The cabin was now a pillar of flame, and in it was
everything that had made life possible for them. Food, shelter,
clothing--all were gone. In this moment he did not think of
himself, but of the girl he held in his arms, and he strained her
closer and kissed her lips and her eyes and her tumbled hair there
in the storm-swept darkness, telling her what he knew was now a
lie--that she was safe, that nothing could harm her. Against him
he felt the tremble and throb of her soft body, and it was this
that filled him with the horror of the thing--the terror of the
thought that her one garment was a bearskin. He had felt, a moment
before, the chill touch of a naked little foot.
And yet he kept saying, with his face against hers:
"It's all right, little sweetheart. We'll come out all right--we
sure will!"
CHAPTER XVI
His first impulse, after those few appalling seconds following
their escape from the fire, was to save something from the cabin.
Still talking to Celie he dropped on his knees and tucked her up
warmly in the bearskin, with her back to a tree.
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