"Miss Vandergrift," he said impulsively, "I wish I had a sister like you, and wouldn't my mother be pleased, though, if you were her daughter. A girl, I am sure, would have been more of a comfort and companion to her when my brother Desmond died." Then he added, after a moment of silence: "I can get your point of view, all right. I wouldn't break my mother's heart by pretending to drown myself, not even if the heavens fell."