Eleanor H. Porter

“ In December, when Sister Sue and her father were again alone in the old house, came the unexpected from Gordon. Sister Sue had to read the letter twice before she got its full meaning. Then from the incoherent, rhapsodic tangle of blue eyes, golden hair, moonlight, darlings, and sweethearts, she unraveled this information:
He was going to leave college. He had fallen in love. The dearest girl in all the world had promised to be his wife. ”

“ Sister Sue, noting all this, told herself that, after all, time and good associations might soften the girl's defects, and certainly her virtues were of the sort that made for smoothness in running the machinery of daily living. That she was not inherently coarse would certainly make it easier for her to acquire the little niceties and refinements that Sister Sue feared Gordon would miss some day—if she did not acquire them. ”

“ Gordon had received her letter. He was sorry, he was sure, if he had displeased his sister Sue. But a man must marry to suit himself. She must realize that. He was aware, of course, that he was not yet twenty-one, but he had hoped to have her consent to his marriage. He proposed to earn his own living from now on, anyway. A grocery business might not suit persons with snobbish tastes, but it was eminently respectable, and suited him perfectly. ”