صفحة 55 من 439

"Guess you forgot that a fellow can sometimes hear even when he

can't see. Since I'm chaperooning you I'll make out to be there

next time you meet a good-looking lady-killer. Funny, the

difference it makes, being your brother. You ain't seen me since

you was a kid, but you plumb forgot to kiss me."

There was a note in his voice she had not heard before, some hint

of leering ribaldry in the thick laugh that for the first time

stirred unease in her heart. She did not know that the desperate,

wild-animal fear in him, so overpowering that everything else had

been pushed to the background, had obscured certain phases of him

that made her presence here such a danger as she could not yet

conceive. That fear was now lifting, and the peril loomed

imminent.

He put his arm along the back of the seat and grinned at her from

his loose-lipped mouth.

"But o' course it ain't too late to begin now, my dearie."