"I've changed my mind," she said in a low voice. (There! He had known it. She was not going.)

"Would you still care to be my 'trail guide' in the Yosemite Valley?"

"Would I care?" echoed Nick.

"Then we'll go. I'll give up the McCloud River. I'll telephone Mrs. Harland—she's in San Francisco till day after to-morrow. I'll find an excuse—I haven't had time to think it out yet. But I don't care what happens, I won't change again! I'm going to the Yosemite if you'll take me."

He looked at her searchingly. "Because you're kind-hearted, and afraid you've hurt me——"

"No—no! Because I want to go!"

Women are strange, and hard to understand, when they are worth taking the trouble to understand; and even then they cannot understand themselves.


XIX. THE CITY OF ROMANCE