ebbed and flowed in her cheeks; the free use which she made
of her red lips, a greater fascination than she had ever before exerted
over him. There, in the fissure, he had expected never to be at her side
again, and now that he was so, and knew what she had come to mean to
him, the old friendship between them seemed no longer possible;
certainly not from his side. He felt, in its place, all the confusion of
a lover, anxious to speak and yet struck dumb with clumsiness and the
fear, never absent no matter what the degree of encouragement, that his
suit might not find favor with the lady when put into words.

"You're a wonderful girl," he burst out, at last, with a heartiness
that, in bringing a flush to her cheeks, made the old phrase seem new to
her ears.

"I'm not at all," she denied shyly. "I just had to do it, that was all.
People always do what they have to do."

"They do not. Lots of them can't, but you--you're always capable; that's
what makes you so wonderful, Dorothy!" He pulled his horse closer to
hers, meaning to put his arm around her, but he dared not attempt it,
when her dress brushed his sleeve.

"Yes?" She was trembling now far more than when she had faced the
Rexhills. "What is it?"

His arm dropped to his side, and he suddenly became acutely conscious of
his appearance, what with his blood-matted hair; his blood-stained and
soiled face; his generally woe-begone and desperate state. At least,
before he risked his future on such a question, he ought to make
himself as presentable as he could.

"Nothing."

"But--" She looked at him curiously. "You were going to say something,
weren't you?"

"Yes; but I'm not going to do it until I can get to a hair-brush, and a
wash-basin, and a clean shirt," he answered lugubriously. "What I've got
on my mind is a church-going sentiment and I want to be in church-going
clothes." The expression of his countenance contributed more than his
words to the humor he strove for, and she laughed at him, merrily with
her mouth, very tenderly with her eyes.

"There's the house." She pointed ahead. "Even though I'm riding
bareback, I can beat you to it. Come on!"

Once Wade was within reach of food, his hunger became insistent, and he
could not wait for the cook to prepare a meal of fried chicken. He
foraged in the larder beforehand, and then did full justice to the meal
put before him. By the time this was over, Mrs. Purnell arrived, and he
had no chance to get into hi