The shadow which had fallen upon her face in the last day or two
deepened a little. "It will be cold out there at night." She caught at
the first excuse which came into her mind. "It will be better to wait
and go down after breakfast."

He acquiesced with a nod, but made no answer in words, and soon after he
left the room, and she, later, peeping cautiously out from the curtain
behind the window, saw him walking back and forth before the cabin.

It was an hour or two later when he opened the door and entered. She did
not hear him. She was standing, her elbow on the mantel-piece and her
cheek on her hand, looking down into the fire. His footsteps roused her
from her reverie and she looked up, in that moment of surprise,
forgetful of self and therefore self-revealing. Thus she stood for one
fleeting second, holding him with her smile, her whole being seeming to
rush out and meet and encompass him and embrace him. Then her eyelashes
drooped long and black on her cheek, and her face was all aflame with
color.

He stood still a second, breathing hard. Then from the shadow he hurled
himself into that zone of glowing firelight where she stood. A white
flame passed over his face and lighted his eyes with that burning,
incandescent glow that only those cold, blue eyes can show. Primeval,
all preliminary bowing and scraping in the minuet of wooing ignored, he
saw his heart's desire and seized it, lifting the Pearl in his arms,
crushing her against his breast, until she, dazed for the moment, lay
captured and captive.

But her second of surprised, involuntary non-resistance served her well.