Her eyes were open. He could see them, even though he stood slightly
behind her. She moved her head, lifted it and gazed around the room,
seemingly bewildered at what she saw. Then she twisted her body around;
saw her bare feet, and quickly drew an end of the bunk blanket over
them.
And then she saw Lawler. Her eyes opened wide, filling with
satisfaction, and she sat up, holding one hand to her throat, tight
against the flesh, covering it with the other.
"Oh!" she said, thinly; "I--I got here, didn't I? But I didn't expect to
find you here!"
CHAPTER XIX
DEATH AT A DOOR
Lawler smiled. "Then I reckon we're both surprised, ma'am," he said. "I
certainly wasn't expecting the norther to bring you. You had a mighty
narrow squeeze. You were pretty near all in when I opened the door and
saw you."
The girl drew a long, quavering breath and leaned back against the wall
of the bunk, closing her eyes.
Her hair had fallen about her shoulders, showing the white throat
through the damp, glistening folds; and when she again opened her eyes,
they were big and luminous--and brown, Lawler took note of that, for the
glare from the lamp was directly upon them.
Renewed life--animation--certainly beautified her. While Lawler had been
working with her to restore her suspended vitality he had felt no
emotion beyond an eagerness to restore her to consciousness. Now he was
vibrant with sympathy, with pity, and with wonder.
Why had she come here? It was quite evident that she had come
intentionally, for her words: "I got here, didn't I?" seemed to be proof
of that. Also, she had not anticipated finding him at the cabin, for she
had said so in as many words.
She gathered the blanket closer around her, noting that her feet were
wrapped in it and that one end of it covered her throat. Lawler saw the
blushes come and go in her face as she worked with the blanket, and he
secretly applauded her modesty.
When she had arranged the blanket she looked straight at him. She
studied his face long before she spoke, and his eyes gleamed with
satisfaction when he saw her lips form a faint, half-smile. She had
decided she was not afraid of him.
She was embarrassed, but not to the point of prudishness. Her gaze was
direct, frankly grateful. But there was something else in her eyes--a
vague uneasiness, curiosity, repressed eagerness. She glanced swiftly
around the interior of the cabin, and into the other bunks. And when she
saw Lawler watching her keenly she blushed. And now, as she dropped her
gaze, he saw her start as her eyes rested on the tangled ropes that
Lawler had torn from the two fence cutters when he had released them
after he had carried her into the cabin. The ropes were lying on the
floor where he had thrown them in his haste.
"Has--has anything happened?" she asked, looking swiftly at him,
blushing again.
"Plenty," he said; "you came."
"I--I mean--that is, has anything else happened?" she added. She seemed
to hold her breath, for his answer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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