In consequence, she returned to Sequoia.
The fascination which a lighted candle holds for a moth is too well
known to require further elucidation here. In yielding one day to a
desire to visit the Valley of the Giants, Shirley told herself that
she was going there to gather wild blackberries. She had been
thinking of a certain blackberry pie, which thought naturally induced
reflection on Bryce Cardigan and reminded Shirley of her first visit
to the Giants under the escort of a boy in knickerbockers. She had a
very vivid remembrance of that little amphitheatre with the sunbeams
falling like a halo on the plain tombstone; she wondered if the years
had changed it all and decided that there could not possibly be any
harm in indulging a very natural curiosity to visit and investigate.
Her meeting with Moira McTavish that day, and the subsequent
friendship formed with the woods-boss's daughter, renewed all her old
apprehensions. On the assumption that Shirley and Bryce were
practically strangers to each other (an assumption which Shirley, for
obvious reasons, did not attempt to dissipate), Moira did not
hesitate to mention Bryce very frequently. To her he was the one
human being in the world utterly worth while, and it is natural for
women to discuss, frequently and at great length, the subject nearest
their hearts.
Pages:
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227