EDITH DUNMORE wandered slowly through deep thickets, and where she
could just see the lighted chasm of Catamount between far tree-tops
she lay down to weep and think and be alone. She was like some wounded
creature of the forest who would hide, even from its own eyes, on the
soft, kindly bosom of the great mother.
She had learned enough to have some understanding of that strange power
which of late had broken every day into seconds. These little fragments
of time had all shades of color, from joy to despair. She lay recalling
those which had been full of revelation. In a strange loneliness she
thought of all Robert Master had said, of far more in that wordless,
wonderful assurance which had passed from his soul to hers. She knew
that to be given in marriage was to leave all for a new love.
She knew better than they suspected--those few dwellers at Buckhorn--how
dear, how indispensable she was to them. She knew how soon that
loneliness, which had often seemed to fill the heavens above her, would
bear them down. Yet she would not hesitate; she would go with him, and
for this she felt a sense of shame.
She lay longer than she knew, looking up at the sky through needled
crowns of pine. That passion which has all the fabled power of Fate was
busy with her.
A band of crows had alighted in a tree above her head and begun cawing.
Roc, who had gone to roost in a small fir, answered them. One dove
into the great, dusky hall of the near woods and made it echo with his
cawing. Roc rose and followed through its green roof into the open sky.
The maiden called to him, but he heeded only the call of his own people,
and made his choice between flying and creeping, between loneliness and
joy, between the paths of men and that appointed for him in the heavens.
His had been like her own decision--so she thought--he had heard the
one cry which he could not resist. Lately she had neglected him. He
had missed her caresses and begun to think of better company, Again
and again she called, but he had gone quickly far out of hearing. She
listened, waiting and looking into the sky, but he came not.
Master had taken the children home and returned to his little' camp
on the pond. She could hear the stroke of his axe; she could hear him
singing. She fancied, also, that she could hear the children call--that
little trumpet tone which had thrilled her when it rang in the woods.
She rose and walked slowly towards the lighted basin below her. She
could not bear to turn away from it. She would go down and look across
from the edge of the thickets. She feared that she had too freely
uncovered her feeling for him.
Soon she turned back, but then she seemed to be treading on her own
heart. She ran towards the place where she had met him. She thought not
of the children now, but only of the young man. She had heard her father
say: "A man throws off his mask when he is alone. If we could see him
then we should know what is in his soul." Could she look into his face
while he knew not of her being near she would know if he loved her. She
tried to enlarge this fancy into a motive. It failed, however, to end
her self-reproaches. Soon, almost in tears, she began to whisper: "I do
not care. I must see him again. I cannot go until I have seen him."
Moose-birds flew in the tops above her, scolding loudly, as if to turn
her back. They annoyed her, and she stopped until they had flown away.
She trembled as she drew near the familiar cove. Stealthily she made her
way, halting where they had talked together. A solemn silence brooded
there. She felt the moss where his feet had stood. He had held this
fragrant, broken lily in his hand. She picked it up and pressed it to
her lips. She slowly crossed the deep, soft mat sloping to the water's
edge, and peered between sprays of tamarack. The shadows had shifted to
the farther shore. A sprinkle of hot light fell upon her shoulders. The
disk of the sun was cut by dead pines on the bald ridge opposite. She
heeded not the warning it gave her, but only looked and listened. She
could hear Master over at the landing, hidden by the point of Birch
Cove. He was cutting wood for the night. Under cover of thickets, she
made her way along the edge of the pond. It was a walk of more than half
a mile around the coves.
By-and-by she could hear the tread of Master's feet and the crackle of
his fire. She moved with the stealth of a deer. Soon she could smell the
odor of frying meat and was reminded of her hunger. She passed a spring,
above which a cup hung, and saw the trail leading to his camp. Possibly
very soon he would be going after water. She knelt in a thicket where
she could see him pass, and waited. For a long time she waited.
Suddenly she rose and peered about her. She paled with alarm. It was
growing dusk; she had forgotten that the day would have an end. It was
a journey to Buckhom, and her little guide--where was he? Cautiously
she retraced her steps along the shore. In a moment she' began to weep
silently. When she tried to hurry the rustling of the brush halted her.
Had he heard it? What was that sound far up the ridge before her? She
knelt and listened. It was a man coming in the distance. She could hear
him whistling as he walked. Slowly he approached, passing within a few
feet of her. She had often hidden that way from unexpected travellers in
the forest. She waited a little and hurried on.
The thickets seemed now to hold her back as if to defeat her purpose.
She got clear of them by-and-by and ran up the side of the ridge.
She peered about her, seeking the familiar trail. The dusk had
thickened--her alarm had grown. She stopped a moment to make sure of
her way. Again she hurried on. Soon she entered the little six-mile
thoroughfare from Catamount to Buckhorn. She ran a few rods down the
trail and stopped. It was growing dark; she could scarcely see the
ground beneath her; she might soon lose her way in the forest. She
leaned against a tree-trunk and shook with sobs, thinking of her folly
and of her friends at home. Presently she ran back in the direction of
Master's camp. She left the trail and went slowly down the side of the
ridge. She must go and tell him that she had lost her way and ask for a
lantern. She could see the flicker of his fire. She groped through the
bushes to a little cove opposite, where, across water some twenty rods
away, she could see his camp.
In the edge of the dark forest the girl sat gazing off at the firelight.
She was weary and athirst; she was tortured with anxiety, but she could
not summon courage to go. She could see the light flooding between tree
columns, leaping into high tops, gilding the water-ripples. She could
see shadows moving; she could hear voices. Light and shadow seemed to
beckon and the voices to invite her, but she dared not go. She would
boldly rise and feel her way a few paces, only to sit down again. Tales
which her father had told her concerning the wickedness of men flashed
out of her memory.
That light was on the edge of the unknown world--full of mystery and
peril. She could not goad herself nearer.