bright-eyed and fair and wholly perfect. She was dressed in plain
black, with deep white cuffs which turned back upon the sleeves, and a
white turnover collar, as neat as a nun. Offsetting, somehow, the
severity of this, was the boyish side-sweep of her hair, and the
watch-chain looped to a crocheted pocket on her breast. And on the
ground lay the soldierly three-cornered hat.

To a man who had been expecting to come home to doughy hot bread and
fried rabbit and solitude, this was a surprise. It was somewhat as if
Providence had taken note of his case and sent out a Sister of Charity;
and one who had the charming advantage of being also a dimpled Daughter
of the Regiment. Once his eye had taken in the regular contour of her
nose and rested on that dimple, his gaze did not wander. He did not
even wink--it would have been a complete loss of looking. When she
removed the lid from the saucepan a spicy aroma spread itself abroad.
Dog and herder sniffed the evening air, sampling the new odor. It was
a whiff of Araby the Blest.

"As I was just going to explain," she said, straightening up again, "I
had an accident with my horse. I came in here to find a water-hole and
he ran away and threw me off. Then I found I was lost"; and she went
on to relate the details of her adventure up to the time of her arrival
at the shack.

As she spoke, she felt as if she had been thrust out into the middle of
a big empty stage to make a speech to that momentous audience of one
man--a speech upon which everything depended. However panic-stricken
she might be, she must not show it. For that would give him an opening
for assurances, for allusions which would have to be recognized, for
asseverations which would have to be formally confided in--intimacy.
And that must not be. The least betrayal of fear by her would bring it
about. There must not be even the suggestion of a situation. It had
been a godsend that, upon the first failure of her courage, the dog had
offered himself as a reason. The dog had made an excellent cover for
her trepidation. And now it was a support to feel that the dog was
walking about--an object upon which to saddle her nervous apprehension
at any moment when she lost control.

She delivered her speech with a naturalness and ease which surprised
her. She even added a little high-handed touch or two, referring to
the aggravation of being thrown by one's horse and thus delayed in
one's business; not to spe