He moved close to her. "Pen dear, don't quarrel with me! We have only a moment. Even this is risky. There are more men coming along the road."
She attempted to push him away. "Don't touch me! You're heartless and unfeeling!"
Even as she said it she began to sob. She swayed on her feet, and Don flung an arm about her. She clung to him piteously.
"Oh my darling! my darling! ... Thank God! I have you! ... Don't pay any attention to what I say. I have suffered so. I was just at the end of my string. If I had not found you soon I ... I ..."
"Hush, dearest!" he murmured, sobered and remorseful. "You mustn't say such things. I can't bear it! ... It's true I never thought. I had such confidence in your strength."
"I thought you were starving in the woods. I couldn't eat when I thought you had nothing! I couldn't sleep, seeing you lying there."
"Hush! Hush!" he soothed her. "Everything is all right now. Pull yourself together, dearest. There are stragglers all along the road."
Indeed they could now hear footfalls coming along behind them. They started to walk too, Don straining Pen hard against his side. Everybody was traveling the same way. Gradually Pen's breast quieted down.
"What does it mean?" she asked.
"It means I'm one of the searchers for Don Counsell," he said with a chuckle. "Only place they'd never think of looking for me."