She had not yet completed her frugal meal when her mind reverted to her personal appearance, and she paused, with heightened color, to draw back her loosened hair and fasten it in place with a knot of scarlet cord.

It was surely a winsome face that smiled up at me then.
"I feel almost guilty of robbery," she said, "in taking all this food, which was no doubt intended for your own supper." "Merely what chanced to be left of it," I answered heartily.

"Had I so much as dreamed this stretch of sand was to yield me such companionship, I should have stinted myself more." An expression of bewildered surprise crept into her eyes as I spoke.
"Surely you are not a mere _coureur de bois_, as I supposed from your dress," she exclaimed.

"Your expression is that of an educated gentleman." I smiled; for I was young enough to feel the force of her unconscious flattery.
"I believe I can prove descent from an old and honorable race," I said; "but it has been my fortune to be reared in the backwoods, and whatever education has come to me I owe to the love and skill of my mother." My frankness pleased her, and she made no attempt to disguise her interest.
"I am so glad you told me," she said simply.

"My mother died when I was only ten, yet her memory has always been an inspiration.