Her finger touched his lips, gentle and sweet.

“And wherever you go, I go—­forever and always?” she questioned.

“Yes, forever and always”—­and his eyes were looking through miles upon miles of deep forest, and at the end he saw the thin and pitiless face of a man who was following his trail, Breault the Ferret.

His arms closed more tightly about her, and he pressed her face against him.

“And I pray God you will never be sorry,” he said, still looking through the miles of forest.

“No, no—­sorry I shall never be,” she cried softly.  “Not if we fly, and go hungry, and fight—­and die.  Never shall I be sorry—­ with you,” and he felt the tightening of her arms.

And then, as he remained silent, with his lips on the velvety smoothness of her hair, she told him what Father John had already told him—­of her wild effort to overtake him in that night of storm when he had fled from the Missioner’s cabin at Cragg’s Ridge; and in turn he told her how Peter came to him in the break of the morning with the treasure which had saved him heart and soul, and how he had given that treasure into the keeping of Yellow Bird, on the shores of Wollaston.

And thereafter, for an hour, as they wandered through the May-time sweetness of the forest, she would permit him to talk of only Yellow Bird and Sun Cloud; and, one thing leading to another, she learned how it was that Yellow Bird had been his fairy in childhood days, and how he came to be an outlaw for her in later manhood.  Her eyes were shining when he had finished, and her red lips were a-tremble with the quickness of her breathing.

“Some day—­you’ll take me there,” she whispered.  “Oh, I’m so proud of you, my Roger.  And I love Yellow Bird.  And Sun Cloud.  Some day —­we’ll go!”

He nodded, happiness overshadowing the fear of Breault that had grown in his heart.

“Yes, we’ll go.  I’ve dreamed it, and the dream helped to keep me alive—­”

And then he told her of Cassidy, and of the paradise he had found with Giselle and her grandfather on the other side of Wollaston.

And so it happened the hours passed swiftly, and it was afternoon when they returned to Father John’s cabin, and Nada went into her room.

In the early waning of the sun the feast which the Leaf Bud had been preparing was ready, and not until then did Nada appear again.

And once more the lump rose up in Roger’s throat at the wonder of her, for very completely she had transformed herself into a woman again, from the softly shining coils of hair on the crown of her head to the coquettish little slippers that set off her dainty feet.  And he saw the white gleam of soft shoulders and tender arms where once had been rags and bruises, and held there by the slim beauty and exquisite daintiness of her he stared like a fool, until suddenly she laughed joyously at his amaze, and ran to him with wide-open arms, and kissed him so soundly that Peter cocked up his ears a bit startled.  And then she kissed Father John, and after that was mistress at the table, radiant in her triumph and her eyes starry with happiness.