lighter sky. The foliage of the maples, stripped of
the looping stars, took the form of individual
branches brightening from black to green. There
was a stir of dim figures about the impatient horses.
Meta Beggs came swiftly to him. He could see her
face plainly now, and was surprised at its strained,
anxious expression. Her hand closed upon his arm,
she drew him to her:

"Which?" she whispered.

"I don't know," he dully replied.

"Save me," she implored; "take me away." She
whispered maddeningly in his ear, summoning the
lust within him, the clamor in his brain, the throbbing
in his throat, his wrists. He shut his eyes, and,
when he opened them, the dawn had arrived. It
forced her from him. Her gown changed to vivid
red; about her throat the graceful pearls were faintly
iridescent.

"I don't know," he repeated wearily.

Over her shoulder he saw a buggy approaching
across the grass. It was disconcertingly familiar,
until he recognized, beyond any doubt, that it was
his own. Sim, he assured himself, had learned of
his presence at the sap-boiling, and, in passing, had
stopped to fetch him home. But there was no man
in the buggy... only two women. Meta Beggs,
intercepting his intent gaze, turned and followed it
to its goal... Gordon saw now that Mrs. Caley

[[254]]

p253 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p254w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p255

v?