e was an idealist. As a matter of fact he did not himself know the
meaning of the word half as well as Sabina.

He filled her thoughts, and believing him to be honourable, in the
everyday acceptation of the word, she knew she was safe and need not
fear him. This fact added to the joy and excitement of a situation that
was merely thrilling, not difficult. For she had to be receptive only,
and that was easy: the vital matter rested with him. She did not do
anything to encourage him, or take any step that her friends could call
"forward." She just left it to him and knew not how far he meant to go,
yet felt, in sanguine moments, that he would go all the way, sooner or
later, and offer to marry her. Her friends declared it would be so. They
were mightily interested, but not jealous, for the girls recognised
Sabina's advantages.

When, therefore, he asked her to take a walk on a certain Sunday
afternoon, she agreed to do so. There was no plotting or planning about
it. He named a familiar place of meeting and proposed to go thence to
the cliffs--a ramble that might bring them face to face with a dozen
people who knew them. She felt the happier for that. Nor could Sally
Groves and her warning cast her down for long. The hint that Raymond was
a gentleman and Sabina a spinner touched a point in their friendship
long past. The girl knew that well enough; but she also knew what Sally
did not, and told herself that Raymond was a great deal more than a
gentleman, just as she--Sabina--was something more than a spinner. That,
however, was the precious knowledge peculiar to the young people
themselves. She could not expect Sally, or anybody else, to know it yet.

As for the young man, life had cut away from him most of his former
interests and amusements. He was keeping regular hours and working
steadily. He regarded himself as a martyr, yet could get none to take
that view. To him, then, came his love affair as a very present help in
time of trouble. The emotions awakened by Sabina were real, and he fully
believed that she was going to be essential to his life's happiness and
completion. He knew nothing about women, for his athletic pursuits and
ambitions to excel physically produced an indifference to them. But with
the change in his existence, and the void thereby created, came love,
and he had leisure to welcome it. He magnified Sabina, and since her
intellect was as good as his own and her education better, he assured
himself th