His passion surprised and even moved Christina; but his humility stirred up in her soul a contempt which mingled strangely with her pity. Women of spirit cannot admire the man who will submit to anything at their hands. Christina would willingly have given admiration in exchange for the love in which she was beginning to believe; it would have pleased her sense of justice, it would have promoted her self-respect to make some such small payment on account. With Manister's patience she had none at all. She was disappointed in him. Her foot tapped angrily on the fender.
"But I don't want you to wait!" exclaimed Christina ungraciously. "I have told you so already."
"Still I mean to do so, and it serves me right."
This touched her generosity.
"Ah, don't say that!" she cried earnestly. "Oh, Lord Manister, I have forgotten all old scores—I never think of them now! The balance has been the other way so long; and I do not deserve another chance."
"Ah, but Tiny—darling—it is I who am asking for that!"
His tone compelled her to meet his gaze—its intensity made her wince.
"You believe in me!" he cried joyously. "Say only that you believe in me, and I will go away now. I will go away happy and proud—to wait—for you."
Then Tiny laid her little hand on his arm, and her eyes that had filled with tears answered him to his present satisfaction. He held her hand for just a few seconds before he went, and in kindness she returned his pressure. Then the shutting of the front door down below made her realize that he was gone. And she had time to dry her eyes and to gather herself together before Ruth, whose hopes had been dead some days, came into the room with a dejected mien and pointedly abstained from asking questions.
"If it interests you to hear it," Tiny said lightly, "I am converted to your creed at last; I believe in Lord Manister!"