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Mr Hampton was never of a pronounced emotional nature, nor was he a

person easily disconcerted, yet he flushed at the sound of these

impulsive words, and the confident smile deserted his lips For a

between, and looked at each

other When the man finally broke the constrained silence a deeper

intonation had crept into his voice

"My girl," he said gravely, and not without a suspicion of pleading,

"this is no place foraffray in

a gaht plead with so first I was not aware of your personal

feeling in the ht have permitted some one else to come

here in my stead Now it is too late I have never spoken to you

before, and do so at this time merely from a sincere desire to be of

sorave courtesy which served to steady

the girl Probably never before in all her rough frontier experience

had she been addressed thus formally Her closely co eyes remained unlowered

"You may stay," she asserted, soberly "Only don't touch me"

No one could ever realize how much those words hurt him He had been