"Is he to wait?"
"No; please tell him I can't be bothered to-night."
On her return, John remarked, "I heard what the young lady said, and I suppose I must be content with that for my answer."
"Is it anything you want, John, that I can do for you?" asked Mrs. Ranger, with a good-humoured smile.
"No, I think not—at least, I know you can't," he added, quickly correcting himself.
"Do you care to wait then?" she inquired.
"No; I daresay I shall see her before long,—I should be sorry to bother her."
Following him to the door, as he was leaving, she whispered, "I think I can see what's brewing. Now, don't be offended if I offer you a bit of advice. I have had some experience, and seen a little of life, and have some knowledge of the ways of my own sex. Don't be too ready to take a woman at her word. Just remember, she doesn't always mean all she says. You see what I mean, I think? No offence. Good-night."
It was with very mixed feelings that John returned to his solitary dwelling. He had considerable confidence in Mrs. Ranger, as a shrewd, common-sense woman, yet he hesitated to place full reliance upon her judgment. She no doubt meant well, and spoke as she did with a desire to reassure him. But he felt sorely puzzled to account for Mary's unwillingness to see him. Experience he had none; he had learned nothing in that school. He had but just entered as a pupil, and the first lesson was now being studied.
Books had been his only tutors, and the few he had read had imparted theories which opportunity had not enabled him to test.