"Yes, I am ready."
She stooped and took up her pack from beside the door. He took his and threw it over his shoulder. Hand-in-hand they started forward and out toward civilization.
CHAPTER XXI.
INTO THE SUNLIGHT.
All that day they talked little. Both were occupied with their own thoughts. Lawrence was dreaming of his work, his future with Claire, and the home that was to be. Claire was pondering Lawrence's words, "Human beings think many things they don't and can't do." To her these words had been both a great comfort and a startling awakening. Almost instantly had returned an idea which she had thought forever gone, and all day it kept growing.
That night they camped beside a stream under great trees where tiny blue flowers winked up at them from the deep grass. After supper they sat beside their fire dreaming. At last Lawrence took her in his arms, and she laid her shoulder against his.
"Lawrence," she said thoughtfully, "isn't it strange how little we know ourselves when we think we know most?"
"Yes, I sometimes think we are nearer folly then than at any other time."
"Do you know what I have been thinking to-day?"
"No. But I know what I have been thinking." He drew her tight, laughing. "I have thought of you, always you, my wife to be."