They had gone through what seemed to Marjorie's city-bred eyes a dense
forest, but which Francis had assured her was only a belt of
woodland--quite negligible. And they had come out, now, on what
Francis called a clearing. It was thick with underbrush, little trees,
and saplings; while bloodroot flowered everywhere, and the gleam of
thickly scattered red berries showed even as they rode quickly over the
grass. In the center of things were the two cabins Francis had spoken
of; one quite large--Francis seemed given to understatement--and the
other of the conventional cabin size.
"The larger one is where my men stay," he explained. "Two of them are
there now. That's why you see a red shirt through the window. Pierre
is probably leaving it there to dry. I'll take you through if you
like, but it's just a rough sort of place. The lean-to is the
cook-place. All that cabin has inside is bunks, and a table or two to
play cards on, as far as I remember. The other cabin----"
He stopped short, and turned away, pretending to fuss over his
motor-cycle, which he had already laid down tenderly in just the right
spot and the right position. Marjorie, eager and swift, sprang close
to him like a squirrel. She did not look unlike one for the moment,
wrapped in the thick brown coat with its furry collar.
"The other one! Oh, show me that, and tell me all about it!" she
demanded ardently.
"The other one----" he said. "Well--it's nothing. That's where I
wanted to bring you to stay--before I knew there wasn't anything to it
but--this. I--fixed it up for--us."
In spite of all the things she had against Francis, Marjorie felt for
the moment as if there was something hurting her throat. She was sorry
for him, not in a general, pitying way, but the close way that hurts;
as if he was her little boy, and something had hurt him, and she
couldn't do anything about it.
"I'm--I'm sorry," she faltered, not looking at him.
He had evidently expected her to be angry--could she have been angry so
much as all that?--for he looked up with a relieved air.
"I thought you might like to go in there and rest while I went over to
where the work is being done," he said matter-of-factly. "I can't get
back to you or to the Lodge till just in time for Peggy's dance. But
you'll find things in the little cabin to amuse you, perhaps."
"Oh, I don't need things in the cabin to amuse me!" said Marjorie
radiantly. "There's enough outside of it to keep me amused for a whole
afternoon! But I do want to see in."
He took a key out of his pocket, and together they crossed the clearing
to where the little cabin stood, its rustic porch thick with vines.
Francis stood very still for a moment before he bent and put the key
into the padlock, and Marjorie saw with another tug at her heart that
his face was white, and held tense. She felt awed. Had it meant so
much to him, then?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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