第58章

He was spreading the supper on the tablecloth.He carved one of the chickens, opened the jelly, placed the bread and vegetables and butter."Now!" he cried."Let's get busy."And he set her an example she was not slow to follow.The sun had slipped down behind the hills of the northwest horizon.The birds were tuning for their evening song.A breeze sprang up and coquetted with the strays of her wavy dark hair.And they sat cross-legged on the grass on opposite sides of the tablecloth and joked and laughed and ate, and ate and laughed and joked until the stars began to appear in the vast paling opal of the sky.They had chosen the center of the grassy platform for their banquet; thus, from where they sat only the tops of trees and the sky were to be seen.And after they had finished she leaned on her elbow and listened while he, smoking his cigarette, told her of his life as a newspaper man in Cincinnati.The twilight faded into dusk, the dusk into a scarlet darkness.

"When the moon comes up we'll start," said he."You can ride behind me on the horse part of the way, anyhow."The shadow of the parting, the ending of this happiness, fell upon her.How lonely it would be when he was gone! "I haven't told you my name," she said.

"I've told you mine Roderick Spenser--with an _s_, not a _c_.""I remember," said she."I'll never forget....Mine's Susan Lenox.""What was it--before----" He halted.

"Before what?" His silence set her to thinking."Oh!" she exclaimed, in a tone that made him curse his stupidity in reminding her."My name's Susan Lenox--and always will be.It was my mother's name." She hesitated, decided for frankness at any cost, for his kindness forbade her to deceive him in any way.Proudly, "My mother never let any man marry her.They say she was disgraced, but I understand now._She_ wouldn't stoop to let any man marry her."Spenser puzzled over this, but could make nothing of it.He felt that he ought not to inquire further.He saw her anxious eyes, her expression of one keyed up and waiting for a verdict."I'd have only to look at you to know your mother was a fine woman,"said he.Then, to escape from the neighborhood of the dangerous riddle, "Now, about your--your going," he began."I've been thinking what to do.""You'll help me?" said she, to dispel her last doubt--a very faint doubt, for his words and his way of uttering them had dispelled her real anxiety.

"Help you?" cried he heartily."All I can.I've got a scheme to propose to you.You say you can't take the mail boat?""They know me.I--I'm from Sutherland."

"You trust me--don't you?"

"Indeed I do."

"Now listen to me--as if I were your brother.Will you?""Yes."

"I'm going to take you to Cincinnati with me.I'm going to put you in my boarding house as my sister.And I'm going to get you a position.Then--you can start in for yourself.""But that'll be a great lot of trouble, won't it?""Not any more than friends of mine took for me when I was starting out." Then, as she continued silent, "What are you thinking? I can't see your face in this starlight.""I was thinking how good you are," she said simply.

He laughed uneasily."I'm not often accused of that," he replied."I'm like most people--a mixture of good and bad--and not very strong either way.I'm afraid I'm mostly impulse that winks out.But--the question is, how to get you to Cincinnati.

It's simply impossible for me to go tonight.I can't take you home for the night.I don't trust my people.They'd not think Iwas good--or you, either.And while usually they'd be right--both ways--this is an exception." This idea of an exception seemed to amuse him.He went on, "I don't dare leave you at any farmhouse in the neighborhood.If I did, you could be traced.""No--no," she cried, alarmed at the very suggestion."I mustn't be seen by anybody.""We'll go straight to the river, and I'll get a boat and row you across to Kentucky--over to Carrollton.There's a little hotel.

I can leave you----"

"No--not Carrollton," she interrupted."My uncle sells goods there, and they know him.And if anything is in the Sutherland papers about me, why, they'd know.""Not with you in that slip and sunbonnet.I'll make up a story--about our wagon breaking down and that I've got to walk back into the hills to get another before we can go on.