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+Project Gutenberg's A Little Girl in Old Quebec, by Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Little Girl in Old Quebec
+
+Author: Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2007 [EBook #23779]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD QUEBEC ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, J.P.W. Fraser, Mary
+Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD QUEBEC
+
+                        By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS
+
+
+
+
+A. L. BURT COMPANY
+PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
+
+Copyright, 1906
+BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+        I. A WILD ROSE
+
+       II. THE JOY OF FRIENDSHIP
+
+      III. SUMMER TIME
+
+       IV. A HUSBAND
+
+        V. CHANGING ABOUT
+
+       VI. FINDING AMUSEMENTS
+
+      VII. JOURNEYING TO A FAR COUNTRY
+
+     VIII. WHAT ROSE DID NOT LIKE
+
+       IX. ABOUT MARRIAGES
+
+        X. MILADI AND M. DESTOURNIER
+
+       XI. A FEAST OF SUMMER
+
+      XII. A LOVER IN EARNEST
+
+     XIII. FROM A GIRL'S HEART
+
+      XIV. A WAY OVER THORNS
+
+       XV. HELD IN AN ENEMY'S GRASP
+
+      XVI. A LOVER OF THE WILDERNESS
+
+     XVII. THE PASSING OF OLD QUEBEC
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD QUEBEC
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A WILD ROSE
+
+
+Ralph Destournier went gayly along, whistling a merry French song that
+was nearly all chorus, climbing, slipping, springing, wondering in his
+heart as many a man did then what had induced Samuel de Champlain to
+dream out a city on this craggy, rocky spot. Yet its wildness had an
+impressive grandeur. Above the island of Orleans the channel narrowed,
+and there were the lovely green heights of what was to be Point Levis,
+more attractive, he thought, than these frowning cliffs. The angle
+between the St. Charles and St. Lawrence gave an impregnable site for a
+fortress, and Champlain was a born soldier with a quick eye to seize on
+the possibility of defence.
+
+On the space between the cliffs and the water a few wooden buildings,
+rough hewn, marked the site of the lower town. A wall had been erected,
+finished with a gallery, loopholed for musketry, and within this were
+the beginnings of a town that was to be famous for heroic deeds, for men
+of high courage, for quaintness that perpetuates old stories which are
+perfect romances yet to-day after the lapse of three centuries.
+
+There was a storehouse quite well fortified, there was a courtyard with
+some fine walnut trees, and a few gardens stretching out with pleasant
+greenery, while doves were flying about in wide circles, a reminder of
+home. Ralph Destournier had a spirit of adventure and Champlain was a
+great hero to him. Coming partly of Huguenot stock he had fewer chances
+at home, and he believed there was more liberty in the new world, a
+better outlook for a restless, eager mind.
+
+He went on climbing over the sun-baked cliffs, while here and there in a
+depression where rain could linger there were patches of verdure, trees
+that somehow maintained a footing. How unlike the level old seaport town
+where he had passed a good part of his youth, considered his
+grandfather's heir, when in the turn of fortune's wheel the sturdy old
+Huguenot had been killed in battle and his estates confiscated.
+
+Something stirred up above him, not any small animal either. It crackled
+the bushes and moved about with a certain agility. Could it be a deer?
+He raised his gun.
+
+Then a burst of song held him in amaze. It was not a bird, though it
+seemed to mock several of them. There were no especial words or rhymes,
+but the music thrilled him. He strode upward. Out of a leafy bower
+peered a face, child or woman, he could not tell at first, a crown of
+light, loose curling hair and two dark, soft merry eyes, a cherry-red
+mouth and dimpled chin.
+
+"Hello! How did you get up there?" he asked in his astonishment. Indians
+sometimes lurked about.
+
+"I climbed. You did not suppose I flew?"
+
+The tone was merry rather than saucy, and taking a few steps nearer, he
+saw she was quite a child. But she wore no cap and she shook the
+wind-blown hair aside with a dainty gesture. There was a fearlessness
+about her that charmed him.
+
+"And you live--here?"
+
+"Not here in the woods--no. But down in the town. Down there by the
+garden, M'sieu Hébert and the General. And Maman has one. But I hate
+working in it. So I ran away. Do you know what will happen to me when I
+go back?"
+
+"No, what?" with a sense of amusement. "Perhaps you will get no supper!"
+
+"I shall be whipped. And to-morrow I shall not be let out of the garden.
+When I get to be a woman I won't work in the garden. I won't even have a
+husband. They make you do just as they like. Why isn't one's way as good
+as another's?"
+
+A line of perplexity settled between her eyes that were soft enough to
+melt the heart of a stone, he thought, if stones really had hearts.
+
+"Older people are generally wiser. And mothers----"
+
+"Oh, she isn't my mother," interrupted the child. "Even Catherine was
+not my mother. I was very sorry for that. She was good and tender, but
+she died. And Jean was very angry because she was not my real mother,
+and he would have nothing to do with me. So he brought me to Maman. Oh,
+it was a long while ago. Maman is good in some ways. She gives me plenty
+to eat when we have it and she does not beat me often, as she does
+Pani."
+
+"And who is Pani?"
+
+"Oh, the little slave. His tribe was driven away after they had lost
+their battle, but some of the children were left behind and they are
+slaves. Do you suppose the Indians will ever conquer M. de Champlain?
+Then we should be slaves--or killed."
+
+He shuddered. Already he had heard tales of awful cruelty in the
+treatment of prisoners.
+
+"Are you not afraid some Indians may be prowling about?" and he glanced
+furtively around.
+
+"Oh, they do not come here. They are good friends with M. de Champlain.
+And the fort is guarded. I should hide if one came."
+
+She began to descend and presently reached his level.
+
+"There are long shadows. It gets to be supper time."
+
+He smiled. "Are the shadows your clock hands?"
+
+"We have no clock. M. de Champlain carries his in his pocket. But you
+see the sun sends long shadows over to the east. It is queer. The sun
+keeps going round. What is on the other side?"
+
+"It would take a good deal of study to understand it all," he returned
+gravely.
+
+"I like to hear them talk. There are wonderful places. And where is
+India? Can any one find the passage they are looking for and sail round
+the world?"
+
+"They have sailed round it."
+
+"And have you seen Paris and the King?"
+
+"I fought for the dead King. And Paris--why, you cannot imagine anything
+like it."
+
+"Ah, but we are going to have new France here. And perhaps Paris."
+
+There were pride and gladness in her voice. He smiled inwardly, he would
+not disturb her childish dream. Would she ever see the beautiful city
+and the pageants that were almost daily occurrences?
+
+"When did you come here?" she asked presently.
+
+"A fortnight ago, when the storeship arrived."
+
+"Ah, yes. Maman and I went to see it and M. Hébert sent us some curious,
+delicious dried fruits. M. de Champlain is quite sure we shall grow them
+in time and have beautiful gardens, and fine people who know many
+things. Can you read?"
+
+"Why, yes"--laughing.
+
+"I wish I could. But we have no books. Maman thinks it a waste of time,
+except for the men who must do business and write letters. Can you write
+letters?"
+
+"Yes"--studying her with amusement.
+
+"Catherine could read. But she had no books. I once learned some of the
+letters. Jean could make figures."
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"Oh, off with the fur-hunters. And Antoine makes ever so much money. And
+he says he and Maman will go back to France. And I suppose they will
+leave me here. Antoine has two brothers and one is at Brouage, where M.
+de Champlain was born."
+
+She leaped from point to point in a graceful, agile manner, ran swiftly
+down some declivity, while he held his breath, it seemed so fraught with
+danger, but she only looked back laughingly. What a daring midget she
+was!
+
+And when they were in sight of the palisades they saw a group of men,
+Pontgrave and Champlain among them. Destournier quickened his pace and
+touched his hat to them with a reverent grace.
+
+"Have you had a guide?" and Champlain held out his hand to the little
+girl while he asked the question of Destournier. She took Champlain's
+hand in both of hers and pressed it against her cheek. Pontgrave smiled
+at her as well.
+
+Destournier glanced up at the eminence where he had first seen the
+moving figure. How steep and unapproachable!
+
+"Could you find no fairer site for a new Paris?" he inquired smilingly.
+"How will you get up and down the streets when you come to that?"
+
+"Is it not the key to the north and a natural fortress? Look you, with a
+cannon at its base and over opposite, no trading vessel could steal up,
+no hostile man-of-war invade us. There will come a time when the old
+world will divide this mighty continent between them and the struggle
+will be tremendous. It will behoove France to see that her entrances are
+well guarded. And from this point we must build. What could be a
+fairer, prouder, more invincible heritage for France? For we shall sweep
+across the continent, we shall have the whole of the fur trade in time.
+We shall build great cities," and Champlain's face glowed with the pride
+he took in the new world.
+
+Yet it was a small beginning, and a less intrepid soul would have been
+daunted by the many discouragements. A few dwelling houses, a moat with
+a drawbridge, and the space of land running down to the river divided
+into gardens. The Sieur de Champlain found time to sow various seeds,
+wheat and rye as well, to set out berries brought from the woods and
+native grape vines that were better fitted to withstand the rigorous
+climate. But now it was simply magnificent, glowing with the early
+autumn suns.
+
+"I have a good neighbor who takes a great interest in these things. You
+must inspect Mère Dubray's garden. With a dozen emigrants like her we
+should have the wilderness abloom. She rivals Hébert. We must have some
+agriculture. We cannot depend on the mother country for all our food.
+And if the Indians can raise corn and other needful supplies, why not
+we?"
+
+"Ah, ha! little truant!" cried Mère Dubray, with a sharp glance at the
+child, "where hast thou been all the afternoon, while weeds have been
+growing apace?"
+
+"She has been playing guide to a stranger," explained Destournier, "and
+I have found her most interesting. It has been time well spent."
+
+Mère Dubray smiled. She always felt honored by the encomiums of M. de
+Champlain. She was proud of her garden, as well, and pleased to have
+visitors inspect it. Indeed the young man thought he had seen no neater
+gardens in sunny France.
+
+"Mère Dubray," he said, "convert this young man into an emigrant. I am a
+little sorry to have him begin in the autumn when the summer is so much
+more enticing. But if the worst is taken first there is hope for better
+to cheer the heart."
+
+Something about her brought to mind the women of old France who sturdily
+fought their way to a certain prosperity. She was rather short and
+stout, but with no loosely-hanging flesh, her hair was still coal-black,
+with a sharp sort of waviness, and her eyes had the sparkle of beads.
