well, and rejoiced that his love was requited. But, late as it was,
Ray had had a very happy yet earnest talk with Marion on their return
from the hop. He told her plainly that he had a term of probation to
serve, and that not until he had freed himself from his burden of debt
and furnished his quarters, so that he might not be utterly ashamed to
welcome her to such a roof as even frontier cottages afforded, he would
not ask her to be his wife; he would not ask her to consider herself
even engaged to him. He had no right, he said, to speak to her of his
love, much less to plead for hers; but that was irresistible,--'twas
done. Long engagements are fearful strains, and our social license of
questionings renders them wellnigh intolerable to men and women, who
naturally shrink from speaking of matters which are to them so sacred.
Ray declared that she should not be harassed by any such torturing talk
and prying and questioning as that which has to be undergone by almost
every girl whom civilized society fancies to be engaged. She could never
doubt him for an instant, he felt assured, and he--well, he couldn't
begin to realize his blessed fortune at all, so she must excuse _his_
incredulity; but he declared he would leave her utterly untrammelled.
There should not even be an "understanding." He would not ask her to
accept his class-ring, all he had to offer, but write to her he _would_.
Grace and Mrs. Stannard should know if she saw fit, and Truscott, but
no one else at Russell. Then, if she came to her senses when she went
back to New York and her friends the Zabriskies in November, and met
some fellow worthy her acceptance, why--but here a little white hand was
laid firmly upon his lips; he said no more, but compromised by kissing
it--rapturously.

But he, and Dandy, too, had come to say good-by before marching, and
Dandy's coat shone like silk, and he arched his pretty neck and looked
at her with his soft brown eyes as though he wanted to tell her he knew
all about it, as indeed he did. Had not Ray gone into the stable early
that morning while he was crunching his oats and whispered it all, and
ever so much more, into that sensitive ear? A famous confidant was Dandy
on the long march that followed, for Ray used to bend down on his neck
and talk about her to him time and again, to the wonderment of his
"sub." Ray breakfasted at Mrs. Stannard's the morning of the start, and
when he came away and it was time to mount, he wo