He left before his sister, as he preferred walking to the back seat of the little phaeton; and when he was gone May said with something rather like enthusiasm—
“I do think there is something very fine about your brother, Ray; he is so different from most of the young men one sees. He has such a lot to do and think of. Life is all work with him and not play. I don’t mean just money-getting. He wants to make things thrive, of course; but he wants just as much to do good to the work-people and teach them to live better lives and care for higher things. I’m so tremendously interested in it all. I suppose you do a lot to help him?”
Ray rather stared and then laughed.
“I think North must talk more to you than he does at home. I know he has some hobbies of his own, and spends a lot of evenings at the club and lecture-room; but I don’t know much about the details. North isn’t much of a one to talk.”
“He talks a good bit to me,” said May. “It’s awfully interesting. If I were his sister I should want to do a lot. He always speaks of you as his favourite sister, Ray.”
Ray coloured with pleasure, for North was decidedly her hero, although she did not know so very much about the way in which his spare time was spent. Like many men who work hard in one groove, North was reticent at home of his doings, and even to Ray he only spoke rather vaguely of the plans and projects in his mind. Working, not talking, was distinctly North’s forte, and Ray wondered how it had come to pass that May had broken down his reserve and won his confidence.
“I thought it was Cyril who came here to talk—not North,” she said. “Cyril always speaks as though he were very intimate here.”
May slightly tossed her head, and her lip curled; she seemed about to speak rather scornfully, but recollecting herself she answered quietly—
“Cyril does not come very often now, and I think his talk is more interesting to himself than to other people, for it is mostly about himself. I hope you don’t mind my saying that much, Ray; but indeed it is true.”
“Oh, I know!” answered Ray, laughing good-temperedly. “We all know that Cyril is a bit of a poser, or whatever you call it. But I think our confidence in him as a hero got rather a shock on one occasion. It’s not the fashion at home to poke fun at Cyril; but I’m sure other people must laugh at him often!”