+Her brown skin was relieved by a warm color in the cheeks and the red,
+rather smiling lips. No one could imagine the child hers. It was nothing
+to him, yet he felt rather glad.
+
+Destournier was very friendly, however, and found her really
+intelligent. The little girl ran hither and thither, quite a privileged
+character. There were very few children beyond the Indians and
+half-breeds. The fur-hunters often went through a sort of ceremony with
+the Indian girls during their weeks of dickering with the traders. Some
+returned another season to renew their vows, others sought new loves.
+
+"I suppose the child has some sort of story?" he said to Champlain as
+they sat in the evening smoking their pipes.
+
+"The child? The reputed mother came over with some emigrants sent by the
+King, and as a widow she married Jean Arlac. He, it seems, was much
+disappointed at not having children of his own and was not over-cordial
+to the little girl. Rather more than a year ago his wife was taken ill,
+she had never been robust. And in her last moments she confessed the
+child was not her own, but that of a friend, and before she told the
+whole story a convulsion seized her. Jean was very angry and declared
+the child was nothing to him. He brought it to Mère Dubray and then went
+off to the fur regions, from whence the tidings came that he had married
+an Indian woman and taken a post station. She is a bright little thing,
+and I think must have come of gentle people. Her only trinket is a chain
+and locket, with a sweet young face in it."
+
+"But there is no chance here for any sort of education. She seems
+naturally intelligent."
+
+"There will be soon. There is a plan to bring out some nuns, and we
+shall build a chapel. We cannot do everything at once. The mother
+country cannot be roused to the importance of this step. It is not
+simply to discover, one must hold with a secure hand. And we must make
+homes, we must people them."
+
+Pontgrave was to return to France. Ralph Destournier had half a mind to
+accompany him, but he was young and adventurous and desirous of seeing
+more of this strange country. At last he cast in his lot with them for
+the year at least.
+
+October was a gorgeous month with its changing colors, its rather sharp
+nights when the log fires were a delight, and its days of sunshine that
+brought a summer warmth at noon. At night the sky sparkled with stars.
+
+The buildings were calked on the outside and hung with furs within.
+Harsh winds swept down from the northwest, everything was hooded with
+snow. Now one counted stores carefully and wasted nothing, though
+Champlain's ever sympathetic heart dealt out a little from his not too
+abundant supplies to the wandering Montagnais and gave their women and
+children food and shelter. There was a continual fight to keep even
+tolerably well. Scurvy was one enemy, a low sort of fever another.
+
+There were many plans to make for the opening of spring. Yet Ralph
+Destournier would have found it intolerably dull but for the little girl
+whose name was Rose. He taught her to read--Champlain fortunately had
+some books in French and Latin. There were bits of old history, a volume
+of Terence, another of Virgil, and out of what he knew and read he
+reconstructed stories that charmed her. Most of all she liked to hear
+about the King. The romances of Henry of Navarre fired her
+rapidly-awakening imagination.
+
+Destournier took several little excursions with the intrepid explorer
+before the severest of the winter set in. What faith he had in this
+wonderful new France that was to add so much glory and prosperity to the
+old world! If its rulers could have but looked through his eyes and had
+his aims. There was Tadoussac, there was the upper St. Charles, where
+Jacques Cartier and his men had passed a winter that in spite of the
+utmost heroism had ended in the tragedy of death. To the south there was
+a sturdy band of Englishmen trying the same experiment, not merely for
+their King and country, but also some reward for themselves. Neither
+were they eager to plant the standard of religion; that was left for
+Puritans and French missionaries.
+
+It seemed to Destournier that the scheme of colonization was hardly
+worth while. He had not Champlain's enthusiasm--there was much to do for
+France, and that land had always to be on the defensive with England.
+Would it not be so here in the years to come? And the Indians would be a
+continual menace.
+
+But there was a whole continent to convert, to civilize. He went back to
+the times of Charlemagne and the struggles that had brought out a
+glorious France. And no one had given up the passage to India. Lying
+westward was a great river, and what was beyond that no one knew. It was
+the province of man to find out.
+
+It was a dull life for a little girl in the winter. Rose almost longed
+for the garden, even if weeds did grow apace. In the old country Mère
+Dubray had spun flax and wool, here there was none to spin. She had
+learned a little work from the Indian women, but she was severely
+plain. What need of fringes and bead work and laying feathers in rows to
+be stitched on with a sort of thread made of fine, tough grass? And as
+for cooking, one had to be economical and make everything with a view to
+real sustenance, not the high art of cooking, though her peasant life
+had inducted her into this.
+
+The little girl made a playhouse in one corner of the cabin and stood up
+sticks for Indian children to whom she told over what had been taught
+her. They blundered just as she had done, but she had a curious patience
+with them that would have touched one's heart.
+
+"What nonsense!" Mère Dubray would exclaim. "It is well enough for men,
+and priests must know Latin prayers, but this is beyond anything a woman
+needs. And to be repeating it to sticks----"
+
+"But I get so lonely when they are all away," and the child sighed. "The
+real Indian girls were a pleasure, but I'm afraid you could not teach
+them to read any more than these make-believes."
+
+"Yes, winter is a dreary time. I'm not sure but I would rather be up in
+the fur country with my man. It seems they find plenty of game."
+
+There was not so much game here, for the Indians were ever on the alert
+and the roving bands always on the verge of starvation. But once in a
+while there was a feast of fresh meat and Mère Dubray made tasty messes
+for the hungry men.
+
+Rose, bundled up in furs sometimes, ran around the gallery where they
+had cleared the snow. Then there were the forge and the workshop, where
+the men were hewing immense walnut trees into slabs and posts for spring
+building. Some days the doves were let out of the cote in the sunshine
+and it was fascinating to see them circle around. They knew the little
+girl and would alight on her shoulder and eat grains out of her hand,
+coo to her and kiss her. Destournier loved to watch her, a real child of
+nature, innocent as the doves themselves. Mère Dubray had scarcely more
+idea of the seriousness of life or the demands of another existence
+beyond. She told her beads, prayed to her patron saint with small idea
+of what heaven might be like, unless it was the beautiful little hamlet
+where she was born. And as she was not sure the child had been
+christened, she thought it best to wait for the advent of a priest to
+direct her in the right way.
+
+She was not a little horrified by Destournier's curious familiarity with
+God and heaven, as it seemed to her. Rose understood almost intuitively
+that it terrified her, that it seemed a sacrilege, though she would not
+have known what the word meant. So she said very little about it--it was
+a beautiful land beyond the sky where people went when they died.
+Sometimes, when the wonderful beauty of sunset moved her to a strange
+ecstasy, she longed to be transported thither. And in the moving white
+drifts she saw angel forms with out-stretched arms and called to them.
+
+The beginning of the new year was bitter indeed. Snow piled mountain
+high, it seemed a whole world of snow. For windows they had cloth
+soaked in oil, but now the curtains of fur were dropped within and a
+barricade raised without. There were only the blazing logs to give light
+and make shadows about. They hovered around it, ate nuts, parched corn,
+and heated their smoked eels. They slept late in the morning and went to
+bed early. The lack of exercise and vegetables told on health, and
+towards spring more than one of the little band went their way to the
+land beyond and left a painful vacancy. But one week there came a
+marvellous change. The mountains of snow sank down into hills, there was
+a rush in the river, the barricades were removed from the windows and
+the fur hangings pushed aside to let in some welcome light.
+
+Rose ran around wild. "I can recall last spring," she said, with a burst
+of gayety. "The trees coming out in leaf, the birds singing, the
+blossoms----"
+
+"And the garden," interposed Destournier.
+
+Rose made a wry face.
+
+"It will be an excellent thing for you to run about out of doors. You
+have lost your rosy cheeks."
+
+"But I am Rose still," she said archly.
+
+She ran gayly one day, she went up the stream in the canoe with
+Destournier and was full of merriment. But the next day she felt
+strangely languid. Most of the men had gone hunting. Mère Dubray was
+piling away some of the heaviest furs.
+
+"Thou wilt roast there in the chimney corner," she said rather sharply.
+"Get thee out of doors in the fresh air again. It is silly to think one
+cannot stir without a troop of men tagging to one. Thou art too young
+for such folly."
+
+"My legs ache," returned the child, "and my head feels queer and goes
+round when I stir. And I am sleepy, as if there had not been any night."
+
+Mère Dubray glanced at her sharply.
+
+"Why, thy cheeks are red and thy eyes bright. Come, stir about or I
+shall take a stick to thee. That will liven thee up."
+
+The child rose and made a few uncertain steps. Then she flung out her
+hands wildly, and the next instant fell in a little heap on the floor.
+
+The elder looked at her in amaze and shook her rather roughly by the
+arm. And now the redness was gone and the child had a strange gray look,
+with her eyes rolled up so that only a little of the pupil showed.
+
+"Saint Elizabeth have mercy!" she cried. "The child is truly ill. And
+she has been so well and strong. And the doctor gone up to Tadoussac!"
+
+She laid her on the rude couch. Rose began to mutter and then broke into
+a pitiful whine. There were some herbs that every householder gathered,
+there were secrets extorted from the squaws much more efficacious than
+those of their medicine men. The little hand was burning hot; yes, it
+was fever. There had been scurvy and dysentery, but she was a little
+non-plussed by the fever. And the Sieur would not be here until
+to-morrow; the doctor, no one knew when.
+
+She took out her chest of simples, a quaintly-made birchen-bark
+receptacle. They had been carefully labelled by the doctor. Yes, here
+was "fever"--here another. Which to take puzzled her.
+
+"I might try first one and then the other," she ruminated. "I would get
+the good of both. And they might not mix well."
+
+She boiled some water and poured it over the herbs. It diffused a
+bitter, but not unpleasant flavor. Then she put it out of doors to cool.
+
+Rose was sleeping heavily, but her eyes were half open and it startled
+Mère Dubray.
+
+"A child is a great responsibility," she moaned to herself. "If the
+Sieur were only here, or the doctor!" She woke her presently and
+administered the potion. But it brought on a desperate sickness.
+
+"Perhaps I had better try the other." She took the hot, limp hand, the
+cheeks were burning, but great drops of perspiration stood out on the
+forehead. She twisted the soft hair in a knot and struck one of her
+highly-prized pins through it, then she thought a night-cap would be
+better. Only they would be a world too large for the child. But she
+succeeded in pinning it to the right shape, though she grudged the two
+pins. They were a great rarity in those days, and if one was lost hours
+were spent hunting it up.
