The Soldier of the Valley by Nelson Lloyd
page 146 of 207 (70%)
page 146 of 207 (70%)
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"When you turn that collar up again I am going," said I.
So she sprang away from me, laughing, and quick as I reached out to seize her, she avoided me. "You know I can't catch you," I cried, taunting her, "so I must wait." As she stood there before me quietly, her hands clasped, her eyes looking up into mine, I saw how fair she was, and I wondered. The picture of Weston in the woods, standing off there gazing at me, came back then, and with it a vague feeling of fear and distrust. I saw myself as Weston saw me, and I marvelled. "Mary," I said, "this morning up there in the woods I told Robert Weston everything, and he stood off just as you are standing now. It seemed to me he wondered how it could be true, and now I wonder too. Maybe it's all a mistake." "It's not a mistake, Mark," the girl said, and she came to me again and put a hand on each shoulder and looked up. "If I did not care for you I'd never have given you the promise I did last night. But I do care for you, Mark, more than for anyone else in the world. You are big and strong and good--that's why--it's all any woman can ask. You are true, Mark--and that's more than most men----" "But, Mary, there's Tim," I protested, for I did not care to usurp to myself the sum of all the virtues allotted to my sex. "Tim?" said she lightly, as though she had never heard of him. |
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