directly upon Ruth,
rather than to combat her. There would be plenty of time for this, for
Martin was not in position to marry.

"Let her see all she wants of him," was Mr. Morse's advice. "The more
she knows him, the less she'll love him, I wager. And give her plenty of
contrast. Make a point of having young people at the house. Young women
and young men, all sorts of young men, clever men, men who have done
something or who are doing things, men of her own class, gentlemen. She
can gauge him by them. They will show him up for what he is. And after
all, he is a mere boy of twenty-one. Ruth is no more than a child. It
is calf love with the pair of them, and they will grow out of it."

So the matter rested. Within the family it was accepted that Ruth and
Martin were engaged, but no announcement was made. The family did not
think it would ever be necessary. Also, it was tacitly understood that
it was to be a long engagement. They did not ask Martin to go to work,
nor to cease writing. They did not intend to encourage him to mend
himself. And he aided and abetted them in their unfriendly designs, for
going to work was farthest from his thoughts.

"I wonder if you'll like what I have done!" he said to Ruth several days
later. "I've decided that boarding with my sister is too expensive, and
I am going to board myself. I've rented a little room out in North
Oakland, retired neighborhood and all the rest, you know, and I've bought
an oil-burner on which to cook."

Ruth was overjoyed. The oil-burner especially pleased her.

"That was the way Mr. Butler began his start," she said.

Martin frowned inwardly at the citation of that worthy gentleman, and
went on: "I put stamps on all my manuscripts and started them off to the
editors again. Then to-day I moved in, and to-morrow I start to work."

"A position!" she cried, betraying the gladness of her surprise in all
her body, nestling closer to him, pressing his hand, smiling. "And you
never told me! What is it?"

He shook his head.

"I meant that I was going to work at my writing." Her face fell, and he
went on hastily. "Don't misjudge me. I am not going in this time with
any iridescent ideas. It is to be a cold, prosaic, matter-of-fact
business proposition. It is better than going to sea again, and I shall
earn more money than any position in Oakland can bring an unskilled man."

"You see, this vacation I have taken has given me perspective. I