"But you are not engaged to him," Ruth said wearily; "I see you are not."
"I am not; but he insists on waiting. If only he wasn't so tame! But I can't help believing in him now; and that settles it."
"Nothing is settled until you are engaged," said the matter-of-fact sister, with a sigh.
"Nevertheless I'm going to try with all my might to care for him, now that I see that he must really care for me. And let me tell you that I shall consider myself all the more bound to him because I haven't said yes, and because we're not actually engaged!"
"Yes?" said the other incredulously. "That is so like you, Tiny!"
And Ruth almost sneered.
CHAPTER XIX.
COUNSEL'S OPINION.
The worst of it all was this: that the young man himself had not invariably that confidence in his own affections which displayed itself so bravely and so convincingly at a psychological moment. Not that Manister was insincere, exactly. If you come to think of it, you may deceive others with perfect innocence, having once deceived yourself. And this was exactly what had happened.
There was one distinctive feature of the case: away from Christina Luttrell the poor fellow had already had his doubts of himself; in her presence those doubts were as certain to evaporate as snowflakes in the warmth of the sun.