She did not speak, but her look suddenly enveloped him like
a cloud. Jim felt a sudden prick of tears behind his own eyes.
"Sweetness," he said gravely, "I know you love me! And Julia, my whole
soul is simply on fire for you. Don't--_don't_ let any mere trifle come
between us now. Let me tell my mother and father to-morrow!"
A clear light was shining in Julia's eyes. Now, as she automatically
arranged the tea things before her, and poured him his first cup of tea,
she said:
"Jim, I told you that I haven't thought much about marriage for myself.
I suppose it's funny that I shouldn't, for they say most girls do! But
perhaps it was because the biographies and histories I began to read
when I came to the settlement house were all about men: how Lincoln
rose, how Napoleon rose, how this rich man sold newspapers when he was a
little boy, and that other one spent his first money in taking his
mother out of the poorhouse. And of course marriage doesn't enter so
much into the lives of men. It came to me years ago that what wise men
are trying to din into young people everywhere is just this: that if you
make yourself ready for anything, that thing will come to you.
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