"I like a very narrow ring," I said. "There won't be room for much
inside. The date will do. But I'm sure that Russell----"
"All right if he does. Perhaps I'd better not put in the date. Then, if
he takes one along, I can return this and have it credited to him."
"You're very thoughtful."
"Not at all," he said with the first atom of feeling he'd shown. "I
don't approve of anything about this business; but if it's going to
happen, it's going to happen right!"
He got up and stood in front of the fire.
"The thing to be sure of, Kit," he said soberly, "is that you don't love
any one else. It's bad enough as it is, but that would be worse."
"I wouldn't dare to be in love with any one who wasn't eligible," I
said, not looking at him. "I've been raised for just what I'm doing. I'm
fulfilling my destiny."
"There's nobody else, then?"
"Who could there be?"
"That's twice I've asked you a perfectly simple question, Kit, and you
have evaded it. The plain truth, of course, is that you are in love,
absolutely single-heartedly in love, but not with Russell."
"Then who?" I demanded sharply.
"With yourself," he said, and picked up his hat and went out.