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meaningful! What is all this about your early years? Weren't you raised by human beings? Surely you
aren't some sort of Mowgli or Romulus or Remus? Everybody would have heard about it if you had
been, and, besides, the very idea is ridiculous. And I happen to know that you were born on the Inner
Kenyan Reservation and you were raised by your parents and the black natives.'
'That's what the records say.'
'I know what you've been doing with all this mysterious nonsensical talk. You've been taking my mind
off Drummond!
You're very clever. But thoughtful. I thank you for your concern. But I have to worry about him.
What is he doing out there, wandering in the snow? He might get lost or some bear or lion might get him,
or...'
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'This isn't mountain country so there aren't any bears, and besides, the bears are hibernating,' he said.
'And we haven't seen a lion for days.'
'The wolves!' she said.
'When he left he knew what he was walking into,' Gribardsun said. 'I suggest that you go to bed and
put him out of your mind, if you can. He'll be coming home soon enough, and in the morning we'll see
how he feels. We do have work to do, you know, and...'
He started to rise, but she said, 'Sit down, John. Please! Just for a moment! Don't leave me!'
He lowered himself on the cushion again and said, 'Very well. I'll stay a little while, if it will help you.'
She leaned forward and said, 'John! Do you or do you not love me?'
He smiled slightly again, and she said, 'Don't laugh at me!'
'I wouldn't do that,' he said. 'I was just thinking of - well, never mind. There were women bold
enough even in my youth. I knew more than one who would come out with the same question if she felt
the need for an answer. But I sometimes forget how free modern women are. That, however, is neither
here nor there, is it? You asked, and you shall receive. I find you very attractive, Rachel, and if you were
free, I might ask you to marry me. But you aren't free, and I am old-fashioned. I don't believe in adultery,
and I wouldn't try to break up a marriage or take advantage of the fact that it's breaking up. I don't love
you with the intensity or the passion you meant when you asked me if I loved you. I do like you very
much. But I don't love you.'
There was a silence. Something white, a huge bird, glided past the snow-laden branches of the trees
just on the edge of the firelight.
Finally, Rachel said, 'I thought you weren't in love with me, but I was hoping that you were and that
you felt you couldn't say or do anything because I was still married. But you don't love me, and I thank
you for telling me so honestly, even though it does hurt.'
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'I seldom have regrets,' he said, 'since regret changes nothing. But I am sorry that this whole affair
developed. It's not only making you and Drummond unhappy, and making Robert miserable and myself
uneasy; it's decreasing the scientific efficiency of all four of us.'
'And we have an obligation to those who sent us here,' she said. 'I know. But what can I do to make
things better?'
'Call me when Drummond gets in,' he said. I'll get up, and we'll have this out before breakfast, if he
shows up soon enough, of course.'
'I don't know that he'll listen to reason any more.'
'Then he won't, and we'll proceed from there.'
'You're so practical,' she said. 'And so self-controlled.'
'I've had much practice,' he said. He rose and walked to bis hut and then turned. 'I don't like to leave
you alone, but there really is no point in staying up. If Drummond hasn't returned by morning, I may go
out after him. He is an adult and so shouldn't have to be watched as if he were a child. But I am the head
of this expedition, and it's up to me to keep watch on my people.'
Rachel sat for ten minutes by the fire and then went into her hut.
Six
The first paleness of dawn acted as alarm clocks on the Wota'shaimg. The light seemed to penetrate
the skins of their tents. The light touched their eyelids, and their lids opened. They crawled out of their
tents into the start of a light snowfall. They went into the woods and emptied themselves, and then the
women poked the embers buried under deep ashes and piled on wood shavings made by flint knives and
then put on more wood. The fires were roofed and partially walled with boughs laid over each other in [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]