As on a previous occasion, when the gloom of the night had settled, they
were again at the side of the village street, at the mouth of the path
by which they had returned from the cliff above the falls.
She had sought the falls that evening because the din of the waters
would keep him from talking too much. She was afraid of the light in his
eyes and of the repressed feeling in his tones. She knew that she must
repulse him if he wooed. Her emotions were mixed, but she was sure there
was no love in her heart--all her thoughts were concerned with her
quest. If love should by any possibility develop in her and she should
allow him to see it, what would become of his man's appetite for fight
and danger? She felt obliged to view surrender to him in that light. On
the other hand, she could not afford to offend him deeply by allowing
matters to come to a climax between them right then; the climax must
disclose her lack of affection. She had been estimating that hale man of
the woods--she was certain that what she felt toward him was only
friendly respect for his character, and she could not lie to him or fawn
falsely for her purposes.
"I must go up now and face the usual music," he said, sourly. "I'm
getting to be afraid of myself with Flagg."
"I've heard he's afflicted with the toothache to-day. You must make all
allowances," she entreated, with a dash of jest in her earnestness.
"Then I especially need a protector. I'm going to ask you again to go
along with me. Really, you're needed if I'm expected to stay on my job.
Why," he went on, jest mingling with seriousness in his own case, "if
the Flagg drive comes down all right through my efforts, you can take
the credit of the victory because you were present to-night and smoothed
things; he'll just have to be decent, with a strange young lady in the
room."
She was not ready with peremptory refusal, as she had been on the other
occasion; she had met the bugbear of Rickety Dick and had prevailed over
the old man's suspicions. As Latisan averred, her presence might help
matters; she would entertain strange and acute regrets if her absence
should allow the split that Latisan seemed to apprehend.