He was diligent and active and his future promised to be bright, at least so his proud father boasted.

He came home for holidays and vacations and his raiment was anything but funereal, but Mary-'Gusta was not impressed either by the raiment or the personality beneath it.
She treated the persistent Daniel as a boy and a former schoolmate.
When he assumed manly airs she laughed at him and when he invited her to accompany him to the Cattle Show at Ostable she refused and said she was going with Uncle Zoeth.
Dan Higgins was not the only young fellow who found the store of Hamilton and Company an attractive lounging place.

Some of the young gentlemen not permanent residents of South Harniss also appeared to consider it a pleasant place to visit on Summer afternoons.

They came to buy, of course, but they remained to chat.

Mary-'Gusta might have sailed or picknicked a good deal and in the best of company, socially speaking, if she had cared to do so.