Next morning, Jacob Welse, for all of the Company and his millions in
mines, chopped up the day's supply of firewood, lighted a cigar, and
went down the island in search of Baron Courbertin. Frona finished the
breakfast dishes, hung out the robes to air, and fed the dogs. Then
she took a worn Wordsworth from her clothes-bag, and, out by the bank,
settled herself comfortably in a seat formed by two uprooted pines.
But she did no more than open the book; for her eyes strayed out and
over the Yukon to the eddy below the bluffs, and the bend above, and
the tail of the spit which lay in the midst of the river. The rescue
and the race were still fresh with her, though there were strange
lapses, here and there, of which she remembered little. The struggle
by the fissure was immeasurable; she knew not how long it lasted; and
the race down Split-up to Roubeau Island was a thing of which her
reason convinced her, but of which she recollected nothing.
The whim seized her, and she followed Corliss through the three days'
events, but she tacitly avoided the figure of another man whom she
would not name. Something terrible was connected therewith, she knew,
which must be faced sooner or later; but she preferred to put that
moment away from her. She was stiff and sore of mind as well as of
body, and will and action were for the time being distasteful. It was
more pleasant, even, to dwell on Tommy, on Tommy of the bitter tongue
and craven heart; and she made a note that the wife and children in
Toronto should not be forgotten when the Northland paid its dividends
to the Welse.
The crackle of a foot on a dead willow-twig roused her, and her eyes
met St. Vincent's.
"You have not congratulated me upon my escape," he began, breezily.
"But you must have been dead-tired last night. I know I was. And you
had that hard pull on the river besides."
He watched her furtively, trying to catch some cue as to her attitude
and mood.
"You're a heroine, that's what you are, Frona," he began again, with
exuberance. "And not only did you save the mail-man, but by the delay
you wrought in the trial you saved me. If one more witness had gone on
the stand that first day, I should have been duly hanged before Gow put
in an appearance. Fine chap, Gow. Too bad he's going to die."
"I am glad that I could be of help," she replied, wondering the while
what she could say.
"And of course I am to be congratulated--"
"Your trial is hardly a thing for congratulation," she spoke up
quickly, looking him straight in the eyes for the moment. "I am glad
that it came out as it did, but surely you cannot expect me to
congratulate you."
"O-o-o," with long-drawn inflection. "So that's where it pinches." He
smiled good-humoredly, and moved as though to sit down, but she made no
room for him, and he remained standing. "I can certainly explain. If
there have been women--"
Frona had been clinching her hand nervously, but at the word burst out
in laughter.
"Women?" she queried. "Women?" she repeated. "Do not be ridiculous,
Gregory."
"After the way you stood by me through the trial," he began,
reproachfully, "I thought--"
"Oh, you do not understand," she said, hopelessly. "You do not
understand. Look at me, Gregory, and see if I can make you understand.
Your presence is painful to me. Your kisses hurt me. The memory of
them still burns my cheek, and my lips feel unclean. And why? Because
of women, which you may explain away? How little do you understand!
But shall I tell you?"
Voices of men came to her from down the river-bank, and the splashing
of water. She glanced quickly and saw Del Bishop guiding a poling-boat
against the current, and Corliss on the bank, bending to the tow-rope.
"Shall I tell you why, Gregory St. Vincent?" she said again. "Tell you
why your kisses have cheapened me? Because you broke the faith of food
and blanket. Because you broke salt with a man, and then watched that
man fight unequally for life without lifting your hand. Why, I had
rather you had died in defending him; the memory of you would have been
good. Yes, I had rather you had killed him yourself. At least, it
would have shown there was blood in your body."
"So this is what you would call love?" he began, scornfully, his
fretting, fuming devil beginning to rouse. "A fair-weather love,
truly. But, Lord, how we men learn!"
"I had thought you were well lessoned," she retorted; "what of the
other women?"
"But what do you intend to do?" he demanded, taking no notice. "I am
not an easy man to cross. You cannot throw me over with impunity. I
shall not stand for it, I warn you. You have dared do things in this
country which would blacken you were they known. I have ears. I have
not been asleep. You will find it no child's play to explain away
things which you may declare most innocent."
She looked at him with a smile which carried pity in its cold mirth,
and it goaded him.
"I am down, a thing to make a jest upon, a thing to pity, but I promise
you that I can drag you with me. My kisses have cheapened you, eh?
Then how must you have felt at Happy Camp on the Dyea Trail?"
As though in answer, Corliss swung down upon them with the tow-rope.
Frona beckoned a greeting to him. "Vance," she said, "the mail-carrier
has brought important news to father, so important that he must go
outside. He starts this afternoon with Baron Courbertin in La Bijou.
Will you take me down to Dawson? I should like to go at once, to-day.
"He . . . he suggested you," she added shyly, indicating St. Vincent.