then at the long time it was taking Carmin to
discover certain things out in the hall. Finally he heard her coming,
tiptoeing very quietly from the direction of David Carrigan's door, and
St. Pierre chuckled and tried to rub his bandaged hands when she came
in, her face pink and her eyes shining with the greatest thrill that
can stir a feminine heart.

"If we'd only known," he tried to whisper, "I would have had the
keyhole made larger, Cherie! He deserves it for having spied on us at
the cabin window. But--tell me!--Could you see? Did you hear? What--"

Carmin's soft hand went over his mouth. "In another moment you'll be
shouting," she warned. "Maybe I didn't see, and maybe I didn't hear,
Big Bear--but I know there are four very happy people in Chateau
Boulain. And now, if you want to guess who is the happiest--"

"I am, chere-coeur."

"No."

"Well, then, if you insist--YOU are."

"Yes. And the next?"

St. Pierre chuckled. "David Carrigan," he said.

"No, no, no! If you mean that--"

"I mean--always--that I am second, unless you will ever let me be
first," corrected St. Pierre, kissing the hand that was gently stroking
his cheek.

And then he leaned his great head back against her where she stood
behind him, and Carmin's fingers ran where his hair was crisp with the
singe of fire, and for a long time they said no other word, but let
their eyes rest upon the dim length of the hall at the far end of which
was David Carrigan's room.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Flaming Forest, by James Oliver Curwood

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