+
+The second dose fared better. There was nothing to do but let the child
+sleep. She busied herself about the few household cares, studied the
+weather and the signs of spring. Oh, was that a bird! Surely he was
+early with his song. The river went rushing on joyously, leaping,
+foaming as if glad to be unchained. The air had softened marvellously.
+Ah, why should one be ill when spring had come!
+
+The kindly Mère repeated her dose. Towards night the fever seemed to
+abate, but the child was desperately restless and the worthy woman much
+troubled. Yet what was the child to her? to any one? And death was sure
+to come sometime. She would be spared much trouble. She would also lose
+much happiness. But was there any great share of it in this new world?
+
+Rose was no better the next day. The nausea returned and clearly she was
+out of her head. But late this afternoon the Sieur and the young guest
+returned and were so much alarmed they dispatched an Indian servitor
+with instructions to bring the doctor at once.
+
+"A pretty severe case," he said, with a grave shake of the head. "You
+have done the best you could, Mère Dubray, and children have wonderful
+recuperative powers. So we will try."
+
+"Poor, pretty little thing," thought Destournier. "Will she find
+anything worth living for?" Women had so few opportunities in those
+times. And when one was poor and unknown, and in a strange country. Yet
+he could not bear to think of her dying. There was always a hopeful
+future to living.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE JOY OF FRIENDSHIP
+
+
+She went down to the very boundaries of the other country, this little
+Rose. One night and one day they gave her up. She lay white and silent
+and Mère Dubray brought out a white muslin dress and ironed it up, much
+troubled to know whether she had a right to Christian burial or not.
+
+And then she opened her eyes with their olden light and began to ask in
+a weak voice what happened to her yesterday, and found her last
+remembrance was six weeks agone.
+
+She could hardly raise her thin little hand, but all the air was sweet
+with growing things. The tall trees had come into rich leafage, the
+sunshine glowed upon the grass that danced as if each blade was
+fairy-born, and sparkled on the river that went hurrying by as if to
+tell a wonderful story. The great craggy upper town glinted in a
+thousand varying tints, and at evening was wreathed in trailing mists
+that seemed some strange army marching across. The thickly wooded hills
+were nodding and smiling to each other, some native fruit trees were in
+bloom, and the air was delicious with the scent of wild-grape
+fragrance.
+
+"It was a bad fever. And we had no priest to call upon. As if people
+here did not need one as well as in that wild place with a long name
+where they are hunting copper and maybe gold. But thanks to the saints
+and the good doctor, you have come through. Ah, we ought to have a
+chapel at least where one could go and pray."
+
+"It is so beautiful and sweet. One would not want to be put in the
+ground."
+
+She shuddered thinking of it.
+
+"No, no! And M. Pontgrave has come in with two ships. There is plenty of
+provisions and fruits from La Belle France. See, M'sieu Ralph brought
+them in for you. Now you have only to get well."
+
+Mère Dubray's face was alight with joy. The child smiled faintly.
+
+"And the Sieur de Champlain?" she asked.
+
+"Oh, he is as busy as any two men with plans for building up the town,
+and workmen, and some women for wives--two of whom are married already,
+though one couple did their courting on shipboard. Oh, you must soon get
+about. We are going to have a rare summer."
+
+The child raised herself up a trifle and then sank back.
+
+"Oh, dear!" with a little cry.
+
+"Do not mind, _ma petite_. People are always so at first. To-morrow
+maybe you can sit up, and a few days after walk. And then go out."
+
+"The world is so lovely and sweet," she murmured. And she was glad she
+had not died.
+
+The next day M'sieu Ralph came in. He appeared changed some way, but the
+old smile was there. The eyes seemed to have taken on a deeper blue
+tint. She stretched out her hands.
+
+"Thank the good God that you are restored, little one," he exclaimed,
+with deep fervor. "Only you are a shadow of the Rose who climbed rocks
+like a joyous kid less than a year agone. When will you pilot me again?"
+
+She drew a long breath like a sigh.
+
+"And there have been so many happenings. There are new people, though no
+little girls among them, for which I am sorry. And already they are
+building houses. The Sieur de Champlain has great plans. He will have a
+fine city if they work. Why, when thou art an old lady and goest dressed
+in silks and velvets and furs, as the women of the mother country, thou
+wilt have rare stories to tell to thy grandchildren. And no doubt thou
+wilt have seen Paris as well."
+
+Then she smiled, but it was a pitiful attempt.
+
+It was true Quebec had received a wonderful hastening in the new-comers
+and in several grants the King had made concerning the fur trade. The
+dreary winter was a thing of the past.
+
+Destournier came in the next day and insisted the child should be
+wrapped up and carried out in the sunshine. She seemed light as a baby
+when he took her in his arms. He seated himself on a bench and held her
+closely wound up in Mère's choicest blanket she had brought from St.
+Malo, and which had been woven by her grandmother.
+
+Ah, how lovely that savage primeval beauty looked to the child, who felt
+more than she could understand. Every pulse seemed instinct with new
+life. The gardens with their beds of vegetables, the tall slim spikes of
+onions which everybody had been requested to plant plentifully, the
+feathery leaves of the young carrots, the beans already in white bloom,
+the sword-like leaves of the corn hardly long enough to wave as yet, and
+the river with boats and canoes--why, it had never been so brisk and
+wonderful before.
+
+She drew in long breaths of health-giving fragrance. There had been some
+trouble with the Indians and the Sieur de Champlain had gone to chastise
+them. There were fur-traders on the way and soon everything would be
+stirring with eager business. And when she could they would take a sail
+around and up the St. Charles, and visit the islands, for besides Pani
+the Mère had another Indian boy the Sieur had sent her, so there would
+be no gardening for the small, white Rose. And he had made a new friend
+for her, who was waiting anxiously to see her.
+
+Presently she went soundly asleep in the fragrant air, and he carried
+her back and laid her on the bed. Mère Dubray came and looked at her and
+shook her head. She was indeed a white Rose now. They had cut her hair
+when she had tangled it with her tossing about, and it was now a bed of
+golden rings, but the long lashes that were like a fringe on her cheeks
+were black.
+
+"It will take her a good while to get back all she has lost," said the
+young man. "It is little short of a miracle that she is here."
+
+She gained a little every day. But she felt very shaky when she walked
+about, and light in the head. And then Destournier brought her a visitor
+one afternoon, a lady the like of whom the child had not dreamed of in
+her wildest imaginings, as she had listened to tales of royalty. A tall,
+fair woman whose bright hair was a mass of puffs and short dainty curls
+held by combs that sparkled with jewels, and the silken gown that was
+strewn with brocaded roses on a soft gray ground. It had dainty ruffles
+around the bottom that barely reached her ankles, and showed the clocked
+and embroidered stockings and elegant slippers laced back and forth with
+golden cord, and a buckle that sparkled with gems like the combs. Even
+royalty condescended to wear imitation jewels, so why should not the
+lower round? Her shapely shoulders were half veiled by a gauze scarf on
+which were woven exquisite flowers.
+
+The child gazed with fascinated admiration. Did the Greek women
+Destournier had read about, who won every heart, look like this?
+
+"This is the lady I told you of, little one, who has lately come from
+France, Madame Giffard. And this is Rose----" He paused suddenly with a
+half smile. "I believe the child has no other name."
+
+"Was she born here?" How soft and winning the voice was.
+
+Destournier flushed unconsciously.
+
+"She has a story and a mystery that no one has fathomed. The Sieur made
+some inquiries. A woman of the better class who came over with some
+emigrants brought her, and was supposed to be her mother. But some
+secret lay heavy on her mind, it seemed, and when she was dying she
+confessed that the child was not hers, but she had no time for
+explanations. The husband brought her here and has gone to one of the
+fur stations. His disappointment was so intense he gave up the child.
+And so--her name is neither Arlac nor Dubray. We shall have to
+rechristen her."
+
+"What a curious romance! If one knew what town she came from. Oh, my
+little one, will you let me be your friend? I had a little golden-haired
+girl who died when she was but four, and no children have come since to
+gladden my heart."
+
+Madame Giffard bent over and took the small hand, noting the taper
+fingers and slender wrist that seemed to indicate good birth. She
+pressed it to her lips. Rose looked up trustfully and smiled.
+
+"I like you," she said, with frank earnestness.
+
+"Then I shall come to see you often. This is such a queer place with no
+ready-made houses and really nothing but log huts or those made of rough
+slabs. I wonder now how I had the courage to come. But I could not be
+separated from my dear husband. And when he makes his fortune we shall
+go back to our dearly beloved France."
+
+The child smiled. The story had no embarrassment for her--Catherine had
+brought her from France and she had never called her mother until on
+shipboard. Back of it was vague and misty, though Catherine was in it
+all. But this beautiful woman with her soft voice, different from
+anything she had ever heard--why, she liked her already almost as much
+as M'sieu Ralph.
+
+"And you have been ill a long while?"
+
+"It seemed only a day when I first woke up. Then the snow was on the
+ground. I was so cold. I wanted to go to sleep on the chimney seat and
+Mère would not let me. And now everything is in bloom and the garden is
+planted and the sun shines in very gladness. I shall never like winter
+again," and she shuddered.
+
+"Are the winters so dreadful?" she inquired of Destournier.
+
+"I never knew anything like it. I can't understand why the Sieur de
+Champlain should want to found a city here when the country south is so
+much more congenial. Although this is the key to the North, as he says.
+And there is a north to the continent over there."
+
+"You think there are fortunes to be made?"
+
+"For those who come to make them. But the mother country will squeeze
+hard. We have not found the gold and silver yet. But after all, trade is
+your best pioneer. And this is an era of exploring, of fame, rather than
+money-getting. We are just coming to know there are other sides to the
+world. Ah, here is Mère Dubray."
+
+The child glanced from one woman to the other. She saw the same
+difference as there was between the workmen and the few of the better
+class. Was it knowledge such as M'sieu Ralph had? And the good-hearted
+home-making Mère scouted learning for women. Their business was cooking
+and keeping the house. But she decided she liked the lady the best, just
+as she liked M'sieu Ralph better than the brawny leathern- and fur-clad
+workmen. But the Mère had been very good and never scolded her now.
+
+She brought in some little cakes and a glass of beer brewed from roots
+and herbs. Madame Giffard thanked her and sipped it delicately. Some
+vague memory haunted the child, as if she had seen this lady before with
+the dead Catherine.
+
+"It is a wild, wild country. There is nothing like it in France," the
+lady said, in a tone of disparagement. "And how one is to live----"
+
+"You were not in France two or three centuries ago," he returned
+good-naturedly. "Most countries go through this period. Beginnings are
+not always agreeable."
