“And what a mother! I—well, you know, Mother, I am not engaged to Judy—not exactly, that is. She knows how I feel about her and somehow—I can’t say for sure—but I almost know she feels the same way about me, at least, feels somehow about me.”
“Of course she does! How could she help it?”
“You see, I knew it would be some time before I could make a decent living, and it did not seem fair to Judy to tie her down when maybe she might strike some fellow who would be so much more worth while than I am——”
“Impossible!”
“I used to think maybe Pierce Kinsella would be her choice, when they painted together so much.”
“That boy! Why, Kent, how could you?”
“Well, he was a very handsome and brilliant boy and is pretty well fixed by his uncle’s generosity and bids fair to make one of the leading portrait painters of the day. His portrait of you has made every lady who has seen it want him to do one of her. Of course, he can’t make all of ’em look like you, but he does his best.”
“It may have been wise of you not to settle this little matter with Judy, son, but somehow—I wish you had.”
“It was hard not to, but I felt she was so far away from her parents. I thought she would be back in America in a month, at least. I wanted her to come with me, but she felt she must wait for them, and of course, I had to hurry back because of the possible job in New York. I am afraid that I will lose that now, but there will be others, and I just can’t think of the things that might happen to my Judy—she is my Judy, whether we are engaged or not.”
“When will you start, son?”