"
"You will have to go alone, Alan, for I shall be too busy fitting up the
new house," she replied, in such a quiet, composed, little voice that he
was stunned. "I have already given orders for the cutting of timber in
the foothills, and Stampede and Amuk Toolik will begin construction very
soon. I am sorry you find your business in the States so important,
Alan. It will be a little lonesome with you away."
He gasped. "Mary!"
She did not turn. "_Mary!_"
He could see again that little, heart-like throb in her throat when she
faced him.
And then he learned the secret, softly whispered, with sweet, warm lips
pressed to his.
"It wasn't a doctor I sent for, Alan. It was a minister. We need one to
marry Stampede and Nawadlook and Tautuk and Keok. Of course, you and I
can wait--"
But she never finished, for her lips were smothered with a love that
brought a little sob of joy from her heart.
And then she whispered things to him which he had never guessed of Mary
Standish, and never quite hoped to hear. She was a little wild, a little
reckless it may be, but what she said filled him with a happiness which
he believed had never come to any other man in the world. It was not her
desire to return to the States at all. She never wanted to return. She
wanted nothing down there, nothing that the Standish fortune-builders
had left her, unless he could find some way of using it for the good of
Alaska.
Pages:
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332