ike it?" he persisted, and his eyes searched the half-averted
face.

"I might like it," she answered, frankly, "if--if my temper had not
made a fool of me. I never meet anyone I care to talk to. Why should
it not be pleasant to run across some one new--some one strange in this
heah wild country?"

"We are as we are," said Jean, simply. "I didn't think you made a fool
of yourself. If I thought so, would I want to see you again?"

"Do y'u?" The brown face flashed on him with surprise, with a light he
took for gladness. And because he wanted to appear calm and friendly,
not too eager, he had to deny himself the thrill of meeting those
changing eyes.

"Sure I do. Reckon I'm overbold on such short acquaintance. But I
might not have another chance to tell you, so please don't hold it
against me."

This declaration over, Jean felt relief and something of exultation. He
had been afraid he might not have the courage to make it. She walked
on as before, only with her head bowed a little and her eyes downcast.
No color but the gold-brown tan and the blue tracery of veins showed in
her cheeks. He noticed then a slight swelling quiver of her throat;
and he became alive to its graceful contour, and to how full and
pulsating it was, how nobly it set into the curve of her shoulder.
Here in her quivering throat was the weakness of her, the evidence of
her sex, the womanliness that belied the mountaineer stride and the
grasp of strong brown hands on a rifle. It had an effect on Jean
totally inexplicable to him, both in the strange warmth that stole over
him and in the utterance he could not hold back.

"Girl, we're strangers, but what of that? We've met, an' I tell you it
means somethin' to me. I've known girls for months an' never felt this
way. I don't know who you are an' I don't care. You betrayed a good
deal to me. You're not happy. You're lonely. An' if I didn't want to
see you again for my own sake I would for yours. Some things you said
I'll not forget soon. I've got a sister, an' I know you have no
brother. An' I reckon ..."

At this juncture Jean in his earnestness and quite without thought
grasped her hand. The contact checked the flow of his speech and
suddenly made him aghast at his temerity. But the girl did not make
any effort to withdraw it. So Jean, inhaling a deep breath and trying
to see through his bewilderment, held on bravely. He imagined he felt
a faint, warm, returning pressure.