She passed over it quickly, pretending
that she did not hear Bella's astonished:
"But why did you get married at Humboldt? Why didn't you wait till you
got here?"
It was the loss of David that she made the point of her narrative,
anxiously impressing on her listener their need of going on. She stole
quick looks at Bella, watchful for the first shade of disapprobation,
with all Low's arguments ready to sweep it aside. But Bella, with
maternal instincts in place of a comprehensive humanity, agreed that
Low had done right. Nature, in the beginning, combined with the needs
of the trail, had given her a viewpoint where expediency counted for
more than altruism. She with two children and a helpless man would
have gone on and left anyone to his fate. She did not say this, but
Susan, with intelligence sharpened by a jealous passion, felt that
there was no need to defend her husband's action. As for the rest of
the world--deep in her heart she had already decided it should never
know.
"You couldn't have done anything else," said Bella. "I've learned that
when you're doing that sort of thing, you can't have the same feelings
you can back in the States, with everything handy and comfortable.
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