"Kurt, I don"t want _you_ mixed up with any lynching-bees," she said, earnestly.
"I"m a citizen of Washington. I"ll join the vigilantes. I"m American.
I"ve been ruined by these I.W.W."s. No man in the West has lost so much!
Father--home--land--my great harvest of wheat!... Why shouldn"t I go?"
"There"s no reason except--_me_," she replied, rather unsteadily.
He drew himself up, with a deep breath, as if fortifying himself.
"That"s a mighty good reason.... But you will be kinder if you withdraw your objections."
"Can"t you conceive of any reason why I--I beg you not to go?"
"I can"t," he replied, staring at her. It seemed that every moment he spent in her presence increased her effect upon him. Lenore felt this, and that buoyed up her failing courage.
"Kurt, you"ve made a very distressing--a terrible and horrible blunder,"
she said, with a desperation that must have seemed something else to him.
"My heavens! What have I done?" he gasped, his face growing paler. How ready he was to see more catastrophe! It warmed her heart and strengthened her nerve.
The moment had come. Even if she did lose her power of speech she still could show him what his blunder was. Nothing in all her life had ever been a hundredth part as hard as this. Yet, as the words formed, her whole heart seemed to be behind them, forcing them out. If only he did not misunderstand!
Then she looked directly at him and tried to speak. Her first attempt was inarticulate, her second was a whisper, "Didn"t you ever--think I--I might care for you?"
It was as if a shock went over him, leaving him trembling. But he did not look as amazed as incredulous. "No, I certainly never did," he said.
"Well--that"s your blunder--for I--I do. You--you never--never--asked me."
"You do what--care for me?... What on earth do you mean by that?"
Lenore was fighting many emotions now, the one most poignant being a wild desire to escape, which battled with an equally maddening one to hide her face on his breast.
Yet she could see how white he had grown--how different. His hands worked convulsively and his eyes pierced her very soul.
"What should a girl mean--telling she cared?"
"I don"t know. Girls are beyond me," he replied, stubbornly.
"Indeed that"s true. I"ve felt so far beyond you--I had to come to this."
"Lenore," he burst out, hoa.r.s.ely, "you talk in riddles! You"ve been so strange, yet so fine, so sweet! And now you say you care for me!...
Care?... What does that mean? A word can drive me mad. But I never dared to hope. I love you--love you--love you--my G.o.d! you"re all I"ve left to love. I--"
"Do you think you"ve a monopoly on all the love in the world?"
interrupted Lenore, coming to her real self. His impa.s.sioned declaration was all she needed. Her ordeal was over.
It seemed as if he could not believe his ears or eyes.
"Monopoly! World!" he echoed. "Of course I don"t. But--"
"Kurt, I love you just as much as--as you love me.... So there!"
Lenore had time for one look at his face before he enveloped her. What a relief to hide her own! It was pressed to his breast very closely. Her eyes shut, and she felt hot tears under the lids. All before her darkened sight seemed confusion, whirling chaos. It seemed that she could not breathe and, strangely, did not need to. How unutterably happy she felt! That was an age-long moment--wonderful for her own relief and gladness--full of changing emotions. Presently Kurt appeared to be coming to some semblance of rationality. He released her from that crushing embrace, but still kept an arm around her while he held her off and looked at her.
"Lenore, will you kiss me?" he whispered.
She could have cried out in sheer delight at the wonder of that whisper in her ear. It had been she who had changed the world for Kurt Dorn.
"Yes--presently," she replied, with a tremulous little laugh. "Wait till--I get my breath--"
"I was beside myself--am so yet," he replied, low voiced as if in awe.
"I"ve been lifted to heaven.... It cannot be true. I believe, yet I"ll not be sure till you kiss me.... You--Lenore Anderson, this girl of my dreams! Do you love me--is it true?"
"Yes, Kurt, indeed I do--very dearly," she replied, and turned to look up into his face. It was transfigured. Lenore"s heart swelled as a deep and profound emotion waved over her.
"Please kiss me--then."
She lifted her face, flushing scarlet. Their lips met. Then with her head upon his shoulder and her hands closely held she answered the thousand and one questions of a bewildered and exalted lover who could not realize the truth. Lenore laughed at him and eloquently furnished proof of her own obsession, and told him how and why and when it all came about.
Not for hours did Kurt come back to actualities. "I forgot about the vigilantes," he exclaimed, suddenly. "It"s too late now.... How the time has flown!... Oh, Lenore, thought of other things breaks in, alas!"
He kissed her hand and got up. Another change was coming over him.
Lenore had long expected the moment when realization would claim his attention. She was prepared.
"Yes, you forgot your appointment with dad and the vigilantes. You"ve missed some excitement and violence."
His face had grown white again--grave now and troubled. "May I speak to your father?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied.
"If I come back from the war--well--not crippled--will you promise to marry me?"
"Kurt, I promise now."
That seemed to shake him. "But, Lenore, it is not fair to you. I don"t believe a soldier should bind a girl by marriage or engagement before he goes to war. She should be free.... I want you to be free."
"That"s for you to say," she replied, softly. "But for my part, I don"t want to be free--if you go away to war."
"If!... I"m going," he said, with a start. "You don"t want to be free?
Lenore, would you be engaged to me?"
"My dear boy, of course I would.... It seems I _am,_ doesn"t it?" she replied, with one of her deep, low laughs.
He gazed at her, fascinated, worked upon by overwhelming emotions.
"Would you marry me--before I go?"
"Yes," she flashed.
He bent and bowed then under the storm. Stumbling to her, almost on his knees, he brokenly expressed his grat.i.tude, his wonder, his pa.s.sion, and the terrible temptation that he must resist, which she must help him to resist.