. And then one can't possibly get along with
less than two cars and four maids and a chauffeur. Can't be done!"

"He's right. Fawncy! Only three maids. Might as well be dead."

The pack was ready, now; he was swinging it to his back and preparing
to stamp out the fire. But he dropped his burden and faced her in the
low firelight. "Ruth, you won't make up your mind to marry Phil till
you're _sure_, will you? You'll play with me awhile, won't you? Can't
we explore a few more----"

She laughed nervously, trying to look at him. "As I said, Phil won't
condescend to consider poor me till he has his fifteen thousand
dollars a year, and that won't be for some time, I think, considering
he is too well-bred to work hard."

"But seriously, you will----Oh, I don't know how to put it. You will
let me be your playmate, even as much as Phil is, while we're
still----"

"Carl, I've never played as much with any one as with you. You make
most of the men I know seem very unenterprising. It frightens me.
Perhaps I oughtn't to let you jump the fence so easily."

"You _won't_ let Phil lock you up for a while?"

"No.... Mustn't we be going?"

"Thank you for letting the outlaw come to your party. The fire's out.
Come."

With the quenching of the fire they were left in smothering darkness.
"Where do we go?" she worried. "I feel completely lost. I can't make
out a thing. I feel so lost and so blind, after looking at the fire."

Her voice betrayed that he was suddenly a stranger to her.

With hasty assurance he said: "Sit tight! See. We head for that tall
oak, up the slope, then through the clearing, keeping to the right.
You'll be able to see the oak as soon as you get the firelight out of
your eyes. Remember I used to hunt every fall, as a kid, and come back
through the dark. Don't worry."

"I can just make out the tree now."

"Right. Now for it."

"Let me carry my skees."

"No, you just watch your feet." His voice was pleasant, quiet, not too
intimate. "Don't try to guide yourself by your eyes. Let your feet
find the safe ground. Your eyes will fool you in the dark."

It was a hard pull, the way back. Encumbered with pack and two pairs
of skees, which they dared not use in the darkness, he could not give
her a helping hand. The snow was still falling, not very thick nor
savagely wind-borne, yet stinging their eyes as they crossed open
moors and the wind leaped at them. Once Ruth slipped, on a rock or a
chunk of ice, and ca