“This was my first venture off the valley road, and I––”
“And you came straight to me!” he exclaimed, chuckling.
At that a strange thing happened. He had meant only that she, the guest and cousin of Seth Huntington, his bitter foe, had blundered straight into the camp of the enemy; and that was a rare joke on Huntington. But she was a girl; her little adventure was already rosy with romance; and the effect of his careless speech was as if he had looked into her heart, and read aloud for her something she had not known was there. To his 9 surprise and wonder the girl’s fair face turned red to the roots of her tawny hair, and a look of helpless confusion came into the clear, blue eyes that until now, for all her embarrassment, had frankly met his own. She looked suddenly away from him.
“You make me ashamed,” she said at length, stealing a look at him.
“If you know anything about my difficulty with Huntington,” he began, “you’ll understand that––”
“I do. I do understand!” she interrupted eagerly. “I don’t know much about it––the trouble. They haven’t told me. I’ve only overheard some talk––and I didn’t ask. I rode down the valley this morning trying to do it like a cowboy. And there was a branch road––and then the break in the fence––and before I knew it I’d fallen asleep. That’s all––except––” She shot a half-mischievous glance at him “––you spoiled a very beautiful dream.”
But this was all lost upon him. His face was clouding again.
“Where is it––the break in the fence?”
Chagrined at the failure of her bit of coquetry, she merely pointed in the direction whence she had come.
“Thank you!” he said. “At last!”