The next morning Anne left for town. For reasons which Cherry could not explain she had been strangely drawn to the girl during the two nights they had spent together in the cabin. Fears and hopes that are shared in common are powerful factors in shaping human lives and moulding human sympathies. And Cherry had actually come to look upon Anne with something like pity.
It was this feeling that prompted her to ride a little distance with her--this and her father's suggestion that she should go along to keep the girl company as well as to get into the air a little herself.
Their conversation had never turned to King Howden, except when they had referred to his condition. It was all the more surprising to Cherry, then, when, after a long silence during which they had been riding slowly and lost in their own thoughts, Anne spoke very quietly and with some feeling concerning King.
"I'm goin' back to town because there's nothin' else to it for me," she said. "If I had my own way--I'd stay by that boy till he was ready to come back."
Cherry was startled at the girl's words and her face expressed something of what she felt. Anne glanced at her and hastened to continue.
"Oh, don't get me wrong on that," she said apologetically. "I know you'll do what's right--do it better than I could."
"I don't misunderstand you," Cherry replied, and to herself she wished Anne's words could have meant something different from the meaning she had taken from them.
"He's right," Anne continued, without more than a glance to satisfy Cherry; "he's right--an' that's sayin' something. I'm older than you--though twenty-five ought to be young enough for anyone--but I've seen a few men--an' a mighty lot of what passes for men--an' I'll tell you this, when you find a man that's on the level you can't help wantin' to keep him round. But--Lord, Anne's gettin' sentimental."
She broke off suddenly and gave her rein a shake, and the next moment was off along the trail with Cherry following at an easy, loping gait behind her.
They rode thus in silence until they came to the bridge over the White Pine. The water had gone down almost as suddenly as it had risen, and the crossing presented no difficulty whatever. Cherry waited till Anne had got safely over to the other side, and then, after an exchange of farewells, turned back towards the camp.