ther I wish to or not, I am compelled to trust myself
to your protection. You may call me Christie Maclaire, or anything else
you please; you may even think me unworthy respect, but you possess the
face of a gentleman, and as such I am going to trust you--I must trust
you. Will you accept my confidence on these terms?"

Keith did not smile, nor move. Weak from hunger and fatigue, he leaned
wearily against the wall. Nevertheless that simple, womanly appeal awoke
all that was strong and sacrificing within him, although her words were
so unexpected that, for the moment, he failed to realize their full
purport. Finally he straightened up.

"I--I accept any terms you desire," he gasped weakly, "if--if you will
only give one return."

"One return?--what?"

"Food; we have eaten nothing for sixty hours." Her face, which had been
so white, flushed to the hair, her dark eyes softening.

"Why, of course; sit down. I ought to have known from your face. There
is plenty here--such as it is--only you must wait a moment."

Chapter IX. The Girl of the Cabin

He saw Neb drop down before the blazing fireplace, and curl up like a
tired dog, and observed her take the lamp, open the door into the other
room a trifle, and slip silently out of sight. He remembered staring
vaguely about the little room, still illumined by the flames, only half
comprehending, and then the reaction from his desperate struggle with
the elements overcame all resolution, and he dropped his head forward
on the table, and lost consciousness. Her hand upon his shoulder aroused
him, startled into wakefulness, yet he scarcely realized the situation.

"I have placed food for the negro beside him," she said quietly, and for
the first time Keith detected the soft blur in her speech.

"You are from the South!" he exclaimed, as though it was a discovery.

"Yes--and you?"

"My boyhood began in Virginia--the negro was an old-time slave in our
family."

She glanced across at the black, now sitting up and eating voraciously.

"I thought he had once been a slave; one can easily tell that. I did
not ask him to sit here because, if you do not object, we will eat here
together. I have also been almost as long without food. It was so lonely
here, and--and I hardly understood my situation--and I simply could not
force myself to eat."

He distinguished her words clearly enough, although she spoke low, as
if she preferred what was said between them should not re