Irene seemed very happy the remainder of the day, talking of the dinner and looking over her wardrobe and trying on dress after dress to see which was the most suitable and becoming. She was more fully resolved than ever upon winning Reginald. Of Rena as a rival she had but little fear. Tom stood as a strong wall against any advance from Reginald and her way seemed comparatively clear, now that she had sounded the Scotchman and felt tolerably sure of him as an ally.
“Only talk Glasgow to him and he is all right,” she thought, wishing she had visited more places of interest, or that she had some book in which she could read up and post herself.
Perhaps there was one in the house, she thought. She would inquire. Fortunately for her, a former boarder had left a Harper’s Guide Book which Lottie found for her, and when Rena asked what she was going to do with that musty old volume she answered, “Refresh my memory;” and that night after Rena was asleep she did refresh it to the extent of knowing all there was in it about the Cathedral and the Royal Exchange and Royal Bank and Merchants’ Institute, the Picture Gallery and Museum and Stewart Memorial Fountain. She could scarcely recall one of them, neither had she seen them all, but she had them at her tongue’s end and felt quite ready to meet the old Scotchman on his native heather, if he were disposed to take her there again.
CHAPTER X
THE DINNER-PARTY
“There’s a girl with a head on her, and as handsome as they make ’em,” Colin soliloquized on his way home. “Appreciated Glasgow! About the first American I ever met who didn’t begin at once to talk about the dirty people in some of the streets, as if that was all there was of Glasgow. I don’t believe she saw ’em. If she did she had the good taste not to mention ’em. Yes, she has a head on her, and such a head and face. Rex is in luck to have such a wife made to hand, and nothing to do but to take her. I wonder he didn’t tell me how handsome she was. But that’s his way, not to talk. I don’t believe he takes very kindly to the will, at least to the girl there is in it. Isn’t a marrying man. Guess I’ll have to give him a little boost and tell him what I think of her.”
He found Reginald reading alone in the library, Tom having gone for a stroll which he meant should take him by Mrs. Parks’, where he hoped to see Rena.
“By George! Rex,” the old man said, bustling in, “I’ve seen a girl with a head on her; yes, I have.”
Rex looked up and asked:
“Did you ever see a girl without a head on her?”
“Of course not, but you know what I mean,” Colin answered. “A girl with no nonsense, and such a face and such an air and manner. I congratulate you, my boy; yes, I do. Sandy did well for you.”