Page:Frederick Faust--Free Range Lanning.djvu/232

228 bad, Andrew. They've even made you a little bit proud of the hard things people say about you. Isn't that true?"

Was it any wonder that Andrew could not answer? He felt all at once so supple that he was hot tallow which those small fingers would mold and bend to suit themselves.

"Sit down here!" she commanded.

Meekly he obeyed. He sat on the edge of his chair, with his hat held with both hands, and his eyes widened as he stared at her—like a person coming out of a great darkness into a great light.

And tears came into the eyes of the girl.

"You're as thin as a starved—wolf," she said, and closed her eyes and shuddered.

"And all the time I've been thinking of you as you were when I saw you here before—the same clear, steady eyes and the same direct smile. Oh, you see, I've never forgotten that night! What girl would? It was like something out of a play—but so much finer! But they've made you older they've burned the boy out of you with pain! And I've been thinking about you just cantering through wild, gay adventures. Are you ill now?"

He had leaned back in the chair and gathered his hat close to his breast, crushing it.

"I'm not ill," said Andrew. His voice was hoarse and thick. "I'm just listening to you. Go on and talk."

"About you?" asked the girl.

"I don't hear your words—hardly; I just hear the sound you make." He leaned forward again and cast out his arm so that the palm of his hand was turned up beneath her eyes. She could see the long, lean fingers.