She is strength and courage. She
is the risk of the future. I suppose she is the pioneer in my blood, or
my mind. I can't help what she came from, nor can she. I've got to take
that as I take everything else, with the belief that it is worth all the
cost. The thing I feel now is that she has given me back myself. She has
given me a free outlook on life--"
He stopped abruptly, for there was the sound of footsteps in the house,
and after a minute or two, Patty and Gideon Vetch came out on the porch.
The girl looked, except for the red of her mouth, as if the blood had
been drawn from her veins, and her eyes were like dark pansies. All the
light had faded from them, changing even their colour.
"Patty," said Stephen; and he made a step toward her, with his hands
outstretched as if he would gather her to him. Then he stopped and fell
back, for the girl was shrinking away from him with a look of fear.
"I can't talk now," she answered, smiling with hard lips. "I am tired.
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