“From what I hear and from what I know personally of your family,” she said, “it seems to me that they never waste much time about anything.”
“We are rather in that way,” he admitted. “I have been in a hurry from the time you first met me—and you see what my brother is going to do.”
“Going to do? Are you going to let him?”
“Let him?” He looked steadily at her, and she returned the gaze as steadily. “Yes,” he said, “I’m going to let him. And if I tried to stop him I’d get my deserts. I think I know my brother Jim. And I fancy it would take more than his brother to drag him away from your sister.” He hesitated a moment. “Is she like—like you?”
“A year younger—yes, we are alike.… And you say that you are going to let him—marry her?”
“Yes—if you don’t mind.”
The challenge was in his eyes, and she accepted it.
“Is your brother Jim like you?”
“A year younger—yes.… May he marry her?”
She strove to speak easily, but to her consternation she choked, and the bright color dyed her face from neck to hair.