His action in seating himself at the table
without invitation angered Betty, as he had intended it should.
"Some shocked, eh?" he said, helping himself to some bacon and fried
potatoes, and passing them to her when he had finished with them.
"Shocked?" she returned calmly, unconcernedly supplying herself with
food from the dishes she had taken from him, "Oh, my, no. You see,
from what your father told me about you, I rather expected you to be a
brute."
"Aw, Betty," came Malcolm's voice, raised in mild remonstrance; "you
hadn't ought to--"
"If you please, grandpa," Betty interrupted him, and he subsided and
glanced anxiously at Calumet, into whose face had come a dash of dark
color. He swallowed a mouthful of bacon before he answered Betty.
"Then you ain't disappointed," he sneered.
She rested her hands on the table beside her plate, the knife and fork
poised, and regarded him with a frank gaze.
"No, I am not disappointed. You quite meet my expectations. In fact,"
she went on, "I thought you would be much worse than you are. So far,
if we except your attack on grandfather, you haven't exhibited any
vicious traits. You are vain, though, and conceited, and like to bully
people. But those are faults that can be corrected."
Calumet had to look twice at her before he could be certain that she
was not mocking him.
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