Again he fancied the girl's eyes held a vague challenge, but he could not
be sure; for she seated him, and then gave some instructions to the Aleut
girl, who had entered noiselessly. It was the strangest meal Boyd Emerson
had ever eaten, for here, in a forgotten corner of an unknown land, hidden
behind high-banked log walls, he partook of a perfect dinner, well served,
and presided over by a gracious, richly gowned young woman who talked
interestingly on many subjects, For a second time he lost himself in a
maze of conjecture. Who was she? What was her mission here? Why was she
alone? But not for long; he was too heavily burdened by the responsibility
and care of his own affairs to waste much time by the way on those of
other people; and becoming absorbed in his own thoughts, he grew more
silent as the signs of refinement and civilization about him revived
memories long stifled. Fraser, on the contrary, warmed by the wine,
blossomed like the rose, and talked garrulously, recounting marvellous
stories, as improbable as they were egotistical. He monopolized his
hostess' attention, the while his companion became more preoccupied, more
self-contained, almost sullen.

This was not the effect for which the girl had striven; her younger
guest's taciturnity, which grew as the dinner progressed, piqued her, so
at the first opportunity she bent her efforts toward rallying him. He
answered politely, but she was powerless to shake off his mood. It was not
abashment, as she realized when, from the corner of her eye, she observed
him covertly stroke the linen and finger the silver as if to renew a sense
of touch long unused. Being unaccustomed to any sort of indifference in
men, his spiritless demeanor put her on her mettle, yet all to no avail;
she could not find a seam in that mask of listless abstraction. At last he
spoke of his own accord:

"You said those watchmen have instructions not to harbor travellers. Why