g was glad to hope, from his more natural bearing, that she had
been over-sensitive.

The sagacious Graydon, however, was maturing a plan which he hoped
would bring her the happiness which it would be his happiness to
confer.

"She is so proud and spirited," he thought, "that only when surprised
and off her guard will she reveal to me a glimpse of the truth. If I
consulted my own pride I wouldn't speak for a long time to come--not
till she had ceased to associate me with Stella Wildmere; but if she
is loving me as I believe she would love a man, she shall not doubt an
hour longer than I can help, that I and my life's devotion are hers.
Sweet Madge, you shall make your own terms again!"

CHAPTER XXXVIII

"CERTAINLY I REFUSE YOU"

Having heard that one of the finest views among the mountains was to
be had at Indian Head, a vast overhanging precipice facing toward the
entrance to the Kaaterskill Clove, Graydon easily induced Madge to
explore with him the tangled paths which led thither.

How his eyes exulted over her as she tripped on before him down the
steep, winding, rocky paths! As he followed he often wondered where
her feet had found their secure support, so rugged was the way. Yet on
she glanced before him, swaying, bending to avoid branches, or pushing
them aside, her motions instinct with vitality and natural grace.

Once, however, he had a fright. She was taking a deep descent swiftly,
when her skirt caught on a stubborn projecting stump of a sapling,
and it appeared that she would fall headlong; but by some surprising,
self-recovering power, which seemed exerted even in the act of
falling, she lay before him in the path, almost as if reclining easily
upon her elbow, and was nearly on her feet again before he could reach
her side.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, most solicitously, brushing off the dust
from her dress.

"Not in the least," she replied, laughing.

"Well," he exclaimed, "I don't believe you or any one else could do
that so handsomely again if you tried a thousand times! Don't try,
please. I carried you the other day some little distance, and found
that you were no longer a little ghost."

"You carried me, Graydon? I thought the people from the farmhouse
came."

"Oh, I didn't wait for them! I was half beside myself."

"Evidently," she replied, a little coolly.

Her tone made him falter in his purpose, and when at last they reached
Indian Head, she was so resolutely impersonal in