"
She pulled him into a chair as Cummins left, and tied an apron about
his shoulders.
"Close your eyes--and don't move!" she commanded, laughing into his
surprised face as she ran into her room.
A moment later she returned with one hand held behind her back. The
hot blood surged through Jan's veins when he felt her fingers running
gently through his long hair. There came the snip of scissors, a
little nervous laugh close to his head, and then again the snip, snip,
snip of the scissors.
"It's terribly long, Jan!" Her soft hand brushed his bearded cheek.
"Ugh!" she shuddered. "You must take that off your face. If you don't--"
"Why?" he asked, through lack of anything else to say.
She lowered her head until her cheek pressed against his own.
"Because it feels like bristles," she whispered.
She reddened fiercely when he remained silent, and the scissors
snipped more rapidly between her fingers.
"I'm going to prospect the big swamp along the edge of the Barrens
this summer," he explained soon, laughing to relieve the tension. "A
beard will protect me from the black flies."
"You can grow another."
She took the apron from about his shoulders, and held it so that he
could see the result of her work. He looked up, smiling.
"Thank you, Melisse.
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