Page:J Allan Dunn--The Girl of Ghost Mountain.djvu/283

Rh exclamation that he stifled with his teeth in his lower lip.

But the girl awakened^ with a little sigh not of discomfort. She gave a deep breath, started a yawn, a demi-yawn that opened her fresh lips, red as the heart of a rose, and then her lashes lifted. Sheridan gazed full into her eyes and watched a glory grow within them. For a moment it seemed as if her soul spoke to him while her body still slumbered. His own eyes answered and the slimsy lady flushed divinely and then sat up with a quick touch to her hair.

"They are still asleep," said Sheridan in a low voice. "The others haven't come back yet."

He felt that there was understanding between them but he wanted words. Now was the opportunity, before the camp buzzed with the return of the Sheriff and Quong with the riders, the bustle of breakfast and of departure.

"Are you going to go back East, Mary?" he asked her.

But she was not to be so easily cornered.

"I may have to, to see about my property," she parried.

Beyond her, Thora, so far placid, a slumbering mountain of a woman, began to stir.

"I may have to go myself," said Sheridan, spurred to boldness. "If only to see that you come back again. Shall we go together—on our honeymoon?"

Like a light through glass, the soul of her seemed to make her flesh transparent, radiant. But she put up a hand.