Then again her manner was equally inexplicable. From that same evening she gave him more encouragement than he had even hoped to receive for months, but yet he made no progress. She seemed to enjoy meeting him, and constantly found opportunity to do so. Her eyes were continually seeking his face, but there was something in her manner in this respect that puzzled him more than anything else. She often seemed looking at his face, rather than at him. At first Christine had been furtive and careful in her observations, but as the habit grew upon her, and her interest increased, she would sometimes gaze so steadily that poor Dennis was deeply embarrassed. Becoming conscious of this, she would herself color slightly, and be more careful for a time.
In her eagerness for success, Christine did not realize how dangerous an experiment she was trying. She could not look upon such a face as Dennis Fleet's, eloquent with that which should never fail to touch a woman's heart with sympathy, and then forget it when she chose. Moreover, though she knew it not, in addition to her interest in him as an art study, his strong, positive nature affected her cool, negative one most pleasantly. His earnest manifested feeling fell like sunlight on a heart benumbed with cold.
Thus, under the stimulus of his presence, she found that she could paint or sketch to much better purpose than when alone. This knowledge made her rejoice in secret over the opportunity she could now have, as Dennis again assisted her in hanging pictures, and affixing to the walls ornaments of various kinds.
Coming to him one morning in the store, she said, "I am going to ask a favor of you again."
Dennis looked as if she were conferring the greatest of favors. His face always lighted up when she spoke to him.
"It is very kind of you to ask so pleasantly for what you can command," he said.
"To something of the same effect you answered before, and the result was the disagreeable experience at Miss Brown's."
Dennis's brow contracted a little, but he said, heroically, "I will go to Miss Brown's again if you wish it."
"How self-sacrificing you are!" she replied, with a half-mischievous smile.
"Not as much so as you imagine," he answered, flushing slightly.