ad guests."

"I'm only stopping over night," she retorted. "Are you alone in this
wilderness?"

"No, I have a boy with me named Bob--a most engaging companion. He is
away this evening.... How were the laundry tubs?"

She chuckled.

"I had to do battle for mine. A man was just going into my bathroom when
I appeared. I claimed it, I presented my check as proof; he said I had
forfeited my chance by being late."

"Western gallantry!"

"He was from New England, on the contrary!"

"What did you do?"

"I bowed low and quoted Sir Philip Sydney: 'Sir,' said I, 'thy need is
greater than mine.'"

"Wasted, I'll warrant," laughed Trent. "Then what?"

"There was another vacant tub, so I took that and we splashed in unison,
in adjoining booths. The water was hot and I feel too good to be true.
How was the river?"

"Icy."

"Isn't it wonderful to feel all of yourself like this?"

"All of yourself?"

"Yes, most of the time you only feel the part of yourself that hurts.
Now I feel my blood jumping in my veins, my heart pumping, my lungs
expanding. I have eyes and ears in my skin. I'm using all of me."

"You've said it," he nodded appreciatively.

"Let's spend most of our time in the hills, Paul. I like it better than
this, don't you?"

"Is this too domestic for you?" he teased.

"I suppose so. I don't want to be too intimate with you."

"You don't like me, on closer association?"

"I didn't say that."

"This kind of life is the ultimate test, I grant you that."

"Yes, it is. It's a good place to get acquainted." She turned her eyes
on him. "I've just met you up here."

"Think you're going to like me?"

"I don't know."

"It is an awful responsibility."

"What is--liking you?"

"No, trying to make you like life well enough to stay on a while."

"I'm staying until you're elected, anyhow."

"If you should decide to stay on after that, what could I do to interest
you?"

She lifted her brows in question.

"It's only the governor you're interested in--his fight, his success.
I'm just the works inside his officialism."

"Like the stick inside the scarecrow," she smilingly assented.

"Exactly. Now will that scarecrow continue to interest you when he is
set up in the gubernatorial field?"

"Depends on how the 'big stick' acts. I love a fight, you know."

"I see no peace ahead for me," he sighed.

"Better take it now," she said. "Look off there--peace like frozen
music. Is there such a thing as a fig