“Sour grapes, Andy!” returned Fred shamelessly. “You’d fall for a girl like May in a minute if you could only find one.”
“No girls in mine—at least, not yet,” returned the fun-loving Rover. “I’m going to be a happy bachelor, and Randy says he’s going to be the same.”
It must be confessed that Jack’s heart beat as it had never beat before when he took the train to call on Ruth. How would she receive him after all that had passed and after the letter he had written?
But if he had any fears, they were all groundless, for when the train arrived at the town where Ruth lived he found her waiting for him at the railroad station and when she came up she not only shook hands but showed that she expected far more, and after one searching look into her clear and steady eyes, he kissed her.
“Is it all right, Ruth?” he whispered. “Tell me, is it?”
“Why, of course it is, Jack,” she answered softly. “It always was.”
“Then Joe Sedley——”
“Oh, Jack, please don’t mention that fellow! I’d rather forget him!”
“Then we can announce our engagement?”