R AND TO WAIT

"We have reached the 'beginning of the end,' Ajax!" said the Harvester,
as the peacock ceased screaming and came to seek food from his hand.
"We have seen the Girl. Now we must locate her and convince her that
Medicine Woods is her happy home. I feel quite equal to the latter
proposition, Ajax, but how the nation to find her sticks me. I can't
make a search so open that she will know and resent it. She must have
all the consideration ever paid the most refined woman, but she also
has got to be found, and that speedily. When I remember that look on her
face, as if horrors were snatching at her skirts, it takes all the grit
out of me. I feel weak as a sapling. And she needs all my strength. I've
simply got to brace up. I'll work a while and then perhaps I can think."

So the Harvester began the evening routine. He thought he did not want
anything to eat, but when he opened the cupboard and smelled the food he
learned that he was a hungry man and he cooked and ate a good supper. He
put away everything carefully, for even the kitchen was dainty and fresh
and he wanted to keep it so for her. When he finished he went into the
living-room, stood before the fireplace, and studied the collection of
half-finished candlesticks grouped upon it. He picked up several and
examined them closely, but realized that he could not bind himself to
the exactions of carving that evening. He took a key from his pocket and
unlocked her door. Every day he had been going there to improve upon his
work for her, and he loved the room, the outlook from its windows; he
was very proud of the furniture he had made. There was no paper-thin
covering on her chairs, bed, and dressing table. The tops, seats, and
posts were solid wood, worth hundreds of dollars for veneer.

To-night he folded his arms and stood on the sill hesitating. While
she was a dream, he had loved to linger in her room. Now that she was
reality, he paused. In one golden May day the place had become sacred.
Since he had seen the Girl that room was so hers that he was hesitating
about entering because of this fact. It was as if the tall, slender form
stood before the chest of drawers or sat at the dressing table and he
did not dare enter unless he were welcome. Softly he closed the door and
went away. He wandered to the dry-house and turned the bark and roots on
the trays, but the air stifled him and he hurried out. He tried to work
in the packing room, but walls smothered