She was too wise, too sympathetic, and too understanding of that clan loyalty which would deny him peace until he fulfilled his obligation, to offer arguments in dissuasion, but she stood with trouble riffles in her deep eyes until at last she asked:
"When did ye aim ter start—over yon?"
"Hit ought ter be right soon now, while travellin's good. Come snowfall hit'll git ter be right slavish journeyin'—but I don't 'low ter tarry there long. I kain't noways be content away from ye."
The thoughts that were occupying Dorothy were for the most part silent ones but at length she inquired:
"Why don't ye bring her back with ye, ter dwell hyar with us—her an' ther baby?"
Thornton shook his head, but his heart warmed because she had asked.
"Hit wouldn't do—jest yit. Folks mout seek ter trace me by follerin' her. I kin slip in thar an' see her, though, an' mebby comfort her some small degree—an' then slip back home ergin without no man's knowin' I've ever been thar."
Instinctively the wife shuddered.
"Ef they did find out!" she exclaimed in a low voice, and the man nodded in frank comprehension.
"Ef they did," he answered, candidly, "I reckon hit would be hangin' or ther penitenshery fer me—but they hain't agoin' ter."