The wind was blowing towards the stranger,so that he was nearly upon her when Teresa first took the alarm.He was a man over six feet in height,strongly built,with a slight tendency to a roundness of bulk which suggested reserved rather than impeded energy.His thick beard and mustache were closely cropped around a small and handsome mouth that lisped except when he was excited,but always kept fellowship with his blue eyes in a perpetual smile of half-cynical good-humor.His dress was superior to that of the locality;his general expression that of a man of the world,albeit a world of San Francisco,Sacramento,and Murderer's Bar.He advanced towards her with a laugh and an outstretched hand.
"YOU here!"she gasped,drawing back.
Apparently neither surprised nor mortified at this reception,he answered frankly,"Yeth.You didn't expect me,I know.But Doloreth showed me the letter you wrote her,and--well--here Iam,ready to help you,with two men and a thpare horthe waiting outside the woodth on the blind trail.""You--YOU--here?"she only repeated.
Curson shrugged his shoulders."Yeth."Of courth you never expected to thee me again,and leatht of all HERE.I'll admit that;I'll thay I wouldn't if I'd been in your plathe.I'll go further,and thay you didn't want to thee me again--anywhere.
But it all cometh to the thame thing;here I am.I read the letter you wrote Doloreth.I read how you were hiding here,under Dunn'th very nothe,with his whole pothe out,cavorting round and barkin'up the wrong tree.I made up my mind to come down here with a few nathty friends of mine and cut you out under Dunn'th nothe,and run you over into Yuba--that'th all.""How dared she show you my letter--YOU of all men?How dared she ask YOUR help?"continued Teresa,fiercely.
"But she didn't athk my help,"he responded coolly."D--d if Idon't think she jutht calculated I'd be glad to know you were being hunted down and thtarving,that I might put Dunn on your track.""You lie!"said Teresa,furiously;"she was my friend.A better friend than those who professed--more,"she added,with a contemptuous drawing away of her skirt as if she feared Curson's contamination.
"All right.Thettle that with her when you go back,"continued Curson philosophically."We can talk of that on the way.The thing now ith to get up and get out of thethe woods.Come!"Teresa's only reply was a gesture of scorn.
"I know all that,"continued Curson half soothingly,"but they're waiting.""Let them wait.I shall not go."
"What will you do?"
"Stay here--till the wolves eat me."
"Teresa,listen.D---it all--Teresa--Tita!see here,"he said with sudden energy."I swear to God it's all right.I'm willing to let by-gones be by-gones and take a new deal.You shall come back as if nothing had happened,and take your old place as before.I don't mind doing the square thing,all round.If that's what you mean,if that's all that stands in the way,why,look upon the thing as settled.There,Tita,old girl,come."Careless or oblivious of her stony silence and starting eyes,he attempted to take her hand.But she disengaged herself with a quick movement,drew back,and suddenly crouched like a wild animal about to spring.Curson folded his arms as she leaped to her feet;the little dagger she had drawn from her garter flashed menacingly in the air,but she stopped.
The man before her remained erect,impassive,and silent;the great trees around and beyond her remained erect,impassive,and silent;there was no sound in the dim aisles but the quick panting of her mad passion,no movement in the calm,motionless shadow but the trembling of her uplifted steel.Her arm bent and slowly sank,her fingers relaxed,the knife fell from her hand.
"That'th quite enough for a thow,"he said,with a return to his former cynical ease and a perceptible tone of relief in his voice."It'th the thame old Theretha.Well,then,if you won't go with me,go without me;take the led horthe and cut away.
Dick Athley and Petereth will follow you over the county line.
If you want thome money,there it ith."He took a buckskin purse from his pocket."If you won't take it from me--he hesitated as she made no reply--"Athley'th flush and ready to lend you thome."She had not seemed to hear him,but had stooped in some embarrassment,picked up the knife and hastily hid it,then with averted face and nervous fingers was beginning to tear strips of loose bark from the nearest trunk.
"Well,what do you thay?"
"I don't want any money,and I shall stay here."She hesitated,looked around her,and then added,with an effort,"I suppose you meant well.Be it so!Let by-gones be by-gones.You said just now,'It's the same old Teresa.'So she is,and seeing she's the same she's better here than anywhere else."There was enough bitterness in her tone to call for Curson's half-perfunctory sympathy.
"That be d--d,"he responded quickly."Jutht thay you'll come,Tita,and--"She stopped his half-spoken sentence with a negative gesture.
"You don't understand.I shall stay here."
"But even if they don't theek you here,you can't live here forever.The friend that you wrote about who wath tho good to you,you know,can't keep you here alwayth;and are you thure you can alwayth trutht her?""It isn't a woman;it's a man."She stopped short,and colored to the line of her forehead."Who said it was a woman?"she continued fiercely,as if to cover her confusion with a burst of gratuitous anger."Is that another of your lies?"Curson's lips,which for a moment had completely lost their smile,were now drawn together in a prolonged whistle.He gazed curiously at her gown,at her hat,at the bow of bright ribbon that tied her black hair,and said,"Ah!""A poor man who has kept my secret,"she went on hurriedly--"a man as friendless and lonely as myself.Yes,"disregarding Curson's cynical smile,"a man who has shared everything--""Naturally,"suggested Curson.