"But I must go now," she said, anxiously.
"You shall get home before they can," I said, eagerly.
"I will take you through another opening. You will know another secret of this cave then. You see, I trust you wholly, and you will know my hiding-place almost as well as I know it myself."
"But do you live here?"
Then I told her what I had to do, and how Eli Fraddam brought food to me, and how when winter came I should have to make other plans.
She listened quietly, and said no word, but allowed me to lead her up the cave until we reached the copse of which I have spoken. We were still hidden from sight, for the bushes grew thick, and the trees were large and had abundant foliage. She held out her hand to say good-bye.
"I shall remember your kindness," she said.
"And do not think too hardly about me," I pleaded, "remember what I have had to suffer."
"I shall think of you very kindly," was her response; "not that it matters to you," she added. "We are strangers, most probably we shall never meet again, and the opinion of a stranger cannot help you."