Antoinette hugged her affectionately. “I am glad you did not. It would be lonesome here without you. And if you did not like him——”
“Oh, but I did,” Gale said hastily. “He seemed nice but—it was just—I didn’t know where he was going to take me.”
“I understand,” Antoinette nodded. “Now you must rest. Come, Toto!”
The French girl rose and went to the door. The dog obediently trotted after her. Gale lay back and closed her eyes, but she could not sleep. Vividly she remembered the young man who had wanted her to go away with him. If only she could recall him from the past! If only his face and name would mean something to her! Warm tears slipped down her cheeks before she sat up and in annoyance brushed them away.
Gale got up and donned her coat. With a word to Antoinette she went outside, her customary bodyguard, Toto, at her heels. She tramped into the woods and kept on walking. She knew if she would tire herself out she would be able to sleep tonight and not keep tantalizing herself with questions she could not answer.
She walked along breathing deeply of the cold, crisp air, Toto scampering ahead of her or lingering behind to dig out a half buried root and shake it vigorously in his firm white teeth. The sun moved slowly to the western horizon. Its rays became less and less warm, the sky began to be overcast with night clouds and a strong northern wind sprang up. With a start Gale realized that it would soon be night and unless she turned back now she could easily become lost. Whistling to Toto who was deeply engrossed in a bit of bark he had unearthed and which he was trying to shake into some semblance of life, she turned her back on the sunset to go back to the cottage. At her whistle Toto pricked up his ears and started on a run for her. She ran too. Together they romped until both had to stop for lack of breath.
Finally Gale put aside her thoughts of pleasure and concentrated on the landmarks about her. None of them were familiar. She subdued a sense of panic that gripped her. She must find the way back to the cottage. They could not stay in the open all night. Let’s see—she must have come that way, it looked like the tree around which she had chased Toto. Resolutely she started off in that direction. But it was not long before she discovered she was wrong. She came to a tiny stream of water, frozen over now with the ice of winter. She stood and looked at the mirror-like crust on the water. Toto, too, regarded his own reflection with interest. Turning her back upon the water Gale stared intently first to the north then to the south. She had not come upon this stream when she came from the cottage; therefore, all this time she must have been going away from, instead of toward, her home. Toto sat in the snow and regarded his friend with dancing eyes.
“You know, Toto,” she said speaking slowly to the dog who had his head cocked as if understanding every word, “I believe we are lost.”
At that the dog merely yawned.
“What will we do?”