"If I had told her the truth it would have been embarra.s.sing for you."

"For me!"

"Yep. Angela, don't you see it would mean----"

"Well?"

"It would mean that we should have to act as man and wife."

"Well, haven't you always tried to act as--husband?"

"Have I?--I guess not. And I'm not wanting to take advantage of a situation. If you'll look clearly you'll see this thing square. I guess it would have bin awkward if they had yanked us into this room--together."

He said "good-night" softly and shut the door. Angela sat down on the bed and stared at the wall. So he had thought of that! It was amazing the things he could think of when he tried hard!

She tore off her clothes and flung herself on to the pillow, annoyed, exasperated, and generally bewildered. Then she got up, lighted the candle again, and surveyed her fresh, incomparable beauty in the mirror.

"Am I getting old--ugly?" she murmured. "Ah yes--Natalie is pretty enough to get things if she tries!"

CHAPTER XXI

NATALIE TRIES HER LUCK

Life at the trading-post might have been a pleasant thing to Angela but for one patent fact, and this fact was rendered more palpable every hour.

It requires a woman to thoroughly a.n.a.lyze another woman's feelings, and Angela experienced little difficulty in probing the heart of Natalie. From the moment when Jim had first stepped through the doorway Angela had been aware of the fact that all Natalie's interest was centered on him.

She had seen the look of suspense in Natalie's face when Devinne had inquired of Jim their relationship, and had heard the soft sigh when the untruthful answer was returned. Hitherto she had imagined love at first sight to be a mere figure of speech, but not now. It was chiefly that fact which aroused her anger against Jim. It looked as if he deliberately gave the lie to encourage these pa.s.sionate advances of Natalie.

Jim himself was the flower of innocence. Natalie was certainly an attractive woman, and she had the knack of enhancing her attractiveness by subtle, and not ungraceful, movement of her body and limbs. But all her charms were eclipsed by the mystical beauty of Angela. But for her constant obtrusiveness, it is doubtful whether Jim would have noticed her prettiness at all. He found the post a pleasant enough place after the eternal discomforts of the trail, and Devinne a thoroughly good fellow.

He did not fail to notice a queer change in Angela--a relapse into moody silence, so different from the cheerfulness which she had exhibited in the immediate past--but ascribed it to the fact that she was still pining for civilization and the old life. And he meant that she should have this, despite her resolution to accept nothing from him. Once they touched Dawson, he meant to get her aboard a boat--by physical force if necessary--and face the miseries of life without her.

For this purpose he kept intact the wad of notes necessary for her pa.s.sage, and sought Devinne with a view to raising money on an article of great sentimental, and moderate intrinsic, value--the cigarette-case given him by his old chums at Medicine Bow.

Devinne was amazed when the proposition was put to him. He had no idea that his guest was reduced to such plights.

"I'll loan you the food with pleasure," he said. "There's no need to part with something you evidently love."

Jim shook his head.

"What's it worth?"

"Difficult to say--at least a thousand dollars."

"Wal, see here, you loan me five hundred on it with the option of redeeming it within a year. I'll sure strike gold by then."

Devinne nodded.

"Very well, if you insist. I'll be here until next spring. It'll be waiting for you any time you drop in."

Jim pocketed the notes and commenced to bargain for several necessaries apart from the anxiously awaited food.

In the meantime Natalie was preparing for attack. She garbed herself in her most seductive dress, and a.s.sailed Jim as he was leaving Devinne, and commenced to inveigle him into accompanying her on a walk.

"I was just going to look over some gear in the stores," he explained.

"Oh, but zat can vait. Zee day is so magnifique. Mees Angela, you say to him hee es to come."

Angela, who had just entered the pa.s.sage, turned crimson.

"My brother usually pleases himself," she said, and walked away.

A few minutes' artful pleading, and Jim was beaten. It seemed outrageous to refuse her so small a--pleasure. He got his hat and stalked along beside her. Angela watched them disappear towards the river.

She felt furious with Jim--furious because he could not see that this brazen-faced woman was making love to him all the time. The studied voluptuous movements, the bright lift of the eyes, the mad rush to secure for him anything she thought he might need--how could any man but a fool misinterpret these actions? And Jim looked so innocent--too innocent, she thought. At any rate, he had gone with her on that walk, and anything might happen--Natalie wouldn't care.

She went out of the house, feeling very wroth and very dejected. Devinne met her outside the store and smiled in his quiet, pleasant fashion.

"Where's Jim?" he asked.

"I--I think he has gone for a walk with Natalie."

He raised his eyebrows and then laughed.

"Take care of your brother, Miss Conlan. Natalie is a holy terror when she sets her cap at something. I must confess he's enough to turn any normal woman's head. Natalie has a weakness for big men. It'll certainly take a big one to keep her in order."

Angela forced a smile into her features, and went away feeling more miserable than ever. What might not a woman, well versed in love-making, succeed in achieving with an ingenuous fellow like Jim! And she was pretty too...!

It was three hours later when Jim and Natalie returned. Angela saw them coming up through the woods, Natalie chattering away in her broken English and Jim laughing amusedly. She wondered what had been the outcome of that journey. Had Jim proved an easy victim to Natalie's attractions? Judging by the latter's behavior it looked like it. Natalie seemed very happy and very sure of herself.

It gave Angela food for considerable reflection. If Jim chose to fall in love with the woman, could she--Angela--have any objection? Their relationship all through had been that of master and chattel, and must remain so in the circ.u.mstances. She had let him see that she regarded herself merely as his purchased possession, by a contract wherein love had not entered--on her part. Why should he not make love to another woman if he chose? Why not, indeed? But it hurt nevertheless.

In the evening, returning from a walk along the river, she met Natalie gathering spring flowers in the woods beyond the house. The latter welcomed her excitedly and took her arm familiarly.

"Is it that you go to-morrow?" she asked.

"If the food comes Jim is anxious to get to Dawson."

Natalie shot her a swift glance.

"To see you on zee boat?"

Angela gasped and stood still.

"I don't understand you. What boat?"