He sought to improve the character of fiction she kept at hand for leisure moments, and was surprised by the aptness of her comments on the books she borrowed on his advice from the Public Library.

She was twenty-four, tall and trim, with friendly blue-gray eyes and a wit that had been sharpened by adversity.
It cannot be denied that Mrs.Bassett and Marian found Harwood a convenient reed upon which to lean.

Nor was Blackford above dragging his father's secretary (as the family called him) forth into the bazaars of Washington Street to assist in the purchase of a baseball suit or in satisfying other cravings of his youthful heart.

Mrs.Bassett, scorning the doctors of Fraserville, had now found a nerve specialist at the capital who understood her troubles perfectly.
Marian, at Miss Waring's school, was supposed to be preparing for college, though Miss Waring had no illusions on the subject.

Marian made Mrs.Owen her excuse for many absences from school: what was the use of having a wealthy great-aunt living all alone in a comfortable house in Delaware Street if one didn't avail one's self of the rights and privileges conferred by such relationship?
When a note from Miss Waring to Mrs.Bassett at Fraserville conveyed the disquieting news of her daughter's unsatisfactory progress, Mrs.Bassett went to town and dealt severely with Marian.