For an instant they stood so, and then he gently pressed her away from
him.

"I had to come," he said. "I want you to know that whatever happens, you
may depend on me. When you call, I will come. I must go now. For your
sake I must not stay. I had to see you, I had to tell you what I had
never told you."

"You've always told me," she murmured.

He stretched out his hand to clasp hers. He did not dare to open his
arms again. The lips which he had never kissed were very near, and ah,
so sweet! She must not come to him now.

One swift clasp of the hand, and then he vaulted over the fence and was
gone. A few moments afterwards she heard the rumble of his wagon on the
prairie--he had tied up his horses some distance from the house.

As the Young Doctor drove homeward with Patsy Kernaghan, he also heard
the rumble of the wagon not far in front of him. Then he began to wonder
why Louise had waited behind in the garden. He put the thought away from
him, however. There was no deceit in Louise; he was sure of that.




CHAPTER XV

OUTWARD BOUND