Had he done
right to let him go? Should he not have killed him, as he would have
exterminated a serpent? For Rossland had exulted; he was of Graham's
flesh and desires, a part of his foul soul, a defiler of womanhood and
the one who had bargained to make possible the opportunity for an
indescribable crime. It was not too late. He could still overtake him,
out there in the hollows of the tundra--
The pressure on his arm tightened. He looked down. Mary Standish had
seen what was in his face, and there was something in her calmness that
brought him to himself. He knew, in that moment, that Rossland had told
her a great deal. Yet she was not afraid, unless it was fear of what had
been in his mind.
"I am ready," she reminded him.
"We must wait for Stampede," he said, reason returning to him. "He
should be here sometime tonight, or in the morning. Now that Rossland is
off my nerves, I can see how necessary it is to have someone like
Stampede between us and--"
He did not finish, but what he had intended to say was quite clear to
her. She stood in the doorway, and he felt an almost uncontrollable
desire to take her in his arms again.
"He is between here and Tanana," she said with a little gesture of her
head.
"Rossland told you that?"
"Yes. And there are others with him, so many that he was amused when I
told him you would not let them take me away.
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