weather, that it won't make you blush. It's this. I'm ambitious. I mean
to marry the finest man in the world and have the greatest little old
baby you ever dreamed of. By the way, now I remember, I told Clarence
that.'
Bailey uttered a strangled exclamation.
'It has made you blush! You turned purple. Well, now you know. I
mean my baby to be the most splendid baby that was ever born. He's
going to be strong and straight and clever and handsome, and, oh,
everything else you can think of. That's why I'm waiting for the ideal
young man. If I don't find him I shall die an old maid. But I shall
find him. We may pass each other on
other at a theatre. Wherever it is, I shall just reach right out and
grab him and whisk him away. And if he's married already, he'll have to
get a divorce. And I shan't care who he is. He may be any one. I don't
mind if he's a ribbon clerk or a prize-fighter or a policeman or a
cab-driver, so long as he's the right man.'
Bailey plied the handkerchief on his streaming forehead. The heat of
the day and the horror of this conversation were reducing his weight at
the rate of ounces a minute. In his most jaundiced mood he had never
imagined these frightful sentiments to be lurking in Ruth's mind.
'You can't mean that!' he cried.
'I mean every word of it,' said Ruth. 'I hope, for your sake, he won't
turn out to be a waiter or a prize-fighter, but it won't make any
difference to me.'
'You're crazy!'
'Well, just now you said Aunt Lora was. If she is, I am.'
'I knew it! I said she had been putting these ghastly ideas into your
head. I'd like to strangle that woman.'
'Don't you try! Have you ever felt Aunt Lora's biceps? It's like a
man's. She does dumb-bells every morning.'
'I've a good mind to speak to father. Somebody's got to make you stop
this insanity.'
'Just as you please. But you know how father hates to be worried about
things that don't concern business.'
Bailey did. His father, of whom he stood in the greatest awe, was very
little interested in any subject except the financial affairs of the
firm of Bannister & Son. It required greater courage than Bailey
possessed to place this matter before him. He had an uneasy feeling
that Ruth knew it.
'I would, if it were necessary,' he said. 'But I don't believe you're
serious.'
'Stick to that idea as long as ever you can, Bailey dear,' said Ruth.
'It will comfort you.'
Kirk Winfield was an amiable, if rather weak, young man with whom life,
for twenty-five years, had dealt kindly. He had perfect health, an
income more than sufficient for his needs, a profession which
interested without monopolizing him, a thoroughly contented
disposition, and the happy knack of surrounding himself with friends.
