She was breathing quickly. Her face
was still pale. She was without a hat, and as she bent for a moment over
the colt Aldous felt his eyes drawn irresistibly to the soft thick coils of
her hair, a glory of colour that made him think of the lustrous brown of a
ripe wintelberry. She looked up suddenly and caught his eyes upon her.
"I came quite by accident," she explained quickly. "I wanted to be alone,
and Mrs. Otto said this path would lead to the river. When I saw you I was
about to turn back. And then I saw the other--the horses coming down the
stream. It was terrible. Are they all drowned?"
"All that you saw. It wasn't a pretty sight, was it?" There was a
suggestive inquiry in his voice as he added, "If you had gone to Tete Jaune
you would have missed the unpleasantness of the spectacle."
"I would have gone, but something happened. They say it was a cave-in, a
slide--something like that. The train cannot go on until to-morrow."
"And you are to stay with the Ottos?"
She nodded.
Quick as a flash she had seemed to read his thoughts.
"I am sorry," she added, before he could speak. "I can see that I have
annoyed you.
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