But after the first flush of excitement the loyal girl’s lips became firm and she raised her eyes to his face with a tender, anxious expression.
“Oh, Mr. Ray! I am so sorry! But it cannot be! I am too young, too inexperienced! I do not know my own heart! Do, please, please forget that you have asked me that question!”
Archie Ray’s face paled to the lips, but he smiled at her bravely.
“As you will, Marion,” he said, almost sadly. “Forgive me if I have pained you, but, oh, my darling, do not decide too quickly! Give me a month, a year, and I will wait patiently.”
Marion bowed her head. She could not answer. This avowal of love had almost overwhelmed her.
CHAPTER XI.
MARION IS LURED INTO A TRAP.
When Marion reached home she was delighted to find Bert Jackson there. He had come from Canada the day before and expected to sail for Europe in two days, but his first thought seemed to be for the welfare of Dollie and Marion. He was a fine-looking lad in his stylish clothes, and when Marion first caught sight of him she hardly knew him.
“You don’t look much like the bare-footed boy in blue jeans that you were last summer, Bert,” she said, laughingly, as she finally pulled her hands away from the grasp he had given them.
“No, I’m a dude now,” said Bert, very gayly. “All I lack is an eye-glass, a walking-stick and a lisp. Oh, I know what they look like! There’s lots of ’em loafing around in my class in society.” The girls both screamed at Bert’s allusion to society, although the boy had only made the remark jestingly.