Part 35 (1/2)

The blood surged into the girl's face, and she looked up at him with open triumph in her eyes. It was her hour, and Sally, as it happened, was not afraid of anything.

”Oh!” she exclaimed; ”you really want me?”

”Yes,” said Hawtrey quietly; ”I think I have wanted you for ever so long, though I did not know it until lately.”

”Then,” she said, ”I'll do what I can, Gregory.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”'WOULD YOU BE AFRAID TO SEE WHAT YOU COULD MAKE OF THE PLACE AND ME?'” (Page 242)]

Hawtrey bent his head and kissed her with a deference that he had not expected to feel, for there was something in the girl's simplicity and the completeness of her surrender which, though the thing seemed astonis.h.i.+ng, laid a restraint on him. As he sat down on the arm of her chair with a hand upon her shoulder, he was more astonished still, for she quietly made it clear that she expected a good deal from him. For one thing, he realized that she meant him to take and to keep a foremost place among his neighbors, and, though Sally had not the gift of clear and imaginative expression, it became apparent that this was less for her own sake than his. She was, with somewhat crude forcefulness, trying to arouse a sense of responsibility in the man, to incite him to resolute action and wholesome restraint, and, as he remembered what he had hitherto thought of her, a salutary sense of confusion crept upon him.

She seemed to recognize it, for at length she glanced up at him sharply.

”What is it, Gregory? Why do you look at me like that?” she asked.

Hawtrey smiled in a perplexed fas.h.i.+on. Hitherto she had made her appeal through his senses to one side of his nature only. There was no doubt on that point, but now it seemed there were in her qualities he had never suspected. She had desired him as a husband, but it was becoming clear that she would not be content with the mere possession of him. Sally, it seemed, had wider ideas in her mind, and, though the idea seemed almost ludicrous, she wanted to be proud of him.

”My dear,” he faltered, ”I can't quite tell you--but you have made me heartily ashamed. I'm afraid it's a very rash thing you are going to do.”

She looked at him with candid anxiety, and then appeared to dismiss the subject with a smile.

”There is so much I want to say, and it mayn't be so easy--afterwards,”

she said. ”It's a pity the train starts so soon.”

”We can get over that difficulty, anyway,” said Hawtrey. ”I'll come on as far as I can with you, and get back from one of the way stations by the Pacific express.”

Sally made no objections, and drawing a little closer to him she talked on in a low voice.

CHAPTER XXII

A PAINFUL REVELATION

A sprinkle of snow was driving down the unpaved street before the biting wind, when Mrs. Hastings came out of a store in the settlement and handed Sproatly, who was waiting close by, several big packages.

”You can put them into the wagon, and tell Jake we'll want the team as soon as supper's over,” she said. ”We're going to stay with Mrs. Ormond to-night, and I don't want to get there too late.”

Sproatly took the parcels, and Mrs. Hastings turned to Agatha, who stood a pace or two behind her with Winifred.

”Now,” she announced, ”if there's nothing else you want to buy we'll go across to the hotel.”

They were standing in a big comfortless room in the hotel when Sproatly rejoined them.

”This place is quite s.h.i.+very,” observed Mrs. Hastings. ”They generally have the stove lighted in the little room along the corridor. Go and see, Jim.”

Sproatly went out. It happened that he was wearing rubber boots, which make very little noise. He proceeded along the dark corridor, and then stopped abruptly when he had almost reached a partly-open door, for he could see into a lighted room. Hawtrey was sitting near the stove on the arm of Sally's chair.

Though he was not greatly surprised, Sproatly drew back a pace or two into the shadow, for it became evident that there were only two courses open to him. He could judiciously announce his presence by making the door rattle, and then go in and mention as casually as possible that Mrs. Hastings and Agatha were in the hotel. He felt that he ought to do it, but there was the difficulty that he could not warn Hawtrey without embarra.s.sing Sally. Sproatly hesitated in honest doubt as it became evident that the situation was a delicate one. He decided on the alternative. He would go back quietly, and keep Mrs. Hastings out of the room if it could be done.