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They may be here any minute." "They? Who?" "All of them. Jed Martin, my father, and the others the ones who are friends of of " "Whom, Nella-Rose?" "Burke Lawson! He's back and they think oh! they think they are on his trail here! I I was trying to get away but the streams were swollen and the big trees were bending and and I hid behind a rock and I heard!
"Are you always running away?" asked Truedale from the hollow depths of unreality. "I run away a smart lot. You have to if you want to see things and be different." "And you you want to be different, Nella-Rose?" "I why, can't you see? I am different." "Of course. I only meant do you like to be different." "I have to like it. I was born with a cawl." "In heaven's name, what's that?"
He, watching the weak and agonized face, believed Greyson was making the best of a sad business; but that he was weaving from whole cloth the garment that must cover the past, Truedale in his own misery never suspected. While he listened something died within him never to live again. "Yes, sir. I have another daughter lil' Nella-Rose."
"I've heard from her," he half whispered. "Heard from her?" gasped Truedale, and even then Greyson seemed unaware of the attitude of the stranger. "How did you hear from her?" "She wrote and sent the letter long of of Bill Trim, a half-wit but trusty. Nella-Rose went with Lawson she 'lowed she had to. He came on her in the woods and held her to her word.
"Bring little Ann to the fire;" she said, "I'm going to order some lunch, and then we can decide, Nella-Rose." Nella-Rose obeyed, dumbly. She was completely under the control of the only person, who, in this perplexed and care-filled hour, seemed able to guide and guard her. Lynda watched the two eat of the food Thomas brought in. There was no fear of Truedale coming now.
I was harkin' back to the little white hen and Nella-Rose. There ain't much chance to have a livin' pet up to Greyson's place. Anything fit to eat is et. Pete drinks the rest. But once Nella-Rose came totin' up here on a cl'ar, moonlight evenin' with somethin' under her little, old shawl. 'Jim' she says wheedlin' and coaxin' 'I want yo' to keep this here hen fo' me.
He had no further fear for Nella-Rose and he bowed his head before Lynda's blazing eyes. "God bless you!" he whispered, "but oh! Lyn, I went back to make sure. I had the truth from her own father. And with all she stands to this day, in my memory, guiltless of the monstrous wrong she seemed to commit; and so she will always stand.
If White had not returned the night before the chances were that he would make another day of it! Nella-Rose often wondered why others did not note the tell-tale smoke a clue which often played a vital part in the news of the hills. Only because thoughts were focussed on the Hollow and on White's absence, was Truedale secure in his privacy.
"She trailed after me all day she lost me in a place where hiding's good and there I left her! She'll tell Jed Martin this evening when she gets back. Marg is scenting Burke for Jed and his kind to catch that's her way and Jed's!" Stinging contempt rang in the girl's voice. "But not your way I bet, Nella-Rose." The fun, not the danger, of the situation struck Truedale. "No! I'd do it all myself!
"I, too, have been coming to it all my life, little girl. I did not know I was driven. I rebelled, because I did not know; but nothing else does matter, when love gets you!" "No. Nothing matters." The girl's voice was rapt and dreamy. Truedale put his hands across the space dividing them and took hold of hers. "You will be mine, Nella-Rose?" "Seems like I must be!" "Yes. Doesn't it?
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