answered the doctor with a hopeful smile on his lips but an
anxious look in his eyes.
“She will come out all right bless her heart! so let her sow her
innocent wild oats and enjoy herself till she is ready to settle down.
I wish all our young folks were likely to have as small a crop and
get through as safely as she will,” added Uncle Mac with a shake
of the head as he glanced at some of the young men revolving
before him.
“Nothing amiss with your lads, I hope??
“No, thank heaven! So far I’ve had little trouble with either, though
Mac is an odd stick and Steve a puppy. I don’t complain, for both
will outgrow that sort of thing and are good fellows at heart,
thanks to their mother. But Clara’s boy is in a bad way, and she
will spoil him as a man as she has as a boy if his father doesn’t
interfere.?
“I told brother Stephen all about him when I was in Calcutta last
year, and he wrote to the boy, but Clara has got no end of plans in
her head and so she insisted on keeping Charlie a year longer when
his father ordered him off to India,” replied the doctor as they
walked away.
“It is too late to ‘order’ Charlie is a man now, and Stephen will find
he has been too easy with him all these years. Poor fellow, it has
been hard lines for him, and is likely to be harder, I fancy, unless
he comes home and straightens things out.?
“He won’t do that if he can help it. He has lost all his energy living
in that climate and hates worry more than ever, so you can imagine
what an effort it would be to manage a foolish woman and a
headstrong boy. We must lend a hand, Mac, and do our best for
poor old Steve.?
“The best we can do for the lad is to marry and settle him as soon
as possible.?
“My dear fellow, he is only three and twenty,” began the doctor, as
if the idea was preposterous. Then a sudden change came over him
as he added with a melancholy smile, “I forget how much one can
hope and suffer, even at twenty-three.?
“And be all the better for, if bravely outlived,” said Uncle Mac,
with his hand on his brother’s shoulder and the sincerest approval
in his voice. Then, kindly returning to the younger people, he went
on inquiringly, “You don’t incline to Clara’s view of a certain
matter, I fancy??
“Decidedly not. My girl must have the best, and Clara’s training
would spoil an angel,” answered Dr. Alec quickly.
“But we shall find it hard to let our little Rose go out of the family.
How would Archie do? He has been well brought up and is a
thoroughly excellent lad.?
The brothers had retired to the study by this time and were alone,
yet Dr. Alec lowered his voice as he said with a tender sort of
anxiety pleasant to see: “You know I do not approve of cousins
marrying, so I’m in a quandary, Mac, for I love the child as if she
were my own and feel as if I could not give her up to any man
whom I did not know and trust entirely. It is of no use for us to
plan, for she must choose for herself yet I do wish we could keep
her among us and give one of our boys a wife worth having.?
“We must, so never mind your theories but devote yourself to
testing our elder lads and making one of them a happy fellow. All
are heart-whole, I believe, and, though young still for this sort of
thing, we can be gently shaping matters for them, since no one
knows how soon the moment may come. My faith it is like living
in a powder mill to be among a lot of young folks nowadays! All
looks as calm as possible till a sudden spark produces an
explosion, and heaven only knows where we find ourselves after it
is over.?