+
+"But I cannot admit this is a city. Yet they talk about it at home. The
+furs are certainly fine. But the Indians! You are in fear of them all
+the time. And if they should make an attack here?"
+
+"They will hardly dare now. Indeed one Indian tribe is practically wiped
+out. And the fortifications are to be strengthened. We manage to keep
+quite friendly, though we do not trust too far."
+
+"But it is horrible to live in perpetual fear," and she shuddered.
+
+"You must not look on that side of it. It is a hard country for women, I
+shall have to admit."
+
+"But I have not come to stay, thank the saints. A year maybe at the
+longest. My husband is to go back when he has--what you call
+it--established his claim--concession. We like sunny France the best.
+Only one wants a fortune to enjoy it."
+
+"That is true, too. But here one can do without. At least a man
+can"--laughing a little as he surveyed the dainty figure.
+
+"A year," repeated the child. "How long is a year?"
+
+Mère Dubray had been standing in the doorway, waiting to take the cup
+when my lady had finished. Now she said in an unemotional tone--
+
+"It is a summer and a winter. It was last May when Jean Arlac brought
+you here."
+
+The child nodded thoughtfully and there came a far-away expression in
+her eyes.
+
+"Jean Arlac went up to the fur country," she said to the guest.
+
+"Does he return when the furs come in?"
+
+She glanced at Mère Dubray, who shook her head.
+
+"He comes back no more. He has married an Indian woman. But my husband
+will be here."
+
+"Does M. Gifford desire to go out himself?"
+
+"That is his plan, I believe. Can he get back before winter?"
+
+"Oh, yes, or by that time."
+
+"I shall come often to see the little one. And when they have finished
+the--the hut, the child must come often to me. I have brought some
+furnishings and pictures and a few books. There is much more in the old
+château, and my aunt is there to take care of it. But I wanted some old
+friends about me."
+
+At the mention of books Rose had glanced up eagerly at Destournier. Then
+there was a sudden rush without. Both Indian boys were racing and
+yelling in their broken language.
+
+"They are coming; they are coming! The canoes are in," and both began to
+caper about.
+
+Mère Dubray took down a leathern thong and laid it about them; but they
+were like eels and glided out of her reach.
+
+"One was bad enough, but I could manage him. The other"--and she gave
+her shoulders a shrug.
+
+The lady laughed. "That is like home," she said.
+
+"It is quite a sight. And I hope you will not be frightened, for the
+next few days. I had better escort you back, I think, for there will be
+a crowd."
+
+They were guests of M. de Champlain, who had quite comfortable
+quarters. Beside his governmental business he was much engrossed with a
+history of his journeys and explorations and the maps he was making. All
+the furnishings were plain, as became a hardy soldier who often slept
+out in the open. But the keeping room already showed some traces of a
+woman's love for adornment. He looked rather grim over it, but made no
+comment.
+
+"I will come again to-morrow." Madame Giffard pressed a kiss upon the
+white forehead. The child grasped her hand with convulsive warmth.
+
+An hour had changed the aspect of everything. Instead of the quiet,
+deserted, winding ways, you could hardly call them streets, everything
+seemed alive with a motley, moving throng. A long line of boats, and
+what one might call a caravan, seemed to have risen from the very earth,
+or been evolved from the wilderness. There were shouting and singing,
+white men turned to brown by exposure, Indians, half-breeds of varying
+shades, and attire that was really indescribable.
+
+"Is it an attack?" and Madame Giffard clung to her guide in affright.
+
+He laughed reassuringly.
+
+"It is only the awakening of Quebec after its long hibernation. They
+have been expected some days. Ah, now you will see the true business
+side and really believe the town flourishing, be able to carry a good
+report back to France."
+
+They looked over the land side from the eminence of the fortifications.
+Quebec did not mean to admit these roisterers within her precincts,
+which were none too well guarded. Still the cannons looked rather
+formidable from their embrasures. But as little would these lawless men
+have cared to be under the guard of the soldiery.
+
+They seemed to come to a pause. Indians and half-breeds threw down their
+packs. Some sat on them and gesticulated fiercely, as if on the verge of
+a quarrel. A few, who seemed the leaders, went about ordering, pointing
+to places where a few stakes had been driven. Great bundles were
+unpacked, a centre pole reared, and a tent was in progress.
+
+"Why, it is like a magic play," and she clapped her hands in eager
+delight. "Will they live here? Oh, where is Laurent, I wonder. He ought
+to see this."
+
+"They will live here a month or so. Some of the earlier ones will go
+away, new ones come. The company's furs will be packed and loaded on
+vessels for France, but there are plenty of others who trade on their
+own account. There will be roistering and drinking and quarrelling and
+dickering, and then the tents will be folded and packed and the throng
+take up their march for the great north again, and months of hunting."
+
+It was fascinating to watch them. They were building stone fireplaces
+outside and kindling fires. Here some deft hands were skinning a moose
+or a deer and placing portions on a rude spit. And there was the Sieur
+de Champlain and a dozen or so of armed soldiers, he holding parley with
+some of the leaders.
+
+"Oh, there is M. Giffard," she cried presently. "And look--are
+there--women?"
+
+"Squaws. Oh, yes."
+
+"Do they travel, I mean come from the fur country? What a long journey
+it must be for them."
+
+"They do not mind. They are nomads of the wilderness. You know the
+Indians never build towns as we do. Some of them settle for months until
+the hunting gives out, then they are off on a new trail."
+
+"What queer people. One would think the good missionaries would civilize
+them, teach them to be like--can they civilize them?"
+
+"After centuries, perhaps"--dryly.
+
+"Is all this country theirs?"
+
+"Well"--he lifted his eyebrows in a queer, humorous fashion. "The King
+of France thinks he has a right to what his explorers discover; the King
+of England--well, it was Queen Elizabeth, I believe, who laid claim to a
+portion called Virginia. She died, but the English remain. Their colony
+is largely recruited from their prisons, I have heard. Then his Spanish
+majesty has somewhat. It is a great land. But the French set out to save
+souls and convert the heathen savages into Christian men. They have made
+friends with some of the tribes. But they are not like the people of
+Europe, rather they resemble the barbarians of the north. And the
+Church, you know, has labored to convert them."
+
+"How much men know!" she said, with a long sigh of admiration.
+
+The sun was dropping down behind the distant mountains, pine- and
+fir-clad. She had never looked upon so grand a scene and was filled with
+a tremulous sort of awe. Up there the St. Charles river, here the
+majestic St. Lawrence, islands, coves, green points running out in the
+water where the reedy grass waved to and fro, tangles of vines and wild
+flowers. And here at their feet the settlement that had just sprung into
+existence.
+
+"You must be fatigued," he said suddenly. "Pardon my forgetfulness. I
+have been so interested myself."
+
+"Yes, I am a little tired. It has been such a strange afternoon. And
+that poor little girl, Monsieur--does that woman care well for her? She
+has the coarseness of a peasant, and the child not being her own----"
+
+"Oh, I think she is fairly good to her. We do not expect all the graces
+here in the wilderness. But I could wish----"
+
+Madame Gifford stumbled at that moment and might have gone over a ledge
+of rock, and there were many there, but he caught her in strong arms.
+
+"How clumsy!" she cried. "No, I am not hurt, thanks to you. I was
+looking over at that woman with something on her back that resembles a
+child."
+
+"Yes, a papoose. That is their way of carrying them."
+
+"Poor mother! She must get very weary."
+
+They threaded their way carefully to the citadel. The guard nodded and
+they passed. An Indian woman was bringing in a basket of vegetables and
+there was a savory smell of roasting meat.
+
+"Now you are safe," he said. "The Sieur would have transported me to
+France or hung me on the ramparts if any evil had happened to you."
+
+He gave a short laugh as if he had escaped a danger, but there was a
+gleam of mirth in his eyes.
+
+"A thousand thanks, M'sieu. Though I can't think I was in any great
+danger. And another thousand for the sweet little girl. I must see a
+good deal of her."
+
+The room she entered was within the double fortification and its windows
+were securely barred. The walls were of heavy timbers stained just
+enough to bring out the beautiful grain. But some of the dressed
+deerskins were still hanging and there were festoons of wampum,
+curiously made bead and shell curtains interspersed with gun racks,
+great moose horns and deer heads, and antlers. Tables and chairs
+curiously made and a great couch big enough for a bed.
+
+But the adjoining room was the real workroom of the Sieur. Here were his
+books, he brought a few more every time he came from France; shelves of
+curiosities, a wide stone fireplace, with sundry pipes of Indian make on
+the ledges. A great table occupied the centre of the room and all about
+it were strewn papers,--maps in every state,--plans for the city, plans
+of fortifications, diagrams of the unsuccessful settlements, and the new
+project of Mont Réal. Notes on agriculture and the propagation of
+fruits, for none better than the Sieur understood that the colony must
+in some way provide its own food, that it could not depend upon
+sustenance from the mother country. For his ambition desired to make New
+France the envy of the nations who had tried colonizing. He ordered
+crops of wheat and rye and barley sown, and often worked in his own
+field when the moon shone with such glory that it inspired him. And
+though he had all the ardor of an explorer, he meant to turn the profits
+of trade to this end, but to further it settlements were necessary, and
+he bent much of his energy to the duller and more trying task of
+building colonies. Though the route to the Indies fired his ambition he
+was in real earnest to bring this vast multitude of heathens within the
+pale of the Church, and to do that he must be friendly with them as far
+as they could be trusted, but there were times when he almost lost
+faith.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+SUMMER TIME
+
+
+The child sat in a dream on a rude, squarely-built settle with a coarse
+blanket on it of Indian make and some skins thrown over the back, for
+often at sundown the air grew cool and as yet women were not spinning or
+weaving as in old France. A few luxuries had been brought thither, but
+the mother government had a feeling that the colonists ought mostly to
+provide for themselves, and was often indifferent to the necessary
+demands.
+
+Mère Dubray went out to the kitchen and began to prepare supper. There
+was a great stone chimney with a bench at each side, and for a fireplace
+two flat stones that would be filled in with chunks of wood. When the
+blaze had burned them to coals the cooking began. Corn bread baked on
+both sides, sometimes rye or wheaten cakes, a kettle boiled, though the
+home-brewed beer was the common drink in summer, except among those who
+used the stronger potions. The teas were mostly fragrant herbs, thought
+to be good for the stomach and to keep the blood pure.
