“Don’t you want to hear something about Miss Sallie?” “Of course, I was just going to ask you if she’s as homely as that last one you tried to get off on me.” “I’ve told you she’s a beauty. She made a sensation at her finishing school in Baltimore. It’s funny that she was there the last year you were at the Johns Hopkins University. She’s the belle of Independence, rich, petted, and the only child of old General Worth, who thinks the sun rises and sets in her pretty blue eyes.” “So she has blue eyes?” “Yes, blue eyes and black hair.” “What a funny combination! I never saw a girl with blue eyes and black hair.” “It’s often seen in the far South. I expect you to be drowned in those blue eyes. They are big, round and child-like, and look out of their black lashes as though surprised at their dark setting. This contrast accents their dreamy beauty, and her eyes seem to swim in a dim blue mist like the point where the sea and sky meet on the horizon far out on the ocean. She is bright, witty, romantic and full of coquetry. She is determined to live her girl’s life to its full limit. She is fond of society and dances divinely.” “That’s bad. I never even cut the pigeon’s wing in my life--and I’m too old to learn.” “She has a full queenly figure, small hands and feet, delicate wrists, a dimple in one cheek only, and a mass of brown-black hair that curls when it’s going to rain.” “That’s fine, we wouldn’t need a barometer on life’s voyage, would we?” “No, but you will be looking for a pilot and a harbour before you’ve known her a month. Her upper lip is a little fuller and projects slightly over the lower, and they are both beautifully fluted and curved like the petals of a flower, which makes the most tantalising mouth a standing challenge for a kiss.” “Oh! Auntie, you’re joking! You never saw such a girl. You’re breaking into my heart, stealing glances at my ideal.” “All right, sir, wait and see for yourself. She has pretty shell-like ears, her laughter is full, contagious, and like music. She plays divinely on the piano, can’t sing a note, but dresses to kill. You might as well wind up your affairs, and get ready for the first serious work of your life. You will have your hands full after you see her.” “But did I understand you to say she’s rich?” “Yes, they say her father is worth half a million.” “Do you think she could be interested in the poor in this county?” “Yes, she doesn’t seem to know she’s an heiress. Her father, the General, is a deacon in the Baptist church at Independence, and hates dudes and fops with all his old-fashioned soul. His idea of a man is one of character, and the capacity of achievement, not merely a possessor of money. Still, I imagine he is going to give any man trouble who tries to take his daughter away from him.” “I’m afraid that money lets me out of the race.” “Nothing of the sort, when you see her you will never allow a little thing like that to worry you.”