"Marian,"—he almost stopped as he said it—"are you really in earnest about this fancy? Do you honestly mean that you are seriously considering any such chimerical course?"
He had, naturally, chosen precisely the tone that, were any additional incentive required, would have compelled her to resolution. Her mind, as it chanced, was, however, made up, and what he now said served only to turn her toward that feminine logic which assumes as done that which is determined.
"I am past consideration," she said. "I have already virtually begun."
"Marian! You're joking."
"I am simply stating a fact. Why do you suppose I have been staying in town this summer? I begin my real work at the settlement with the first of next week."
Her classmates in Rivington Street, could they have heard this, would have been pleased, but they would also have been surprised. Nevertheless, she at once mentally decided to make good her declaration.
In the darkness Dyker bit the lip that, under his short, crisp mustache, trembled with vexation.
"You really mean that?"
She bowed a brief assent.
"Then what, if you please, do you propose to do when you get there?"