+
+Mère Dubray dressed half a dozen birds in a trice. It was true that in
+the summer they could live on the luxuries of the land in some
+respects. Fish and game of all kinds were abundant, and as there were
+but few ways of keeping against winter it was as well to feast while one
+could. They dried and smoked eels and some other fish, and salted them,
+but they had learned that too much of this diet induced scurvy.
+
+The birds were hung on an improvised spit, with a pan below to catch the
+drippings with which they were basted. Between whiles the worthy woman
+unexpectedly bolted out to the garden with a switch in her hand and laid
+it about the two Indian boys, who did not bear it with the stoicism of
+their race, as they learned the greater the noise the shorter their
+punishment.
+
+The little girl did not heed the screams or the shrill scolding, or even
+the singing of the birds that grew deliciously tender toward nightfall.
+She often watched the waving branches as the wind blew among them until
+it seemed as if they must be alive, bending over caressing each other
+and murmuring in low tones. If she could only know what they said. Of
+course they must be alive; she heard them cry piteously in winter when
+they were stripped of their covering. Why did God do it? Why did He send
+winter when summer was so much better, when people were merry and happy
+and could hunt and fish and wander in the woods and fight Indians? She
+had not had much of an idea of God hitherto only as a secret charm
+connected with Mère Dubray's beads, but now it was some great power
+living beyond the sky, just as the Indians believed. You could only go
+there by growing cold and stiff and being put in the ground. She shrank
+from that thought.
+
+Something new had come in her life now. There was a vague, confused idea
+of gods and goddesses, that she had gathered from the Latin verses that
+she no more understood than the language. And this must be one that
+descended upon her this afternoon. The soft, sweet voice still lingered
+in her ears, entrancing her. The graceful figure that was like some
+delicate swaying branch, the attire the like of which she had never even
+dreamed of. How could she indeed, when the finest things she had seen
+were the soldiers' trappings?
+
+And this beautiful being had kissed her. Only once she remembered being
+kissed, but Catherine's lips were so cold that for days when she thought
+of it she shuddered and connected it with that mysterious going away,
+that horrid, underground life. This was warm and sweet and strange, like
+the nectar of flowers she had held to her lips. Oh, would the lovely
+being come again? But M'sieu Ralph had said so, and what he promised
+came to pass. There was a sudden ecstasy as if she could not wait, as if
+she could fly out of the body after her charmer. Whither was she going?
+Oh, M'sieu Ralph would know. But could she wait until to-morrow?
+
+Into this half-delirious vision broke the strong, rather harsh voice
+that filled her for an instant with a curious hate so acute that if she
+had been large enough, strong enough, she would have thrust the woman
+out of doors.
+
+"Oh, have you been asleep? Your eyes look wild. And your cheeks! Is it
+the fever coming back again? That chatter went through my head. And to
+be gowned as if she were going to have audience with the Queen! I don't
+know about such things. There is a King always--I suppose there must be
+a Queen."
+
+The child had recovered herself a little and the enraptured dream was
+slipping by.
+
+"And here is your supper. Such a great dish of raspberries, and some
+juice pressed out for wine. And the birds broiled to a turn. Here is a
+little wheaten cake. The Sieur sent the wheat and it is a great rarity.
+And now eat like a hungry child."
+
+She raised her up and put a cushion of dried hay at her back. The food
+was on a small trencher with a flat bottom, and was placed on the settle
+beside her.
+
+"No, no, the tea first," she said, holding a birch-bark cup to her lips.
+
+Rose made a wry face, but drank it, nevertheless. Then she took the
+raspberry juice, which was much pleasanter.
+
+"Yes, a great lady, no doubt. We have few of them. This is no place for
+silken hose and dainty slippers, and gowns slipping off the shoulders,
+and my lady will soon find that out. I wondered at M. Destournier. The
+saints forbid that we should import these kind of cattle to New
+France."
+
+"She is very sweet"--protestingly.
+
+"Oh, yes. So is the flower sweet, and it drops off into withered leaves.
+And her eyes looked askance at M'sieu Ralph, yet she hath a husband.
+Come, eat of thy bird and bread, and to-morrow maybe thou wilt run about
+lest thy limbs stiffen up to a palsy."
+
+"Mistress, mistress," called Pani--"here is a man to see thee."
+
+She went through both rooms. The man stood without, rather rough,
+unkempt, with buckskin breeches, fringed leggings, an Indian blanket, a
+grizzled beard hanging down on his breast, and his tousled hair well
+sprinkled with white; his face wrinkled with the hardships he had passed
+through, but the gray-blue eyes twinkled.
+
+"Ha! ha!" A coarse, but not unfriendly laugh finished the greeting as he
+caught both hands in an impetuous embrace. "Lalotte, old girl, has thy
+memory failed in two years? Or hast thou gotten another husband?"
+
+The woman gave a shriek of mingled surprise and delight. "The saints be
+praised, it is Antoine. And how if thou hast taken some Indian woman to
+wife? Braves do not consort with white women who cannot be made into
+slaves," she answered, with spirit.
+
+"Lalotte, thou wert hard to win in those early days. But now a dozen
+good kisses with more flavor in them than Burgundy wine, and I will
+prove to you I am the same old Antoine. And then--but thy supper smell
+is good to a hungry man. And a dish of shallots. It takes a man back to
+old Barbizon."
+
+Stout and strong as was Madame Dubray, her husband almost kissed the
+breath out of her body in his rapturous embrace.
+
+"But I had no word of your coming----"
+
+"How could you, pardieu! But you knew the traders were coming in. And a
+man can't send messengers hundreds of miles."
+
+"I looked last year----"
+
+"Pouf! There are men who stay five or ten years, and have left a wife in
+France. You can't blame them for taking a new one when you are invited
+to. It is a wild, hard life, but not worse than a soldier's. And when
+you are your own master the hardships are light. But some of this good
+supper."
+
+"Out with you," she said to the Indian boys, who had snatched a piece of
+the broiled fish. Then she put down a plate, took up two birds that
+dripped delicious gravy, and a squirrel browned to a turn. From the
+cupboard beside the great stone chimney, so cunningly devised that no
+one would have suspected it, she brought forth a bottle of wine from the
+old world, her last choice possession, that she had dreamed of saving
+for Antoine, and now her dream had come true.
+
+There was much to tell on both sides, though her life had been
+comparatively uneventful. He related incidents of his wilder experiences
+far away from civilization that he had grown to enjoy in its perfect
+freedom that often lapped over into lawlessness. And he ate until
+squirrel, fish, and the cakes, both of rye and corn, had disappeared.
+The slave boys fared ill that night.
+
+Rose had eaten her supper more daintily. The great pile of raspberries
+was a delight; large, luscious; melting in one's mouth without the aid
+of sugar, and being picked up with the fingers. She had been startled at
+the sudden appearance of the husband she had heard talked of, but of
+course not seen. His loud voice grated on her ears, made more sensitive
+by illness, and when, a long while after, the pine torch that was
+flaring in the kitchen defined his brawny frame as he stood in the
+doorway, she wanted to scream.
+
+"Oh--what have you here--a ghost?" he asked.
+
+"A child who was left here more than a year ago. Jean Arlac lost his
+wife, and not knowing what to do with her--she was not his own
+child--left her here. He went out with the fur-hunters."
+
+"Jean Arlac!" Antoine scratched among his rough locks as if to assist
+his memory. "Yes. And on the way he picked up a likely Indian girl who
+has given him a son. And he saddled her on you?"
+
+"Oh, the Sieur will look after her--perhaps take her back to France,"
+she answered, indifferently.
+
+"The best place for her, no doubt. She looks a frail reed. And women
+need strength in this new world. A little infusion of Indian blood will
+do no harm. I wouldn't mind a son myself, but a girl--pouf!"
+
+The child was glad he would not want her. She turned her face to the
+wall. She had not known what loneliness was before, but now she felt it
+through all her body, like a great pain.
+
+On the opposite side of the room was another settle, part of which
+turned over and was upheld by drawing out two rounds of logs. Mère
+Dubray made up the wider bed now, and soon Antoine was snoring lustily.
+At first it frightened the child, though she was used to the screech of
+the owl that spent his nights in the great walnut tree inside the
+palisade.
+
+Was it a dream, she wondered the next morning. She slept soundly at last
+and late and found herself alone in the house. She put on her simple
+frock and went to the doorway. Ah, what a splendid glowing morning it
+was! The sunshine lay in golden masses and fairly gilded the green of
+the maize, the waving grasses, the bronze of the trees, and the river
+threw up lights and shadows like birds skimming about.
+
+No one was in the garden. The table had been despoiled to the last
+crumb. Even the cupboard had been ransacked and all that remained was
+some raw fish. She was not hungry and the fragrant air was reviving. It
+seemed to speed through every pulse. Why, she suddenly felt strong
+again.
+
+She wandered out of the enclosure and climbed the steps, sitting down
+now and then and drawing curious breaths that frightened her, they came
+so irregularly. There were workmen building additional fortifications
+around the post, there were houses going up. It was like a strange
+place. She reached the gallery presently and looked over what was
+sometime to be the city of Quebec. The long stretch was full of tents
+and tepees and throngs of men of every description, it would seem;
+Indians, swarthy Spaniards who had roamed half round the world, French
+from the jaunty trader, with a certain air of breeding, down to the
+rough, unkempt peasant, who had been lured away from his native land
+with visions of an easily-made fortune and much liberty in New France,
+and convicts who had been given a choice between death and expatriation.
+Great stacks of furs still coming in from some quarter, haranguing,
+bargaining, shouting, coming to blows, and the interference of soldiers.
+Was it so last summer when she sometimes ran out with Pani, though she
+had been forbidden to?
+
+It was growing very hot up here. The sun that looked so glorious through
+the long stretches of the forest and played about the St. Lawrence as if
+in a game of hide-and-seek with the boats, grew merciless. All the air
+was full of dancing stars and she was so tired trying to reach out to
+them, as if they were a stairway leading up to heaven, so that one need
+not be put in the dark, wretched ground. Oh, yes, she could find the
+way, and she half rose.
+
+It seemed a long journey in the darkness. Then there was a coolness on
+her brow, a soft hand passed over it, and she heard some murmuring,
+caressing words. She opened her eyes, she tried to rise.
+
+"Lie still, little one," said the voice that soothed and somehow made it
+easy to obey. She was fanned slowly, and all was peace.
+
+"Did you climb up to the gallery all alone? And yesterday you seemed so
+weak, so fragile."
