The Innocent Adventuress

planned a mountain climb. It was not a really bad mountain, at all, and the arrangemen

of the elders all the Martin house-party was in line for the climb, and with the addition of the Blair p

reen of the forest, splashing the great tree boles with bold light and shade. The air was fragrant with spruce and pine and faint, aroma

d blue through the whi

oted Mrs. Martin. Midway in the line came Mrs. Blair, and beside her, abandoning the line of young people behind t

out her head, her eyes a shade downcast and self-conscio

ce of expectation, an equally sharp masculine reaction w

ughter, and only from the corners of his eyes perceiving t

had driven herself and her sister and her father and the guide to sleep in the only shelter, and of the guide's snores that were louder than the thunder-and Maria

e to endure any more, Johnny Byrd appeared at Ri-Ri's side, consc

mountain you've ever climb

nto the girl. She rais

th. "That is, upon the feet. In Italy we go up by dil

be all right," he advised, and, laying a restraining hand upon her arm he held her back whil

l significance. Maria Ang

ked Johnny of h

rushing now, to where the forest was clinging to sharply rising mountain flanks. Her eyes followed

ghts. It was a world more real than the fantasy of moonlight. She felt more real. She was herself, too, not some strange, d

rincess in the fairy tale must have smiled at the all-conquering prince, and Johnny Byrd

ey talked about. They were absurdly m

nce he had drawn her back from Cousin Jane's casual but comprehendin

ience wok

declared, quickenin

. "'Fraid cat, 'fraid cat-what

eat you-though I'd like to

sky. She had not noticed when the sunlight fled. It was still visible across the river, slipping over

fed Johnny gayly, and in his rollicking te

ntil he had finished the song, b

overcasting the brightness of the way. And behind the scattered white were blowing gray ones, their edg

out, with a surprised rustling, and a low mutter, as of

"There's going to be a cloudful spilled on us," he told the troubled girl, "b

ush, pushing through thickets till they were in the center of a gr

her shoulders. Looking upwards, Maria Angelina could not see the sky; above and about her was soft greenness, l

dreamlike quality about the happening to the girl. Then, almost intrusively, she became

shiv

voice, and put a hand on her s

she wh

el

er bared head, lingered th

ld him, faint

u're sh

old him absurdly, as a mutterin

essed her to him. She could hear his heart beating. It sounded as loudly i

ips upon the b

suddenly he let her go and g

you're my little pal, a

d to draw her nearer again she moved away, putting up her arms to her h

t oh, you little Beauty Girl, you ought to be in a cage with bars

self-possession. Again she fled f

raining for ever so long. Unless you wish to build a nest in the forest, like a new

of the woods and in silence they hurri

es about them the wetness glittered and dried and the e

e that grew into anxiety. Not a sound came back to the

path appeared dyin

ad it. Brambles lin

ong way," cried Maria Angelina and t

refused to

aid easily. "We went past the right crossing-probably just after the st

ed to shoulder

e urged distressfully. "You know that for so long we had heard nothi

the river, which ran more deeply here betwe

ed her. "We can strike in from there to old Baldy. I know the wa

d Maria Angelina's deepe

k brambles for her and helping her scramble over fallen logs, and she assented

s, and an outcropping of large rocks made

he last leap was too long for her, for she landed in the shallows with splashing ankles, she ha

d then strike in towards old Baldy, but men, she knew from Papa, did not like objections to their wisdom, so sh

ey went along, how

their pat

d back a little?"

back and meet the other path a litt

n it. He seemed to feel it inextricably united with his own rightness of decision, and s

ully, Ri-Ri hung upon his expression, longing for reconsideration. B

s. Johnny was the pathfinder, oblivious, intent, and

bled the girl, her fears voiceless in her throat, her heart pou

and white clouds were spread thinly over the sky and on

it seemed already night. On barr

ind them now and reached a clearing of bracken among the granite, and here Johnny Byrd

ithout recognizing a friend among them. Dim and unfamiliar they loomed,

she had heard that from old Baldy one looked down upon the Lodge and the river and the opening

s in those vagu

gently. "Farther down again we might find the right pat

bout. Ahead of him were

he wrong side, that's all. I'll say it's wrong-but here we are. I'll bet the other

and and Maria Angelina clutched it with

mply effortless. But after him she plunged, panting and scrambling up the rocks, and then, very suddenl

larly under it, either-Johnny By

Maria Angelina aw

All that way to supper!" said the young man. "We

that this is the right mountain

another side of it from the others, I told you. Co

It put a name to that gnawing, indefinit

ed with minced ham, with cream cheese, with olive paste-sandwiches filled with

Utterly empty

ed, her legs ached, her back ached, her arms ached. She could have

aste. She was driven by a compuls

ought of the hours, the long hours, that she and Johnny Byrd had

of her, those others?

table, how inexcusabl

e of that-she had the sanction of the new American freedom,

to say to her, "it's all right as long a

d into the woods with Johnny in that thunder st

far from the others-and she was not sure

could not be so hideo

xhaustion and she

," said Johnny Byrd with a sudden grin and a

she could only bre

mbing but not dangerous. The top was not far now

ces but it was only the echoes o

they went, charging up a steep, gravelly slope ov

ove but barren, tilted rock. Nothing beyond but more boulde

their breath to listen. Then, with a common

d Maria Angelin