For a moment he thrilled with the excitement of a
hunter in the presence of that desirable object, "a splendid shot."
Then he crept stealthily forward, sprang into the boat, and before the
startled girl could recover from her amazement, he was rowing her far
out on the moonlit bay. "There!" he cried, exultantly, bending an
ardent yet laughing gaze upon her, "now you may run away as fast as
you like."
The girl neither spoke nor moved. A great fire of resentment was
burning in her heart, and its flames mounted to her cheeks. "My soul!"
he murmured, "how beautiful you are!" She faced him fully and fairly,
with the magnificent disdain of an empress in exile. In some way she
gave him the impression that this brilliant little escapade was rather
a poor joke after all. "Do me the favour of moving a muscle," he
pleaded mockingly, and his request was lavishly granted. Before he
could guess her intention she was in the water, knocking an oar from
his hand in her rapid exit, and swimming at an incredible rate of
speed for the nearest point of land, from which she sped like a hunted
thing to the woods.
Pages:
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