She had, in writing that letter, forbidden familiarities.

Their relations toward each other were unchanged.

He remembered the ring in his pocket.
"Buck! you silly fellow! Don't you know that I didn't mean to cast you off ?" "But the note ?" he gasped.

"It was in your handwriting?
And the ring?
You sent back the ring!" "Yes, I wrote the letter because father commanded me to write it, and I sent back the ring for the same reason.

You ought to have known that!" The change in his feelings was so great and sudden that he could hardly repress a shout.
"I reckon I'm the biggest idiot unhung!" he confessed, as he took her in his arms.