f she had lost interest in
so admirable a being as he, it was not to be expected that he would be
more constant to a trifling sort of person like herself. There was only
a little awkwardness to be got over at first, but sooner or later he
would bless her for his escape.

Stephen, meanwhile, was submitting to all her arrangements with neither
protest nor suggestion. She had undertaken to rescue him, and she must
do it in her own way. If he hated to see her ploughing through the snow
by the side of the horse, he made no sign. If he would rather have been
left to his fate than to have subjected her to exposure and fatigue, he
was too wise to say so. Her wilfulness had been so thoroughly
demonstrated in the course of that day that he merely observed her with
an appreciation half amused, half admiring.

"There is a house just beyond the gate where we can go," she said; and
then she did not speak again for many minutes.

As for her companion, he seemed inclined at first to be as taciturn as
she. Whether or not he was suffering agony from his foot, she had no
means of knowing, nor could she guess how he interpreted her own action.
At last he broke the silence.

"Of course you meant to give me the slip," he said. "I half knew it all
the time. I suppose that was the very reason why I persisted in acting
as if I thought you had ridden back for me. One clings all the harder to
one's illusions when,--well, when it's all up with them."

Amy could not seem to think of any suitable remark to make in reply.

They had reached the ranch road now. She knew the general lay of the
land well enough to recognize it, and she could trust Sunbeam to keep
it. A dense black cloud, the rearguard of the storm, had covered the
moon, but there were stars enough to light the way somewhat.

"Would you mind telling me why you risked your life for me?" Stephen
asked abruptly.

Some seconds went by before she answered. Then: "I think there was
reason enough in my being to blame for it all," she said; "I behaved
outrageously."

"And the other reason? There was another reason, I take it."

His voice was not eager, not lover-like; there was more curiosity than
anything else in the tone. Again the moon shone out, and lighted up her
face distinctly, as she answered him, looking straight before her along
the snowy road.

"I think," she said, speaking with a slow consideration of her words; "I
think it was because I could not bear to have you--go out