Ruth encouraged, suggested, sympathized in all the little he was already doing, and the much that he proposed to do.
Of late, however, a certain not ungrounded suspicion had gradually forced itself upon her which had led her to withdraw as much as she could from her former intercourse with Dare; but her change of manner had not quite the effect she had intended.
"She thinks I am not serious," Dare had said to himself; "she thinks that I play with her feelings.

She does not know me.

To-morrow I ride over; I set her mind at rest.

To-morrow I propose; I make an offer; I claim that adored hand; I--become engaged." Accordingly, not long after the clatter of horse's hoofs in the stable-yard, Dare himself appeared in the garden, and perceiving Ruth, for whom he was evidently looking, informed her that he had ridden over to ask Mr.Alwynn to support him at a dinner his tenants were giving in his honor--a custom of the Vandon tenantry from time immemorial on the accession of a new landlord.

He spoke absently; and Ruth, looking at him more closely as he stood before her, wondered at his altered manner.