Page:Harold Lamb--The House of the Falcon.djvu/185



day after their talk, as soon as John Donovan had left the stone chamber—Edith was careful to ascertain this by intensive listening behind her silk partition—the girl hurried through her breakfast

Then, moved by a long-considered impulse, she rifled the forbidden box of its telescope. Putting on her yashmak and concealing the fruit of her theft under her cloak, she tripped out of the house, through the courtyard and garden and up the slope that led to the pine forest.

Edith ascended the mountain side steadily until she reached the shadow of the great trees. Here she pushed forward between rocks and thorn patches to an open grove. Then she surveyed the trees with a speculative frown. They veiled her view of the valley.

Lack of resourcefulness was not one of her failings. She selected a sizable hemlock, with branches conveniently low to the, ground, tucked her skirt more firmly about her waist, and began to climb.

The sticky surface of the hemlock stained her fingers, and the loose needles fell into her hair. She kept on until she reached a larger branch, where, through an opening in the trees, a clear view down the valley was afforded.

Edith breathed a sigh of satisfaction, and began to adjust the telescope. A ray of sunlight flashed on the