Night and day she thought of him, and the memory of that day in the
forest glade haunted her like a golden melody newly heard.
Yet something within her held her back from his sight, kept her eyes
from that part of the small settlement where stood the factory with its
wide doorway. She could not bear to look upon him yet in the newness of
this awakening.
And McElroy, deep in the work of the trading, was eaten by a thousand
qualms and torments. All those doubts that beset lovers tore at his
heart and made of his days a nightmare.
With the cooling of his exalted intoxication what time the touch of the
girl's young body had fired him with all confidence, came a thousand
condemnations for his blundering haste, his stupid boasting of
conquest.
To what depths of scorn might he not now be fallen in the mind of such
a girl as Maren Le Moyne with her calm judgment; how far might he not
be from the object of his longing!
And the fact that he could catch no sight of her, no matter how often
he stepped near the door nor how diligently he sought for a glimpse of
the shining braids and plain garment among the women at the well, but
added fuel to the fire that scorched him.
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