Part 13 (1/2)
”You couldn't be like other woer in his tone now, as she looked up at hily frorow up”
”It is so good to be alive and to love you like this!” she continued, drealoo day, for my eyes are blinded and I can't see half the beautifuls I want to, there are so many about htly, in an effort to ward off her growing seriousness
”I've never been afraid of anything, and yet I feel so safe inside the ue discomfort, and realized di ords and caresses a so that instead of dying grew stronger the more utterly this innocent maid yielded to hih spurs in a fierce desire to distance certain voices, and in the firstagain ly every moment A man's honor, if old, may travel feebly, but its pursuit is persistent It was the talk about his people that had raised this daht Why had he ever started it?
”The irl, ”is that it will never end I know I shall love you always Do you suppose I a is different to-night--the whole world,” he declared, iht I knew e inhandicap,” she said, ”but you must help me to overcome it I want to be like your sister”
He rose and piled irl? It was as if she knew each cunning joint of his armor, as if she had realized her peril and had set about the awakening of his conscience, deliberately and with a cautious wisdom beyond her years Well, she had done it--and he swore to hiainst the shadows, following his every movement with her soul in her eyes, the tenderest trace of a s her so; it was her white soul and her wo at her, she tilted her head sidewise daintily, like a little bird
”Oh, my! What a fierce you are all at once!”
Her s blaze, and he crossed quickly, kneeling beside her
”Dear, wonderful girl,” he said, ”it is going to be e and that you remain just what you are You can't understand what this means to ht has restored o to sleep; the hours are short and we reat, sweet-scented couch of springy boughs, and fashi+oned her a pillow out of a bundle of smaller ones, around which he wrapped his khaki coat; then he re her tiny feet, one in the palm of either hand, bowed his head over theracious purity and his oorthiness He spread one of the big gray blankets over her, and tucked her in, while she sighed in delightful languor, looking up at him all the time
”I'll sit here beside you for a while,” he said ”I want to smoke a bit”
She stole a sliled it in his, and he leaned forward, closing her lids doith his lips Her utter weariness was ers twined about his in a childlike grip
At tireat desire to feel her in his ared over hi apart froht see man, and in his veins ran the blood of ard forebears ho ont to possess that which they conquered in the lists of love, led hich was the blood of spirited Southern wo to Kentucky rumor, but only too well Nevertheless, they were honest men and woe of chivalry and a high sense of honor and courage Strange to say, this little, sie, even when he tried most stubbornly to sht have had no scruples; or if her blood were as pure as her love--even then it would be easier; but, as it was, he ht, and for all tireater andti about hile, wondering at the hold this forest elf had gained upon hi hoas that she had stolen into his heart and head and taken such utter possession of him It would be no easy task to shut her out of his ently withdrew his fingers fro the other side of the wickiup, covered hi her, and fell asleep
It was early dahen Necia crept to hione away,” she said, shi+vering violently and drawing close ”Oh, it was a terrible awakening--”
”I was too tired to dream,” he said
”So I had to come and see if you were really here”
He quickly rekindled the fire, and theysun had penetrated the cold air they had clie and obtained a wondrous view of broken country, the hills alight with therays, the valleys ress on the summit, which was paved with barren rock and sparsely carpeted with short moss, while there was never a hint of insects to annoy the, buoyed up by an unnatural exaltation; yet now and then, as they drew near their destination, the youngpremonition of evil to come, and wondered if he had not been foolhardy to undertake this rash enterprise
”I wish Stark was not one of Lee's party,” he said once ”He ether this way”
”But when he learns that we love each other, that will explain everything”