well meaning; but what he had prepared his sister for, unconsciously of
course, in his emphasis on one or two phases of their first
acquaintance, had been a sort of slatternly Amazon. But the effect of
this was, really, very happy; because when a perfectly presentably clad,
well-bred, admirably poised young girl came into the room and greeted
her neither shyly nor eagerly, nor with any affectation of ease, a girl
who didn't try to pretend it wasn't a critical moment for her but was
game enough to meet it without any evidences of panic--when Frederica
realized that this was the Rose whom Rodney had been telling her about,
she fell in love with her on the spot.

Amazingly, as she watched the girl and heard her talk, she found she was
considering, not Rose's availability as a wife for Rodney, but Rodney's
as a husband for her. It was this, perhaps, that led her to say, at the
end of her leave-taking, just as Rose, who had come out into the hall
with her, was opening the door:

"Roddy has been such a wonderful brother, always, to me, that I suspect
you'll find him, sometimes, being a brother to you. Don't let it hurt
you if that happens."

The most vivid of all the memories that Frederica took away with her
from that memorable visit was the smile with which Rose had answered
that remark. She had her chauffeur stop at the first drug store they
came to and called up Rodney on the telephone, just because she was too
impatient to wait any longer for a talk with him.

"I'm simply idiotic about her," she told him. "I know, now, what you
meant when you were trying to tell me about her smile. She looked at me
like that just as I was leaving, and my throat's tight with it yet.