They are about as good as engaged.

Good-evening, Mr.Cordis." It so happened that several days after this conversation, as Madeline was walking home one afternoon, she glanced back at a crossing of the street, and saw Harrison Cordis coming behind her on his way to tea.

At the rate she was walking she would reach home before he overtook her, but, if she walked a very little slower, he would overtake her.

Her pace slackened.
She blushed at her conduct, but she did not hurry.
The most dangerous lovers women have are men of Cordis's feminine temperament.

Such men, by the delicacy and sensitiveness of their own organizations, read women as easily and accurately as women read each other.