"But if I
remember how I used to look I'm not pretty any more."
Neale laughed. He had begun to feel freer, and to accept this
unparalleled situation with some composure.
"Tell me," he said, with gentle voice and touch--"tell me your name.
Allie--what?"
"Didn't you ever know?" she asked.
"You said Allie. That was all."
He feared this call to her memory, yet he wanted to put her to a
test. Her eyes dilated--the light shaded; they grew sad, dark, humid
gulfs of thought. But the old, somber veil, the insane, brooding
stare, did not return.
"Allie what?" he repeated.
Then the tears came, softening and dimming the pain. "Allie Lee,"
she said.
9
Slingerland appeared younger to Neale. The burden of loneliness did
not weigh upon him, and the habit of silence had been broken. Neale
guessed why, and was actually jealous.
"Wal, it's beyond my calculatin'," the trapper said, out by the
spring, where Neale followed him. "She jest changed thet's all. Not
so much at first, though she sparked up after I give her your ring.
I reckon it come little by little. An' one day, why, the cabin was
full of sunshine! ... Since then I've seen how she's growed an'
brightened. Workin', runnin' after me--an' always watchin' fer you.
Allie's changed to what she is now.
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