The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1920-03-18
CHAPTER x.

From that day Andrea's health be-
gan to mend with tremendous rapidly.
Trevor never tired of watching her;
never ceased to wonder at a recovery
so rapid that its daily transitions were
visible. 1t reminded him of one Of the
marvels of his boyhood. An old man
had said TO him n dawn, "Hear the
corn growing, sonnyY" and he laughed,
whereupon the granddad had taken
him by one ear and marched him to
the nearest furrow. "Pick out a stalk
and watch II. you little egg-sucker,"
he commanded. "See II grow. If you
can't hear"
Andrea was like that; she was I'M
furling as though In the morning Of a
new youth. Never had her eyes been
brighter. never her cheeks so quick
to play with fire. Incidentally. she was
full Of a devil of mischievous remin-
iscent innuendo.
Its all a great joke now. young
lady," Trevor would defend himself,
shut IL you'd seen what I have Of per-
~nicious malaria. you'd keep grave for
a year. I've seen three Swahilis that
had nourished mosquitoes from their
youth up, fall like dogs, one after an
other, within a mile and a half of an
infected camp and the best Of them
went stone blind for a month"
did you nurse them. White Man?
Did you see them throughT
These were the questions that drove
him nearest to desperation, but the
CLEAN in the eyes above the demure
mouth from which they issued inva-
riably warned him OF the trap I'm time.
He was on his guard; he knew thar
there were things between him and
Andrea that speech would turn into
CHASTITY skeletons walking by day and
which only consistent silence could
entomb. But SO deep had grown his
sympathles that even In this he under
stood her. 1t was not that she was
perverse, but that her pride demanded
a constant test of his loyalty to her
other self-that internal self that had
lain barred. revealed and helpless in
his arms.
About those things which might have
aroused a legitimate curiosity, she
asked few questions. Without a word
OF inquiry she saw him despatch twelve
picked ne OF some mysterious mis-
sion whose intricacies and importance
necessitatad a preliminary palaver of
an hours duration. Equally silent. she
watched his detailed preparations of
a well-appointed safari. Tents were
brushed and set to air: cots and mat
tresses put out for a sun-bath; provi-
sions Of all sorts packed In one-lcad
cases; water boiled, filtered and hung
In canva coolers. Only q few days
before, just such signs as these had
made her heart heavy with unanswer-
able que~stionings. but her Illness had
changed all that. The successive mo-
ments Of the ~throbbing present each
In It's turn filled her whole horizon.
She knew instinctively that he had
something big up his sleeve. and that
he would shake 1t out on the slightest
provocation. She also had a long men,
DRY, and had no difficulty in recalling
his exact boast as to what he would
do when she was well. He was going
to take her IN free fight. She was well
now. she reflected: she had never felt
better In her life. and If there YVES %
thing she hungered for more than an
other, 1t was the promised combat.
Their Is no telling how long An
drea's innate stubbornness would have
held out nor ct-rhat pSini Trevors
exasperation would have driven him.
for their wofdless contest was inter
rupted by an event which he had both
~foreseen and feared They were sitting
LAT . table after dinner On =