+
+"I wanted--some one. They had all gone----"
+
+"Quebec looks like a besieged camp. Laurent, that is my husband," with a
+bright color, "said I could see it from the gallery, and that it
+resembled a great show. I went out and found you. At first I thought you
+were dead. But the Indian woman, Jolette is her Christian name, but I
+should have liked Wanamee better, carried you in here and after a while
+brought you to. But I thought sure you were dead. Poor little white
+Rose! Truly named."
+
+"But once I had red cheeks," in a faint voice.
+
+"Then thou wouldst have been a red Rose."
+
+She sang a delicious little chanson to a red rose from a lover. The
+child sighed in great content.
+
+"Were they good to you down there? That woman seemed--well, hard. And
+were you left all alone?"
+
+Rose began to tell the story of how the husband came home, and Madame
+Giffard could see that she shrank from him. "And when she woke they had
+all gone away. There was nothing to eat."
+
+"Merci! How careless and unkind!" But Madame Giffard could not know the
+little slave boys had ransacked the place.
+
+"I was not hungry. And it was so delightful to walk about again. Though
+I trembled all over and thought I should fall down."
+
+"As you did. Now I have ordered you some good broth. And you must lie
+still to get rested."
+
+"But it is so nice to talk. You were so beautiful yesterday I was
+afraid. I never saw such fine clothes."
+
+Madame Giffard was in a soft gray gown to-day that had long wrinkled
+sleeves, a very short waist, and a square neck filled in with ruffles
+that stood up in a stiff fashion. She looked very quaint and pretty,
+more approachable, though the child felt rather than understood.
+
+"Are there no women here, and no society? Merci! but it is a strange
+place, a wilderness. And no balls or dinners or excursions, with gay
+little luncheons? There is war all the time at home, but plenty of
+pleasure, too. And what is one to do here!"
+
+"The Indians have some ball games. But they often fight at the end."
+
+The lady laughed. What a charming ripple it was, like the falls here and
+there, and there were many of them.
+
+"Not that kind," she said, in her soft tone that could not wound the
+child. "A great room like a palace, and lights everywhere, hundreds of
+candles, and mirrors where you see yourself at every turn. Then festoons
+of gauzy things that wave about, and flowers--not always real ones, they
+fade so soon. And the men--there are officers and counts and marquises,
+and their habiliments are--well, I can't describe them so you would
+understand, but a hundred times finer than those of the Sieur de
+Champlain. And the women--oh, if I had worn a ball dress yesterday, you
+would have been speechless."
+
+She laughed again gayly at the child's innocence. And just then Wanamee
+came in with the broth.
+
+"Madame Dubray's husband has come," nodding to the child.
+
+"Yes, yesterday, just at night."
+
+"He has great stores, they say. He is shrewd and means to make money.
+But there will be no quiet now for weeks. And it will hardly be safe to
+venture outside the palisades."
+
+Jolette had been among the first converts, a prisoner taken in one of
+the numerous Indian battles, rescued and saved from torture by the Sieur
+himself, and though she had been a wife of one of the chiefs, she had
+been beaten and treated like a slave. Champlain found her amenable to
+the influences of civilization, and in some respects really superior to
+the emigrants that had been sent over, though most of them were eagerly
+seized upon as wives for the workmen. Frenchwomen were not anxious to
+leave their native land.
+
+Madame Giffard fed her small _protégée_ in a most dainty and enticing
+manner. The little girl would have thought herself in an enchanted
+country if she had known anything about enchantment. But most of the
+stories she had heard were of Indian superstition, and so horrid she
+never wanted to recur to them. Madame Dubray was much too busy to allow
+her thoughts to run in fanciful channels, and really lacked any sort of
+imagination.
+
+After she had been fed she leaned back on the pillow again. Madame soon
+sang her to sleep. The child was very much exhausted and in the quietude
+of slumber looked like a bit of carving.
+
+"Her eyelashes are splendid," thought her watcher, "and her lips have
+pretty curves. There is something about her--she must have belonged to
+gentle people. But she will grow coarse under that woman's training."
+
+She sighed a little. Did she want the child, she wondered. If Laurent
+could make a fortune here in this curious land where most of the
+population seemed barbarians.
+
+She drew from a work-bag a purse she was knitting of silken thread, and
+worked as she watched the sleeping child. Once she rose, but the view
+from the window did not satisfy her, so she went out on the gallery. A
+French vessel was coming up into port, with its colors at half mast and
+its golden lilies shrouded with crape. Some important personage must be
+dead--was it the King?
+
+She heard her husband's voice calling her and turned, took a few steps
+forward. "Oh, what has happened?" she cried.
+
+"The King! Our heroic Béarnese! For though we must always regret his
+change of religion, yet it was best for France and his rights. And a
+wretched miscreant stabbed him in his carriage, but he has paid the
+penalty. And the new King is but a child, so a woman will rule. There is
+no knowing what policies may be overturned."
+
+"Our brave King!" There were tears in her eyes.
+
+"They are loading vessels to return. Ah, what a rich country, even if
+they cannot find the gold the Spaniards covet. Such an array of choice
+furs bewilders one, and to see them tossed about carelessly makes one
+almost scream with rage. Ah, my lady, you shall have in the winter what
+the Queen Mother would envy."
+
+"Then you mean to stay"--uncertainly.
+
+"Yes, unless there should be great changes. I have not seen the Sieur
+since the news came. He was to go to Tadoussac the first of the week,
+and I had permission to go with him. One would think to-day that Quebec
+was one of the most flourishing of towns, and it is hard to believe the
+contrary. But every soldier is on the watch. They trust no one. What
+have you been doing, _ma mie_?"
+
+"Oh, I have something to show you. Come."
+
+She placed her finger to her lips in token of silence and led him back
+to the room she had left. The child was still sleep.
+
+"What an angel," he murmured. "Is it--how did it come here? I thought
+you said the little girl was ill."
+
+"She was, and is. Doesn't she look like a marvellous statue? But no one
+seems to regard her beauty here."
+
+"She is too delicate."
+
+"But she was well and strong and daring, and could climb like a deer, M.
+Destournier says. She will be well again with good care. I want to keep
+her."
+
+"She will be a good plaything for thee when I am away. Though this may
+change many plans. The Sieur is bent on discoveries, and now he has
+orders to print his book. The maps are wonderful. What a man! He should
+be a king in this new world. France does not understand the mighty
+empire he is founding for her."
+
+"Then you do not mind--if I keep the child? She has crept into the empty
+niche in my heart. I must have been directed by the saints when I felt
+the desire to go out. She would have died from exhaustion in the
+broiling sun."
+
+"Say the good Father, rather."
+
+"And yet we must adore the saints, the old patriarchs. Did not the
+disciples desire to build a memento to them?"
+
+"They were not such men as have disgraced the holy calling by fire and
+sword and persecution. And if one can draw a free breath in this new
+land. The English with all their faults allow freedom in religion. It is
+these hated Jesuits. And I believe they are answerable for the murder of
+our heroic King."
+
+Wanamee summoned them to the midday repast. The plain walnut boards
+that formed the table had been polished until the beautiful grain and
+the many curvings were brought out like the shades of a painting. If the
+dishes were a motley array, a few pieces of silver and polished pewter
+with common earthenware and curious cups of carved wood as well as
+birch-bark platters, the viands were certainly appetizing.
+
+"One will not starve in this new country," he said.
+
+"But it is the winter that tries one, M. Destournier says."
+
+"There must be plenty of game. And France sends many things. But a
+colony must have agricultural resources. And the Indian raids are so
+destructive. We need more soldiers."
+
+He was off again to plunge in the thick of business. It was supposed the
+fur company and the concessions ruled most of the bargain-making, but
+there were independent trappers who had not infrequently secured skins
+that were well-nigh priceless when they reached the hands of the Paris
+furrier. And toward night, when wine and whiskey had been passed around
+rather freely, there were broils that led to more than one fatal ending.
+Indian women thronged around as well, with curious handiwork made in
+their forest fastnesses.
+
+The child slept a long while, she was so exhausted.
+
+"Why, the sun is going over the mountains," she began, in vague alarm.
+"I must go home. I did not mean to run away."
+
+She sprang up on her feet, but swayed so that she would have fallen had
+not Madame caught her.
+
+"Nay, nay, thou art not well enough to run away from me, little one. I
+will send word down to the cabin of Mère Dubray. She has her husband,
+whom she has not seen for two years, and will care naught for thee.
+Women are all alike when a man's love is proffered," and she gave a gay
+little laugh.
+
+"My head feels light and swims around as if it was on the rapid river.
+But I must go home, I----"
+
+"Art afraid? Well, I promise nothing shall harm thee. Lie down again. I
+will send Wanamee with the word. Will it make thee happy--content?"
+
+The child looked at her hostess as if she was studying her, but her
+intellect had never been roused sufficiently for that. There was a vague
+delight stealing over her as slumber does at times, a confusion of what
+might have been duty if she had understood that even, in staying away
+from what was really her home. Mère Dubray would be angry. She would
+hardly beat her, she had only slapped her once during her illness, and
+that was to make her swallow some bitter tea. And something within her
+seemed to cry out for the adjuncts of this place. She had been in the
+room before, she had even peered into the Sieur's study. He always had a
+kindly word for her, she was different from the children of the workmen,
+and looked at one with sober, wondering eyes, as if she might fathom
+many things.
+
+"You do not want to go back?"--persuasively.
+
+Was it the pretty lady who changed the aspect of everything for her?
+
+"Oh, if I could stay here always!" she cried, with a vehemence of more
+years than had passed over her head. "It is better than the beautiful
+world where I sit on the rocks and wonder, and dream of the great beyond
+that goes over and meets the sky. There are no cruel Indians then, and I
+want to wander on and on and listen to the voices in the trees, the
+plash of the great river, and the little stream that plays against the
+stones almost like the song you sung. If one could live there always and
+did not get hungry or cold----"
+
+"What a queer, visionary child! One would not look for it in these
+wilds. The ladies over yonder talk of them because it is a fashion, but
+when they ride through the parks and woods they want a train of
+admirers. And with you it is pure love. Could you love any one as you do
+nature? Was any one ever so good to you that you could fall down at
+their feet and worship them? Surely you do not love Madame Dubray?"
+
+"M'sieu Ralph has been very kind. But you are like a wonderful flower
+one finds now and then, and dares not gather it lest the gods of the
+woods and trees should be angry."
+
+"But I will gather you to my heart, little one," and she slipped down
+beside the couch, encircling the child in her arms, and pressing kisses
+on brow and legs and pallid cheeks, bringing a roseate tint to them.
