the unconscious grace of a wild animal onto the stoop at
her feet.

Neither broke the silence for several minutes, but the man scarcely took
his burning gaze from the child's lovely face. At length she sighed ever
so gently, and, seating herself beside him, dropped her firm chin into
her cupped hands.

"Smiles," began Judd, with all the harshness gone from his voice, "I
don't enjoy fer ter hear yo' sigh thet erway, er ter see ther fur-off
look in yo'r purty eyes, 'cause I fears thet hit means thar's some one
else then me in yo'r heart."

Instantly she sat up straight, and turned her eyes, full of surprise,
upon him. "Why, Juddy!" she said.

"Ef hit's thet doctor man, I likes hit least uv all, Smiles," the man
continued, speaking bitterly. "He haint come fur no good, leetle gal,
an' I don't want fer yo' ter think on him."

"I reckon I thinks on whom I likes," she responded briefly.

"Don't go fer ter git angry with me, Rose gal. Hit aint thet I wants ter
be selfish er onreasonable, but ..." Judd stopped. Words of passionate
love trembled on his lips, but were held there by a barrier of
inherited reticence in matters of the heart. Iron reserve and laconic
speech were essentially typical of his breed; but, at length, the eager
utterances strained against the fetter of his will, and broke them.

"I kaint speak as I desires to, Smiles. I fears I kaint make ye
understand what's in my heart; but I've keered mightily fer ye, dear,
ever since yo' war a smilin' leetle baby gal, an' now ... now yo'r most
a woman grown, an' I love ye, want ye more come each new day an' each
new night. Thar haint one ef them passes but thet I make excuse fer ter
see ye, an' jest ther sight o' yo'r sweet face somehow kindles a light
inside me that burns, 'thout scarcely dimmin', till I sees ye agin.
Thet's ther reason I said what I done, a moment back.

"I jest kaint bear fer ter think uv yo' lovin' some one else then me. I
... I keers so much thet I believes I'd rather see ye dead then thet,
Rose gal."

Fairly trembling with the sweep of his unloosed emotion, the reserved,
strong-willed man paused, and, as the girl stood up hastily, she was
trembling, too.

"Why, Juddy," she cried softly, distress in her voice, "I didn't rightly
understand thet yo' felt thet erway. I likes ye, in course, but I'm only
a leetle gal, an' I haint keerin' fer any one ... thet erway. I ... I
don't enjoy fer ter hyar yo' say sech words ter me now, Juddy."

"I