At present she wore her hair in a great coil at the back of her shapely head, held in place by a wooden pin that he had made for her.
"May I take this down and comb it out for you?" he asked, laying his hand caressingly upon it. "But perhaps it would tire you too much."
"Oh no, it would rather be a refreshment," she answered, smiling up at him, "and I shall be much obliged."
So he did, then brought her the water to lave her hands and face.
Meanwhile Mrs. Baird, busy with her preparations for the evening meal, was full of curiosity in regard to her unexpected guests. "Who can they be?" she questioned with herself, "and where in the world did they come from? It's as plain as day that he's a gentleman and she a lady; they look it in spite of their odd, shabby dress; and they speak good, pure English in refined tones, though she has a little foreign accent. She looks Spanish, but he's an American; I'm sure of that. Shouldn't wonder if he's from my own State—from that section anyway, for he's neither a New Englander nor a Southerner. But their dress—why, it's nearer Injun than anything else; well, now I wonder—" and hurrying to the sitting-room door she addressed Rupert:
"If you please, sir, I'd like to ask a question. Have you been among the Injuns?"
"Yes," he said; "we escaped about three months ago from an Apache village, where we had been prisoners for three years."
"Dear me! how dreadful! And that must have been a long way off; how did you ever get here?"
"Yes, it must be hundreds of miles, and we have walked all the way."