+
+"And you must love me, you must want to stay with me. Oh, there was a
+little one once who was flesh of my flesh, on whom I lavished the
+delight and tenderness of my soul, and the great Father took her. He
+sent nothing in her place, though I prayed and prayed. And now I shall
+put you there. Surely the good God cannot be angry, for you have no
+one."
+
+She had followed a sudden impulse, and was not quite sure it was for the
+best. Only her mother heart cried out for love.
+
+The child stared, motionless, and it dampened her ardor for the moment.
+She could not fathom the eyes.
+
+"Are you not glad? Would you not like to live with me?"
+
+"Oh, oh!" It was a cry of rapture. She caught the soft white hands and
+kissed them. The joy was so new, so unexpected, she had no words for
+it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A HUSBAND
+
+
+Lalotte Dubray had had the gala day of her life. Her peasant wedding had
+been simple enough. The curé's blessing after the civil ceremony, the
+dance on the green, the going home to the one room in the small thatched
+hut, the bunk-like bed along the wall, the two chests that answered for
+seats, a kitchen table, two shelves for a rude dresser, with dishes that
+had been earned by the hardest toil, but they were better off than some,
+for there was a pig grunting and squealing outside, and a little garden.
+
+Times had grown harder and harder. Antoine had been compelled to join
+the army and fight for he knew not what. Then he had decamped, and
+instead of being shot had been sent to New France. Lalotte was willing
+enough to go with him.
+
+Hard as it was, it bettered their fortunes. He had gone out once as a
+sort of servant and handy man to the company. Then he had struck out for
+himself. He was shrewd and industrious, and did not mind hard work, nor
+hardships.
+
+Now he was in the lightest of spirits. He had some choice furs that were
+eagerly snapped up. The Indian women had been shrewd enough to arrange
+tempting booths, where frying fish and roasted birds gave forth an
+appetizing fragrance. There were cakes of ground maize baked on hot
+stones, and though Champlain had used his best efforts to keep some
+restraint on spirituous liquors, there were many ways of evading.
+
+Lalotte was fairly stupefied with amazement at her husband's prosperity.
+
+"Why, you are rich with that bag of money," she cried. "I never saw so
+much."
+
+He laughed jovially. "Better than standing up to be shot--he! he!
+Jacques Lallemont had the idea, and they wanted emigrants for New France
+bad enough. Why don't they send more? The English understand better.
+_Sacré!_ But it is a great country. Only Quebec stays little, when it
+should be a great place. Why can they not see?"
+
+Lalotte could venture no explanation of that. She seemed to be in a maze
+herself.
+
+Vessels were taking on cargoes of furs as soon as they were inspected.
+The river as far as Tadoussac looked thriving enough. Antoine met old
+friends, but he was more level-headed than some, and did not get tipsy.
+Lalotte held her head higher than ever.
+
+When it was getting rather too rough they made their way out.
+
+"Oh, the child!" she exclaimed, with a sudden twinge of conscience. "And
+those wretched slave boys. If your back is turned they are in league
+with the evil one himself. Baptism does not seem to drive it out.
+Whether the poor thing had her breakfast."
+
+"Let that alone. It was mighty cool in Jean Arlac to foist her on thee.
+And now that we have left the crowd behind and are comfortable in the
+stomach."
+
+"But the cost, Antoine. I could have gotten it for half!"
+
+"A man may treat his wife, when he has not seen her for two years," and
+he gave a short chuckling laugh. "There has been a plan in my head,
+hatched in the long winter nights up at the bay. Why should man and wife
+be living apart when they might be together? Thou hast a hot temper,
+Lalotte, but it will serve to warm up the biting air."
+
+"A hot temper!" resentfully. "Much of it you have taken truly! Two years
+soldiering--months in prison, and now two years again----"
+
+He laughed good-humoredly, if it was loud enough to wake echoes.
+
+"The saints know how I have wished for the sound of your voice. Indian
+women there are ready enough to be a wife for six months, and then
+perhaps some brave steals in at night and pouf! out goes your candle."
+
+"The sin of it!"--holding up both hands.
+
+"Sins are not counted in this wild land. But there are no old memories,
+no talks with each other. Oh, you cannot think how the loneliness almost
+freezes up one's very vitals. And I said to myself--I will bring
+Lalotte back with me. Why should we not share the same life and live
+over together our memories of sunny France?--not always sunny, either."
+
+"To--take me with you"--gasping.
+
+"Yes, why not? As if a man cannot order his wife about!" he exclaimed
+jocosely, catching her around the waist and imprinting half a dozen
+kisses with smacks that were like an explosion. "Yes--I have sighed for
+thee many a night. There are high logs for firing, there are piles of
+bearskins, thick and fleecy as those of our best sheep at home. There is
+enough to eat at most times, and with thy cookery, _ma mie_, a man would
+feast. It is a rough journey, to be sure, but then thou wilt not refuse,
+or I shall think thou hast a secret lover."
+
+"The Virgin herself knows I shall be glad to go with thee, Antoine," and
+the tears of joy stood in her eyes. "There is nothing in all Quebec to
+compare with thee. And heaven knows one sometimes grows hungry of a
+winter night, when food is scarce and one depends upon sleep to make it
+up. No, I should be happy anywhere with thee."
+
+They jogged along in a lover-like fashion, but they were not quite out
+of hearing of the din. At nightfall all dickering was stopped and guards
+placed about. But in many a tent there were drinking and gambling, and
+more than one affray.
+
+They came to the small unpretentious cabin. The door stood wide open,
+and the shaggy old dog was stretched on the doorstep, dozing. No soul
+was to be seen.
+
+"Where is the child, Britta? Why, she must have been carried off. She
+could not walk any distance."
+
+The dog gave a wise look and flicked her ear. Lalotte searched every
+nook.
+
+"Where could she have gone?" in dismay.
+
+"Let the child alone. What is she to us? Does Jean Arlac stay awake
+nights with trouble in his conscience about her? She was not his wife's
+child and so nothing to him. What more is she to us? Come, get some
+supper; I've not tasted such fried fish in an age as yours last night."
+
+"The fish about here has a fine flavor, that is true. Those imps of
+boys, and not a stick of wood handy. Their skins shall be well warmed;
+just wait until I get at them."
+
+"Nay, I will get some wood. I am hungry as a bear in the thaw, when he
+crawls out."
+
+But Lalotte, armed with a switch, began a survey of the garden. The work
+had been neglected, that was plain. There under a clump of bushes lay
+Pani, sleeping, with no fear of retribution on his placid face. And
+Lalotte put in some satisfactory work before he even stirred.
+
+But he knew nothing of his compeer, only they had been down to the river
+together. As for the child, when he returned she was gone.
+
+"Let the child alone, I say!" and Antoine brought his fist heavily down
+on the table. "Next thing you will be begging that we take her. Since
+the good Lord in His mercy has refrained from giving us any mouths to
+feed, we will not fly in His face for those who do not concern us. And
+the puling thing would die on the journey and have to be left behind to
+feed the wolves. Come! come! Attend to thy supper."
+
+The slim Indian convert was coming up the path. She was one of the
+Abenaqui tribe, and she had mostly discarded the picturesque attire.
+
+"The lady Madame Giffard sent me to say the girl is safe with her and
+will not be able to return to-night."
+
+"So much the better," growled Antoine, looking with hungry eyes on the
+fish browning before the coals.
+
+"Did she come and take her? I went with my husband to see the traders."
+
+"She has been very poorly, but is much better now. And miladi
+thought----"
+
+"Oh, yes, it is all right. Yes, I am glad," nodding definitely, as if
+the matter was settled. She did not want to quarrel with Antoine about a
+child that was no kin to them, when he was so much like her old lover.
+He seemed to bring back the hopes of youth and a certain gayety to which
+she had long been a stranger.
+
+After enjoying his meal he brought out his pipe and stretched himself in
+a comfortable position, begging her to attend to him and let the slave
+boy take the fragments. He went on to describe the settlement of the
+fur merchants and trappers at Hudson Bay, but toned down much of the
+rudeness of the actual living. A few of the white women, wives of the
+leaders and the men in command, formed a little community. There was
+card-playing and the relating of adventures through the long winter
+evenings, that sometimes began soon after three. Dances, too, Indian
+entertainments, and for daylight, flying about on snowshoes, and
+skating. There was a short summer. The Indian women were expert in
+modelling garments--everything was of fur and dressed deerskins.
+
+Few knew how to read at that day among the seekers of fortune and
+adventurers, but they were shrewd at keeping accounts, nevertheless.
+There were certain regulations skilfully evaded by the knowing ones.
+
+No, it would never do to take the child. She had no real mother love for
+it, yet she often wondered whose child it might be, since it was not
+Catherine Arlac's? Strange stories about foundlings often came to light
+in old France.
+
+The death of the King rather disorganized matters, for no one quite knew
+what the new order of things would be. The Sieur de Champlain sorrowed
+truly, for he had ever been a staunch admirer of Henry of Navarre.
+Demont had not had his concession renewed and to an extent the fur trade
+had been thrown open. Several vessels were eagerly competing for stores
+of Indian peltries, as against those of the company. Indeed it was a
+regular carnival time. One would think old Quebec a most prosperous
+settlement, if judged only by that. But none of the motley crew were
+allowed inside the palisades. The Sieur controlled the rough community
+with rare good judgment. He had shown that he could punish as well as
+govern; fight, if need be, and then be generous to the foe. Indeed in
+the two Indian battles he had won much prestige, and had frowned on the
+torture of helpless prisoners.
+
+Madame Giffard besought her husband that evening to consent to her
+taking the care of little Rose, at least while they remained in Canada,
+the year and perhaps more.
+
+"And that may unfit her for her after life. You will make a pet and
+plaything of her, and then it would be cruel to return her to this woman
+to whom it seems she was given. She may be claimed some day."
+
+"And if we liked her, might we not take her home with us? There seems no
+doubt but what she came from France. Not that I could put any one quite
+in the place of my lost darling, but it will afford me much interest
+through the winter, which, by all accounts, is dreary. I can teach her
+to read--she hardly knows a French letter. M. Destournier has taken a
+great interest in her. And she needs care now, encouragement to get
+well."
+
+"Let us do nothing rash. The Sieur may be able to advise what is best,"
+he returned gently. He felt he would rather know more of the case before
+he took the responsibility.
+
+"She is so sweet, so innocent. She did not really know what love was,"
+and Madame laughed softly. "This Catherine Arlac must have been a maid,
+I think. Yes, I am sure she must have come from gentle people. She has
+every indication of it."
