“Well, my dear child, though not everything, they are a great deal to a man, and if you add a cheerful, sunny temper, and all needed care and attention to his comfort in other matters, I think he will be blessed with a happy home and a wife whom he can respect and love, probably with increasing affection as the years roll by, your own love for him increasing also.”
“You are looking very grave, Ethel,” he added, turning to her, “do you not agree with me in the sentiments I have expressed?”
“Oh, yes, sir; yes, indeed!” she answered in earnest tones, “and I have a very ardent desire, a very determined purpose to do all in my power to make a happy home for Percy—to be as good a wife and housekeeper as his mother is. I think there could not be a better, judging from all I have heard from him and the relatives we were with this summer—and I am resolved to learn all I can on those subjects from her. I wish you and Uncle George knew her, she is so lovely, so dear and good and kind. Oh, I think it will be delightful to be numbered among her daughters—especially after having been so long motherless.”
“Yes; I am glad for you, my dear,” he said, then turning to her sister, “But you, Blanche, it seems have not seen your future mother-in-law yet?”
“No, sir; but I am willing to risk the danger of finding her disagreeable, for Stuart has assured me she is no less lovable than his aunt, whom I like fully as much as Ethel does. Indeed like is hardly a strong enough word to express my feelings for either her or her daughters. I love them—all three of them—dearly.”
“That is right,” he said. “When do you give up here?” he asked, turning to Ethel. “Your year is out in April, is it not?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And the wedding is to be in June. I want you to come to my house to spend the weeks that intervene. You can make your preparations there, having all the help you want from dressmakers and seamstresses.”
“Don’t take more than your fair share, Albert,” said his brother; “a part of their time should be spent with us.”
“But you are going to give the wedding. Ah, well! they may come and go between the two houses as may suit their convenience and inclination, and you must let me bear my share of all the expenses.”