" He paused, and looked at her curiously.
"What's come over you; blessed if I seem to know you now."
She was very pale again, and quiet; that was all.
"Teresa! d----n it, look here! When I was laid up yonder in Excelsior I
said I wanted to get well for only two things. One was to hunt you
down, the other to marry Nellie Wynn. When I came here I thought that
last thing could never be. I came here expecting to find her here with
Low, and kill him--perhaps kill her too. I never even thought of you;
not once. You might have risen up before me--between me and him--and
I'd have passed you by. And now that I find it's all a mistake, and it
was you, not her, I was looking for, why"--
"Why," she interrupted bitterly, "you'll just take me, of course, to
save your time and earn your salary. I'm ready."
"But _I'm_ not, just yet," he said faintly. "Help me up." She
mechanically assisted him to his feet.
"Now stand where you are," he added, "and don't move beyond this tree
till I return."
He straightened himself with an effort, clenched his fists until the
nails were nearly buried in his palms, and strode with a firm, steady
step in the direction he had come.
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