supper," she worried, when he had told her; "and
the cow'll need bedding, and those cheeses brought
in off the roof, and--"

He closed her mouth with a gentle palm. "I've
done 'em all a hundred times," he declared. "We're
going to get you right, this spell, Clare," he proclaimed;
"you'll get professional, real stylish, care
at Stenton."

She rose, trembling, on her arms. "Are they going
to cut at me?" she asked.

The lie on his lips perished silently before her
grave tones. "It's not rightly a dangerous operation,"
he protested; "thousands come out of it every
year."

"Gordon, I'm afeared of it."

"No, you're not, Clare Makimmon; there's not a
drop of fear in you."

"It's not just death I'm afeared of, it's -- oh;
you will never understand for being a man," her
voice lowered instinctively; "somehow I hate the
thought of those strange men hacking and spoiling
my body. That's just foolishness, I know, and my
time's pretty well gone for foolishness. I've always
sort of tended my body, Gordon, and kept it white
and soft. I thought if a man asked me in spite of --
well, my face, he could take pride in me underneath.
But that's all done with; I ought to be glad
for the... Gordon!" she exclaimed more ener-

[[76]]

p075 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p076w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p077

v?