“Where am I?” she asked.

“Do you not remember?  You are here in the wood where the doctor overtook us,” he replied.

“And where is he?”

“He has returned.”

“Has something dreadful happened?”

“Nothing.”

“But I saw you clench with each other, and it was awful!  What happened then?  I must have fainted.  Did I?”

“Yes, you fainted.  Were you so frightened?”

“Oh, terribly!  I thought that you would kill each other!  It was horrible, horrible!  But where is he now?”

“He has returned.”

“Returned?  Do you mean that he has gone back without me?  How did you persuade him to do that?”

“How did I persuade him?  Ha! ha!  I persuaded him with my fists.  You should have seen me, Pepeeta!  Are you quite sure that you did not see me?  I should like you to know what a coward he was at last, and how he went home like a whipped puppy.”

“But did he acknowledge that he had deceived me?”

“He did indeed, upon his knees.”

“And do you think he has gone, never to return?”

“Yes, he has gone, never to return,” he answered, shuddering at the double meaning of his words.  “He made his confession and relinquished his claim, and I made him swear that he would renounce you forever.  And so we have nothing to do but forget him and be happy.  Are you feeling better now?”

“Yes, I am better; but I am not well; I cannot shake it off.  It seems too dreadful to have been real.  And yet how much better it is than if one of you had been killed!  Oh!  I wish I could stop seeing it” (putting her hands over her eyes).  “Let us go!  Let us leave this gloomy wood.  Let us get out into the sunshine.  See!  It is getting dark.  We must not stay here any longer.”

“Yes, let us go,” he said, rising, lifting her gently from the ground and leading her back to the buggy in which they took their seats and drove rapidly forward.

In a few moments they emerged from the forest.  The sun was still a little way above the horizon; its cheerful beams partially restored Pepeeta’s spirits, and David felt a momentary pleasure as he saw a slight smile upon her pale countenance.

“Do you feel happier now?” he said.

“Yes, a little,” she answered, looking into his face with eyes suffused with tears.  “And I am so thankful that you are safe!”

“And so you fainted before we fell?” he asked, compelled to reassure himself.

“Did you fall?” she said, trembling again and laying her hand upon his arm.

“There, there,” he answered gently; “I ought not to have asked you.  We must never allude to it again.  We must forget it.  Will you try?”

“Yes, I will try, but it is hard.  It belongs to the past, and we must live in the present and in the future.  I will try.  I love you so, and I am so thankful that you are safe.”  As she said this, she took his hand in both of hers and pressed it to her breast.