delighted. Now what shall I be married in?” And Kitty composed
herself with a face full of the deepest anxiety.
“How can you talk of that so soon? Why, Kit, you unromantic girl,
you ought to be thinking of your lover and not your clothes,” said
Rose, amused yet rather scandalized at such want of sentiment.
“I am thinking of my lover, for he says he will not have a long
engagement, so I must begin to think about the most important
things at once, mustn’t I??
“Ah, he wants to be sure of you, for you are such a slippery
creature he is afraid you’ll treat him as you did poor Jackson and
the rest,” interrupted Rose, shaking her finger at her prospective
cousin, who had tried this pastime twice before and was rather
proud than otherwise of her brief engagements.
“You needn’t scold, for I know I’m right, and when you’ve been in
society as long as I have you’ll find that the only way to really
know a man is to be engaged to him. While they want you they are
all devotion, but when they think they’ve got you, then you find out
what wretches they are,” answered Kitty with an air of worldly
wisdom which contrasted oddly with her youthful face and giddy
manners.
“A sad prospect for poor Steve, unless I give him a hint to look
well to his ways.?
“Oh, my dear child, I’m sure of him, for my experience has made
me very sharp and I’m convinced I can manage him without a bit
of trouble. We’ve known each other for ages” Steve was twenty
and Kitty eighteen “and always been the best of friends. Besides,
he is quite my ideal man. I never could bear big hands and feet,
and his are simply adorable. Then he’s the best dancer I know and
dresses in perfect taste. I really do believe I fell in love with his
pocket handkerchiefs first, they were so enchanting I couldn’t
resist,” laughed Kitty, pulling a large one out of her pocket and
burying her little nose in the folds, which shed a delicious
fragrance upon the air.
“Now, that looks promising, and I begin to think you have got a
little sentiment after all,” said Rose, well pleased, for the merry
brown eyes had softened suddenly and a quick color came up in
Kitty’s cheek as she answered, still half hiding her face in the
beloved handkerchief: “Of course I have, lots of it, only I’m
ashamed to show it to most people, because it’s the style to take
everything in the most nonchalant way. My gracious, Rose, you’d
have thought me a romantic goose last night while Steve proposed
in the back parlor, for I actually cried, he was so dreadfully in
earnest when I pretended that I didn’t care for him, and so very
dear and nice when I told the truth. I didn’t know he had it in him,
but he came out delightfully and never cared a particle, though I
dropped tears all over his lovely shirtfront. Wasn’t that good of
him? For you know he hates his things to be mussed.?
“He’s a true Campbell, and has got a good warm heart of his own
under those fine fronts of his. Aunt Jane doesn’t believe in
sentiment, so he has been trained never to show any, but it is there,
and you must encourage him to let it out, not foolishly, but in a
way to make him more manly and serious.?
“I will if I can, for though I wouldn’t own this to everybody, I like
it in him very much and feel as if Steve and I should get on
beautifully. Here we are now, be sure not to breathe a word if we
meet anyone. I want it to be a profound secret for a week at least,”
added Kitty, whisking her handkerchief out of sight as the carriage
stopped before the fashionable store they were about to visit.
Rose promised with a smile, for Kitty’s face betrayed her without
words, so full was it of the happiness which few eyes fail to
understand whenever they see it.