e fingered the mangy foliage, and noddedapproval. "Oh, yes," she said. "Very romantic!"Jamie made a small tactful noise, indicating that they ought perhaps to be making their way, since Bree and the slower-movingparty of Chisholms would be catching them up soon."Yes, all right," Claire said, patting his shoulder in what he assumed she meant to be a soothing gesture. "Don't snort; we'regoing.""Mmphm," he said, and bent to put a hand under her foot. Tossing her up into the saddle, he gave Gideon a "Don't try it on,you bastard" glare and swung up behind her."You'll wait for the others, then, and bring them up?" Without waiting for Roger's nod, he reined around and set Gideon uponthe trail again.Temper momentarily expended, and mollified at being in the lead, Gideon settled down to the job at hand, climbing steadilythrough the thickets of chinkapin and poplar, chestnut and spruce. Even so late in the year, some leaves still clung to the trees,and small bits of brown and yellow floated down upon them like a gentle rain, catching in the horse's mane, resting in the loose,thick waves of Claire's hair. It had come down in her precipitous descent, and she hadn't bothered to put it up again.His own equanimity returned with the sense of progress, and was quite restored by the fortuitous finding of his hat, hanging froma white oak by the trail, as though placed there by some kindly hand. Still, he remained uneasy in his mind, and could not quitegrasp tranquility, though the mountain lay at peace all round him, the air hazed with blue and smelling of wood-damp andevergreens.Then he realized, with a sudden jolt in the pit of his stomach, that the kitten was gone. There were itching furrows in the skin ofhis chest and abdomen, where it had climbed him in a frantic effort to escape, but it must have popped out the neck of his shirtand been flung off his shoulder in the mad career down the slope. He glanced from side to side, searching in the shadows un...
