"God! What does God
care for women? It's the men as God made things for, and us-all has to
fend them off--men and God are agin us women!"
"No, no! Let me free. I was so happy until--Oh! Miss Lois Ann, you
shall not take my happiness away."
"Yo' came to the right place, yo' po' lil' chile."
The eyes had seen all they needed to see and the hand let drop the
pretty, quivering face.
"We'll wait--oh! certainly we-all will wait a week; two weeks; then
three. An' we-all will hide close and see what we-all shall see!" A
hard, pitiful laugh echoed through the room. "And now to bed! Take the
closet back o' my chamber. No one can reach yo' there, chile. Sleep and
dream and--forget."
And that night Burke Lawson, after an hour's struggle, determined to
come forth among his kind and take his place. Nella-Rose had decided
him. He was tired of hiding, tired of playing his game. One look at the
face he had loved from its babyhood had turned the tide. Lawson had
never before been so long shut away from his guiding star. And she had
said that he might ask again when he dared--and so he came forth from
his cave-place. Once outside, he drew a deep, free breath, turned his
handsome face to the sky, and _felt_ the prayer that another might have
voiced.
He thought of Nella-Rose, remembered her love of adventure, her
splendid courage and spirit.
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