[24] “Then you can have my car to-morrow morning. And, if you’ll let me, I’ll go with you after Leach and Morley. And if we find them, and can come to terms with them, I’ll—I’ll— Well, if we can arrange matters to suit you, I’d like to go with you to the Shinbone Country.” For a short time they gazed into each other’s eyes. Andy Jerome’s lips were parted, and Shonto noted the quick rise and fall of his breast. Then a slight flush covered Charmian Reemy’s cheeks, and her long, dark lashes hid her eyes. “If we can arrange matters,” she said, “I’d—I’d be glad to have you, Mr. Jerome.” Then, with another pang, Dr. Inman Shonto interpreted the strange silence that had existed between these two. It was the result of an odd embarrassment that both had felt since they first clasped hands. It was love at first sight between them, and they were backward and afraid of each other. The eyes of both now were lowered. Shonto glanced quickly at Mary Temple. Her gaunt face was set in hard lines. She knew, and she disapproved—at least until she knew more about this handsome young man who had invaded their quiet retreat. And Shonto— Well, Shonto disapproved, too. Shonto was far older than Andy—too old, perhaps, to think of loving a woman of Charmian Reemy’s age. But he put all this behind him. If Andy and Charmian[25] were going in search of the unexplored valley, he meant to go along. Several years her senior though he knew himself to be, Shonto believed that he was the man for a woman like Charmian Reemy rather than Andy Jerome. Anyway, he meant to know more about her. It would not do for Andy to win her away from him if she was what he believed her to be. Yes, Shonto would go along, and his life’s work could go hang, for all he cared. Until he knew the truth about Charmian Reemy, at any rate. [25] “We could find it easily, I guess, in an airplane,” Andy suggested. “An airplane!” scoffed the girl. “Not I! I hate airplanes—I hate anything mechanical. I’ll find that valley as my forefathers would have found it, or I’ll stay away. And I must think up an appropriate name for it. Doctor Shonto seems undecided between ‘the undiscovered valley’ and ‘the unexplored valley.’ Neither is romantic enough. I’ll think up a name before morning. I like to name things. And I’m going, really—if we can overtake Leach and Morley. Do you approve, Mary Temple?”
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