Then there was a little more talk and—well, it's no one's business.
"But we're not so formally engaged," Belle warned him, "that you can't write me and draw out of the snare if you wish when you're older. And I'm not going to wear any ring until you've graduated from the Naval Academy. Do you understand that, Mr. David Darrin?"
"It shall be as you say, either way," Dave replied happily.
"And now, let us get started, or we shan't get out on the street to-day," urged Belle.
Then they passed out on the street, and no ordinarily observant person would have suspected them of being anything more than school friends.
Being very matter-of-fact in some respects, Belle's first move was to go to a stationer's, where she bought a little notebook bound in red leather.
Dave tried to pay for that purchase, but Belle forestalled him.
"Why didn't you allow me to make you that little gift?" he asked in a low tone, when they had reached the street.
"Wait," replied Belle archly. "Some day you may find your hands full in that line."
"One of my instructors at Annapolis complimented me on having very capable hands," Dave told her dryly.