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.She slid one hand up and pinched his ear, just as she would playfully tweak the ear of a child."Ward, you mustn't.I've seen you think and think and look as if you hadn't a friend on earth.You mustn't.I suppose you've got lots of friends who'd stand by you through anything.Anyway, you've got me, and—I understand all about it." She whispered those last words, and her heart thumped heavily with trepidation after she had spoken.Ward raised his head, caught one of her hands and held it fast while he looked deep into her eyes.He was searching, questioning, measuring, and he was doing it without uttering a word.The plummet dropped straight into the clear, sweet depths of her soul.If it did not reach the bottom, he was satisfied with the soundings he took.He drew a deep breath and gave her hand a little squeeze and let it go."Did I scare you? I'm sorry," he said, speaking in a hushed tone because of the woman in the next room."I was thinking about a man I may meet some day; and if I do meet him, the chances are I'll kill him.I—didn't—I forgot where I was—" He threw out a hand in a gesture that amply completed explanation and apology and fumbled in his pocket for tobacco and papers.Abstractedly he began the making of a cigarette.Billy Louise put wood on the fire, pulled up a square, calico-padded stool, and sat down.She waited, and she had the wisdom to wait in complete silence.Ward leaned forward with a twig in his hand, got it ablaze, and lighted his cigarette.He did not look at Billy Louise until he had taken a whiff or two.Then he stared at her for a full minute, and ended by flipping the charred twig playfully into her lap, and laughing a little because she jumped."What made you catch your breath when I told my name that night I came?" he asked quizzically, but with a tensity behind the lightness of his tone and behind the little smile in his eyes as well."Where had you ever heard of me before?"Billy Louise gasped again, sent a lightning-thought into the future, and answered more casually than she had hoped she could."When I was a kid I ran across the name—somewhere—and I used it to play with—""Yes?""You know—I was always making believe different things.I never had anyone to play with in my life, so I had a pretend-girl, named Minervy.And I had you.I used to have you rescue us from Indians and things, but mostly you were a road-agent or a robber, and when you weren't holding me or Minervy for ransom, I was generally leading you over some most ungodly trails, saving you from posses and things.I used," said Billy Louise, forcing a laugh, "to have some wild old times with you, believe me! So when you told your name, why—it was just like—you know; it was exactly like having a doll come to life!"He eyed her fixedly until she tingled with nervousness."Yes—and what about—understanding all about it? Do you?" He drew in his under lip, let it go, and drew it again between his teeth, while he frowned at her thoughtfully."Do you understand all about it?" he insisted, leaning toward her and never once taking that boring gaze from her face."I—well, I—do—some of it anyway." Billy Louise lifted a hand spasmodically to her throat.This was digging deeper into the agonies of life than she had ever gone before."What was in the paper," she whispered later, as if his eyes were drawing it from her by force."What was that? What did it say?""I—I—what difference does it make, what it said?" Billy Louise turned imploring eyes upon him.Her breath was coming fast and uneven."It doesn't matter—to me—in the least.It—didn't say much.I—can't tell exactly—" She was growing white around the mouth.The horror of being compelled to say, out loud—and to him!"I didn't know there was a woman in the world like you," Ward said irrelevantly and looked into the fire."I thought women were just soft things a man had to take care of and carry along through life, a dead weight when they weren't worse.I never knew a woman could be a friend—the kind of friend a man can be
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