"I'm not anybody in particular," he answered, "and I'm not just sure where

I belong. I live in Pennsylvania, but I didn't seem to belong there

exactly, at least not just now, and so I came out here to see if I

belonged anywhere else. I concluded yesterday that I didn't. At least, not

until I came in sight of you. But I suspect I am running away myself. In

fact, that is just what I am doing, running away from a woman!"

He looked at her with his honest hazel eyes, and she liked him. She felt

he was telling her the truth, but it seemed to be a truth he was just

finding out for himself as he talked.

"Why do you run away from a woman? How could a woman hurt you? Can she

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shoot?"

He flashed her a look of amusement and pain mingled.

"She uses other weapons," he said. "Her words are darts, and her looks are

swords."

"What a queer woman! Does she ride well?"

"Yes, in an automobile!"

"What is that?" She asked the question shyly as if she feared he might

laugh again; and he looked down, and perceived that he was talking far

above her. In fact, he was talking to himself more than to the girl.

There was a bitter pleasure in speaking of his lost lady to this wild

creature who almost seemed of another kind, more like an intelligent bird

or flower.

"An automobile is a carriage that moves about without horses," he answered

her gravely. "It moves by machinery."

"I should not like it," said the girl decidedly. "Horses are better than

machines. I saw a machine once. It was to cut wheat. It made a noise, and

did not go fast. It frightened me."

"But automobiles go very fast, faster than any horses And they do not all

make a noise."

The girl looked around apprehensively.

"My horse can go very fast. You do not know how fast. If you see her

coming, I will change horses with you. You must ride to the nearest bench

and over, and then turn backward on your tracks. She will never find you

that way. And I am not afraid of a woman."

The man broke into a hearty laugh, loud and long. He laughed until the

tears rolled down his cheeks; and the girl, offended, rode haughtily

beside him. Then all in a moment he grew quite grave.

"Excuse me," he said; "I am not laughing at you now, though it looks that

way. I am laughing out of the bitterness of my soul at the picture you put

before me. Although I am running away from her, the lady will not come out

in her automobile to look for me. She does not want me!"




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