He met her with tender solicitude, and she was glad to feel his arm beneath hers.
‚ÄúI‚Äôve been searching for you,‚Äù he said after a silence. ‚ÄúYou should not wander here alone‚ÅÝ‚Äîit is dangerous.‚Äù
“Why, dangerous?” she asked.
‚ÄúWandering Negroes, and even wild beasts, in the forest depths‚ÅÝ‚Äîand malaria‚ÅÝ‚Äîsee, you tremble now.‚Äù
“But not from malaria,” she slowly returned.
He caught an unfamiliar note in his voice, and a wild desire to justify himself before this woman clamored in his heart. With it, too, came a cooler calculating intuition that frankness alone would win her now. At all hazards he must win, and he cast the die.
‚ÄúMiss Taylor,‚Äù he said, ‚ÄúI want to talk to you‚ÅÝ‚ÄîI have wanted to for‚ÅÝ‚Äîa year.‚Äù He glanced at her: she was white and silent, but she did not tremble. He went on:
‚ÄúI have hesitated because I do not know that I have a right to speak or explain to‚ÅÝ‚Äîto‚ÅÝ‚Äîa good woman.‚Äù
He felt her arm tighten on his and he continued:
“You have been to Elspeth’s cabin; it is an evil place, and has meant evil for this community, and for me. Elspeth was my mother’s favorite servant and my own mammy. My mother died when I was ten and left me to her tender mercies. She let me have my way and encouraged the bad in me. It’s a wonder I escaped total ruin. Her cabin became a rendezvous for drinking and carousing. I told my father, but he, in lazy indifference, declared the place no worse than all Negro cabins, and did nothing. I ceased my visits. Still she tried every lure and set false stories