We took materials for lunch and started before the dew was dry. The woman showed me her new skill with the paddle, and I praised her without care for my conscience. We went slowly and we talked much. Yet we talked only of the birds and the woods and the paddling. Never of ourselves.
At noon we landed in a pocket of an inlet on the south side of the cove toward its mouth. There was a wonderful meadow there with tiger lilies burning like blood and a giant sycamore leaning to the water. I cooked a venison steak on hot stones, and we had maize cakes and wild berries and water from a spring. We sat alone at meat as we had never done.
After lunch the woman sat under the sycamore and I lay at her feet. I looked up at her till her eyes dropped.
"Madame," I whispered, "madame, you were vexed with me last night."
She forced her glance to mine. "Monsieur, I had been terribly anxious for three days. When I saw you"——
A sun ray fell across her face, and I took my hat and held it between her and the light. "You did not finish," I said. "I will help you. When you saw that I was safe you were vexed that I had not come earlier and so saved you anxiety? Is that what you were about to say, madame?"
She turned to smile and shake her head at my seriousness. She fought down her rising color and held her head like a gallant boy.
"I was unreasonable," she said. "Please forget it. Did your trading prosper, monsieur?"
But I would not shift my eyes. "I shall try not to vex you again in that way. I did not think—except of my own anxiety. Let me tell you what I have been doing. I have been trading, yes, but I have also"——
"Careful, monsieur!"