Page:Randall Parrish - The Red Mist.djvu/276

 258 "Then slip inside while there is no one hanging around; and get safely to your own room. There is nothing more you can do. I will take one of those horses yonder, and be off, and I know the country well enough to find my way. Once in the mountains I shall be safe. You will do as I say?"

To my surprise she looked straight into my face, standing motionless. She seemed to catch her breath, as though it was difficult to speak.

"You mean that? that I am to go to my room?" she asked slowly.

"Certainly; that will be the safest and best thing for you to do. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to you; nothing I can ever do will repay the service you have rendered me. You are a wonderfully brave girl."

"Do you think so? Oh, but I am neither brave, nor wonderful. I have scarcely known what I was doing; it didn't seem as if there was anything else I could do. But I know now; I have no doubt any more—unless—unless you refuse to let me."

"I refuse! I do not understand what I could refuse. All that remains is for you to go to your room."

"But if I do not go there? if I if I ride away with you!"

"But, Noreen, that would not be right; it would