FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67  
68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   >>   >|  
th girls subjected him to a frank and careful scrutiny that in any other place than Lost Valley would have been rudeness itself. Here it catalogued the stranger, set the style of his welcome. It left him stripped of surprise, outwardly, before he was within speaking distance. It told the observers that he was young, of some twenty-six or seven, that his face, the first point taken in with lightning swiftness--was different from most faces they had ever seen, that it was open, smiling, easy, that he was straight as a ramrod, indeed, that he rode as if he feared nothing in the earth or the heavens, that he carried no gun, that he wore the peculiar uniform that Tharon had noticed before, and that there was something on his breast, a dark shield of some sort which made them think of Steptoe Service and his disgraced sheriff's star. This thought brought a frown to Tharon's brows, and it was there to greet the stranger when he rode up to the step and halted, his smart tan hat in his hand. The morning sun burned warmly down on his dark hair, which was brushed straight back from his forehead in a way unknown in those parts. His dark eyes, slow and deep but somehow merry, took in the pretty picture in the door. "Miss Last?" he asked in a low voice. "Yes," said Tharon promptly and waited. Every one waited in Lost Valley for a stranger to make known his business. Paula drew back behind her mistress. The man sat still on his horse and waited, too. The silence became profound. The hens cackling about the barns intruded sharply. "Well," he said presently, "I am a stranger, and I came to see you." The girl in the doorway felt a hot surge of discomfort flare over her for the first time in her life for such a reason. There was something in the low voice that implied a lack, accused her of something. She resented it instantly. "If that is so," she said slowly, "light." The man laughed delightedly, and swung quickly down, dropping his rein. Tharon noticed that. That much was natural. He held his hat against his breast with one hand and came forward with the same quickness, holding out the other. Tharon was not used to shaking hands with strange men. She gave her hand diffidently, because he so evidently expected it, and took it away swiftly. "My name," he said, "is Kenset--David Kenset, and I am from Washington, D. C." He might as well have said Timbuctoo. Tharon Last knew little outside her own environment
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67  
68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Tharon
 

stranger

 
waited
 

Valley

 
breast
 
Kenset
 
straight
 

noticed

 

discomfort

 

doorway


profound

 

mistress

 

business

 

promptly

 

sharply

 

intruded

 

presently

 

silence

 

cackling

 

slowly


evidently

 

expected

 

swiftly

 

diffidently

 
shaking
 
strange
 

environment

 

Timbuctoo

 

Washington

 

laughed


delightedly

 
instantly
 
resented
 

reason

 

implied

 

accused

 

quickly

 

forward

 

quickness

 
holding

natural
 
dropping
 

brushed

 

lightning

 
swiftness
 

observers

 

twenty

 

feared

 

ramrod

 
smiling