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Page 23
"You couldn't have pleased me more."
To the left of the fireplace was a rude cupboard of shelves, packed with
boxes, cans, bags, and utensils. Below the cupboard, hung upon pegs, were
blackened pots and pans, a long-handled skillet, and a bucket. Glenn's
table was a masterpiece. There was no danger of knocking it over. It
consisted of four poles driven into the ground, upon which had been nailed
two wide slabs. This table showed considerable evidence of having been
scrubbed scrupulously clean. There were two low stools, made out of boughs,
and the seats had been covered with woolly sheep hide. In the right-hand
corner stood a neat pile of firewood, cut with an ax, and beyond this hung
saddle and saddle blanket, bridle and spurs. An old sombrero was hooked
upon the pommel of the saddle. Upon the wall, higher up, hung a lantern,
resting in a coil of rope that Carley took to be a lasso. Under a shelf
upon which lay a suitcase hung some rough wearing apparel.
Carley noted that her picture and the suit case were absolutely the only
physical evidences of Glenn's connection with his Eastern life. That had an
unaccountable effect upon Carley. What had she expected? Then, after
another survey of the room, she began to pester Glenn with questions. He
had to show her the spring outside and the little bench with basin and
soap. Sight of his soiled towel made her throw up her hands. She sat on the
stools. She lay on the couch. She rummaged into the contents of the
cupboard. She threw wood on the fire. Then, finally, having exhausted her
search and inquiry, she flopped down on one of the stools to gaze at Glenn
in awe and admiration and incredulity.
"Glenn--you've actually lived here!" she ejaculated.
"Since last fall before the snow came," he said, smiling.
"Snow! Did it snow?" she inquired.
"Well, I guess. I was snowed in for a week."
"Why did you choose this lonely place--way off from the Lodge?" she asked,
slowly.
"I wanted to be by myself," he replied, briefly.
"You mean this is a sort of camp-out place?"
"Carley, I call it my home," he replied, and there was a low, strong
sweetness in his voice she had never heard before.
That silenced her for a while. She went to the door and gazed up at the
towering wall, more wonderful than ever, and more fearful, too, in her
sight. Presently tears dimmed her eyes. She did not understand her feeling;
she was ashamed of it; she hid it from Glenn. Indeed, there was something
terribly wrong between her and Glenn, and it was not in him. This cabin he
called home gave her a shock which would take time to analyze. At length
she turned to him with gay utterance upon her lips. She tried to put out of
her mind a dawning sense that this close-to-the-earth habitation, this
primitive dwelling, held strange inscrutable power over a self she had
never divined she possessed. The very stones in the hearth seemed to call
out from some remote past, and the strong sweet smell of burnt wood
thrilled to the marrow of her bones. How little she knew of herself! But
she had intelligence enough to understand that there was a woman in her,
the female of the species; and through that the sensations from logs and
stones and earth and fire had strange power to call up the emotions handed
down to her from the ages. The thrill, the queer heartbeat, the vague,
haunting memory of something, as of a dim childhood adventure, the strange
prickling sense of dread--these abided with her and augmented while she
tried to show Glenn her pride in him and also how funny his cabin seemed to
her.
Once or twice he hesitatingly, and somewhat appealingly, she imagined,
tried to broach the subject of his work there in the West. But Carley
wanted a little while with him free of disagreeable argument. It was a
foregone conclusion that she would not like his work. Her intention at
first had been to begin at once to use all persuasion in her power toward
having him go back East with her, or at the latest some time this year. But
the rude log cabin had checked her impulse. She felt that haste would be
unwise.
"Glenn Kilbourne, I told you why I came West to see you," she said,
spiritedly. "Well, since you still swear allegiance to your girl from the
East, you might entertain her a little bit before getting down to business
talk."
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