wondered. He was ashamed of standing in the way of a girl—and such a fragile piece of ambition as Airy. So he set himself resolutely to conquer his failing, and you see he is making good progress. He slips sometimes, but not often.”
“Titus is a noble boy,” said Berty, warmly. “He is going to make a fine man.”