Domestic fiction; Impostors and imposture -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; New England -- Fiction; Wills -- Fiction
Irene seemed very happy the remainder of the day, talking of the dinner
and looking over her wardrobe and trying on dress after dress to see
which was the most suitable and becoming. She was more fully resolved
than ever upon winning Reginald. Of Rena as a rival she had but little
fear. Tom stood as a strong wall against any advance from Reginald and
her way seemed comparatively clear, now that she had sounded the
Scotchman and felt tolerably sure of him as an ally.
“Only talk Glasgow to him and he is all right,” she thought, wishing she
had visited more places of interest, or that she had some book in which
she could read up and post herself.
Perhaps there was one in the house, she thought. She would inquire.
Fortunately for her, a former boarder had left a Harper’s Guide Book
which Lottie found for her, and when Rena asked what she was going to do
with that musty old volume she answered, “Refresh my memory;” and that
night after Rena was asleep she did refresh it to the extent of knowing
all there was in it about the Cathedral and the Royal Exchange and Royal
Bank and Merchants’ Institute, the Picture Gallery and Museum and
Stewart Memorial Fountain. She could scarcely recall one of them,
neither had she seen them all, but she had them at her tongue’s end and
felt quite ready to meet the old Scotchman on his native heather, if he
were disposed to take her there again.
CHAPTER X
THE DINNER-PARTY
“There’s a girl with a head on her, and as handsome as they make ’em,”
Colin soliloquized on his way home. “Appreciated Glasgow! About the
first American I ever met who didn’t begin at once to talk about the
dirty people in some of the streets, as if that was all there was of
Glasgow. I don’t believe she saw ’em. If she did she had the good taste
not to mention ’em. Yes, she has a head on her, and such a head and
face. Rex is in luck to have such a wife made to hand, and nothing to do
but to take her. I wonder he didn’t tell me how handsome she was. But
that’s his way, not to talk. I don’t believe he takes very kindly to the
will, at least to the girl there is in it. Isn’t a marrying man. Guess
I’ll have to give him a little boost and tell him what I think of her.”
He found Reginald reading alone in the library, Tom having gone for a
stroll which he meant should take him by Mrs. Parks’, where he hoped to
see Rena.
“By George! Rex,” the old man said, bustling in, “I’ve seen a girl with
a head on her; yes, I have.”
Rex looked up and asked:
“Did you ever see a girl without a head on her?”
“Of course not, but you know what I mean,” Colin answered. “A girl with
no nonsense, and such a face and such an air and manner. I congratulate
you, my boy; yes, I do. Sandy did well for you.”
Rex began to feel damp again as he had the night before, but he closed
his book and said:
“You mean Miss Burdick?”
“Certainly. Whom should I mean?” Mr. McPherson replied. “The other one!
What is her name?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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