"My friend," she said, "I am Miss Claiborne. You may know my father's
house down in the valley. We have been coming here as far back as I can
remember."
The mountaineer listened to her gravely, and at her last words he
unconsciously nodded his head. Shirley, seeing that he was interested,
seized her advantage.
"I have no reason for misleading you. This gentleman is not a revenue
man. He probably never heard of a--still, do you call it?--in his
life--" and she smiled upon him sweetly. "But if you will let him go I
promise to satisfy you entirely in the matter."
Chauvenet started to speak, but Shirley arrested him with a gesture, and
spoke again to the mountaineer in her most engaging tone:
"We are both mountaineers, you and I, and we don't want any of our people
to be carried off to jail. Isn't that so? Now let this gentleman ride
away, and I shall stay here until I have quite assured you that you are
mistaken about him."
She signaled Chauvenet to mount, holding the mystified and reluctant
mountaineer with her eyes. Her heart was thumping fast and her hand shook
a little as she tightened her grasp on the rein.
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