+
+"Well, thou canst play nurse a while and it will interest thee, and fill
+up thy lonely hours, for I have much to do and must take some journeys
+quite impossible for a woman. And then we will decide, if this woman is
+ready to part with her. _Ma mie_, thou knowest I would not refuse thee
+any wish that was possible."
+
+"That is true, Laurent," and she kissed him fondly.
+
+Destournier had been busy every moment of the day and had been closeted
+with the Sieur until late in the evening. Champlain felt now that he
+must give up an exploring expedition, on which his heart was set, and
+return to France, where large interests of the colony were at stake.
+There was much to be arranged.
+
+So it was not until the next morning that he found his way to the Dubray
+house, and then he was surprised at the tidings. Lalotte was almost a
+girl again in her interest in the new plans. As soon as a sufficient
+number had sold their wares to make a journey safe from marauders they
+would start for Hudson's Bay, while the weather was pleasant. Of course
+the child must be left behind. She had no real claim on them; neither
+could she stand the journey. She was now with Madame Giffard.
+
+Thither he hurried. Little Rose had improved wonderfully, though she was
+almost transparently thin, and her eyes seemed larger and softer in
+their mysterious darkness. Already love had done much for her.
+
+He told his story and the plans of the Dubrays.
+
+"Then I can stay here," she cried with kindling eyes, reaching out her
+small hand as if to sign her right in Madame's.
+
+Madame's eyes, too, were joyous as she raised them in a sort of
+gratitude to her visitor.
+
+"How strange it comes about," she cried. "And now, M. Destournier, will
+you learn all you can about this Catherine Arlac; where she came from in
+France, and if she was any sort of a trustworthy person? It may some day
+be of importance to the child."
+
+"Yes, anything I can do to advance her interest you may depend on. Are
+you happy, little one?"
+
+"I could fly like a bird, I am so light with joy. But I would not fly
+away from here. Oh, then I shall not have to go back! I was frightened
+at M. Dubray."
+
+"I don't wonder. Yet these are the kind of men New France needs, who are
+not afraid of the wilderness and its trials. The real civilization
+follows on after the paths are trodden down. Did you go out yesterday?"
+to the lady.
+
+"Only on the gallery."
+
+"That was safest. Such a crowd was fit only for Indian women, and some
+of them shrank from it, I noticed. You heard the news about the King?"
+
+"The sad, sad news. Yes."
+
+"And the Sieur feels he must go back to France."
+
+"What is Quebec to do? And if there is an Indian raid? Oh, this new land
+is full of fears."
+
+"And think of the strifes and battles of the old world! Ah, if peace
+could reign. Yet the bravest of men are in the forefront."
+
+Then he came over to the child.
+
+"Who brought you here yesterday?" he asked, with a smile.
+
+"I was all alone. I had nothing to eat. I wanted to get out in the
+sunshine. I walked, but presently I shook so, I crawled up on the
+gallery. And then----"
+
+She looked wistfully at miladi, who took up the rest of the journey.
+
+"You were a brave little girl. But what if Madame had not chanced to
+come out? Why, you might have died."
+
+The dark eyes grew humid. "It does not hurt to die," she said slowly.
+"Only if you did not have to be put in the ground."
+
+"Don't talk of such things," interposed Madame, with a half shudder.
+"You are going to get well now, and run about and show me the places you
+love. And we can sail up to the islands and through the St. Charles,
+that looks so fascinating and mysterious, can we not?" smiling up at
+Destournier.
+
+"Oh, yes, a month will finish the trading, for the ships will want to
+start with their freight, while the weather is fine. True, the Indians
+and many of the _coureurs de bois_ will loiter about until the last
+moment. There is to be a great Indian dance, I hear. They generally
+break up with one that has a good deal of savagery in it, but this early
+one is quite mild, I have understood, and gives one an opportunity to
+see them in their fine feathers and war paint."
+
+"Oh, it must be interesting. Would it be safe to go?" she inquired.
+
+"With a bodyguard, yes. Your husband and myself, and we might call in
+the services of the Dubrays. Madame is a host in herself. And they are
+glad, it seems, to shift the care of the child on some one else,"
+lowering his voice.
+
+"You will not forget to inquire----"
+
+"Why, there must be a record here. The Sieur has the name and addresses
+of all the emigrants, I think. There have not been many shiploads of
+women."
+
+"She has no indication of peasant parentage. There is a curious delicacy
+about her, but _merci!_ what wonderful and delightful ignorance. It is
+like a fallow field. Mère Dubray seems to have sown nothing in it. Oh, I
+promise myself rare pleasure in teaching her many things."
+
+"She has a quick and peculiar imagination. I am glad she has fallen into
+other hands. Settling a new country is a great undertaking, especially
+when one has but a handful of people and you have to uproot other habits
+of life and thought. I wonder if one can civilize an Indian!" and he
+laughed doubtfully.
+
+"But it is to save their souls, I thought!"
+
+"Yet some of them worship the same God that we do, only He is called the
+Great Manitou. And they have an hereafter for the braves at least, a
+happy hunting ground. But they are cruel and implacable enemies with
+each other. And we have wars at home as well. It is a curious muddle, I
+think. You come from a Huguenot family, I believe."
+
+"My mother did. But she went with my father. There were no family
+dissensions. Does it make so much difference if one is upright and
+honest and kindly?"
+
+"Kindly. If that could be put in the creed. 'Tis a big question," and he
+gave a sigh. "At least you are proving that part of the creed," and he
+crossed over to the child, chatting with her in a pleasant manner until
+he left them.
+
+That evening there was a serious discussion in the Sieur's study.
+Captain Chauvin was to return also, and who was most trustworthy to be
+put in command of the infant colony was an important matter. There had
+been quite an acreage of grain sown the year before, maize was
+promising, and a variety of vegetables had been cultivated. Meats and
+fish were dried and salted. They had learned how to protect themselves
+from serious inroads of the scurvy. The houses in the post were being
+much improved and made more secure against the rigors of the long
+winter.
+
+An officer who had spent the preceding winter at the fort was put in
+command, and the next day the garrison and the workmen were called in
+and enjoined to render him full obedience.
+
+Destournier and Gifford were to undertake some adventures in a northerly
+direction, following several designated routes that Champlain had
+expected to pursue. Their journeys would not be very long.
+
+As for Rose, she improved every day and began to chatter delightfully,
+while her adoration of Madame Giffard was really touching, and filled
+hours that would otherwise have been very tedious.
+
+They had brought with them a few books. Madame was an expert at
+embroidery and lace-making, but was aghast when she realized her slender
+stock of materials, and that it would be well-nigh a year before any
+could come from France.
+
+"But there is bead work, and the Indian women make threads out of
+grasses," explained Wanamee. "And feathers of birds are sewed around
+garments and fringes are cut. Oh, miladi will find some employment for
+her fingers."
+
+Mère Dubray made no objection to accompanying them to the Indian dance.
+She had been to several of them, but they were wild things that one
+could not well understand; nothing like the village dances at home. "But
+what would you? These were savages!"
+
+"I wish I could go, too," the child said wistfully. "But I could not
+climb about nor stand up as I used. When will I be able to run around
+again?"
+
+She was gaining every day and went out on the gallery for exercise. She
+was a very cheerful invalid; indeed miladi was so entertaining she was
+never weary when with her, and if her husband needed her, Wanamee came
+to sit with the child. Rose knew many words in the language, as well as
+that of the unfortunate Iroquois.
+
+All they had been able to learn about Catherine Arlac was that she had
+come from Paris to Honfleur, a widow, with a little girl. And Paris was
+such a great and puzzling place for a search.
+
+"But she is a sweet human rose with no thorns, and I must keep her,"
+declared miladi.
+
+Laurent Giffard made no demur. He was really glad for his wife to have
+an interest while he was away.
+
+The party threaded their way through the narrow winding paths that were
+to be so famous afterward and witness the heroic struggle, when the
+lilies of France went down for the last time, and the heritage that had
+cost so much in valiant endeavor and blood and treasure was signed away.
+
+There were flaming torches and swinging lanterns and throngs wending to
+the part beyond the tents. The dance was not to pass a certain radius,
+where guards were stationed. Already there was a central fire of logs,
+around which the braves sat with their knees drawn up and their chins
+resting upon them, looking as if they were asleep.
+
+"A fire this warm night," said miladi, in irony.
+
+"We could hardly see them without it," returned her husband.
+
+At the summons of a rude drum that made a startling noise, the braves
+rose, threw down their blankets and displayed their holiday attire of
+paint, fringes, beads, and dressed deerskins with great headdresses of
+feathers. Another ring formed round them. One brave, an old man, came
+forward, and gesticulating wildly, went through a series of antics. One
+after another fell in, and the slow tread began to increase. Then shrill
+songs, with a kind of musical rhythm, low at first, but growing louder
+and louder, the two or three circles joining in, the speed increasing
+until they went whirling around like madmen, shouting, thrusting at each
+other with their brawny arms, until all seemed like a sudden frenzy.
+
+"Oh, they will kill each other!" almost shrieked Madame.
+
+"_Non, non_, but small loss if they did," commented Madame Dubray.
+
+They paused suddenly. It seemed like disentangling a chain. The
+confusion was heightened by the cries and the dancing feather
+headdresses that might have been a flock of giant birds. But presently
+they resolved into a circle again, and began to march to a slow chant.
+One young fellow seized a brand from the fire and began a wild gyration,
+pointing the end to the circle, at random, it seemed. Then another and
+another until the lights flashed about madly and there was a scent of
+burning feathers. The circle stood its ground bravely, but there were
+shrieks and mocking laughter as they danced around, sometimes making a
+lunge out at the spectators, who would draw back in affright, a signal
+for roars of mirth.
+
+"They will burn each other up," cried Madame. "Oh, let us go. The noise
+is more than I can bear. And if they should attack us. Do you remember
+what M. du Parc was telling us?"
+
+"I think we have had enough of it," began M. Giffard. "They are said to
+be very treacherous. What is to hinder them from attacking the whites?"
+
+"The knowledge that they have not yet received any pay, and their
+remaining stock would be confiscated. They are not totally devoid of
+self-interest, and most of them have a respect for the fighting powers
+of the Sieur and his punishing capacity, as well."
+
+As they left the place the noise seemed to subside, though it was like
+the roar of wild animals.
+
+"Am I to remain here all winter with these savages? Can I not return
+with M. de Champlain?" pleaded Madame Giffard.
+
+"Such a time would be almost a Godsend in the winter," declared
+Destournier. "But they will be hundreds of miles away, and the near
+Indians are sometimes too friendly, when driven by hunger to seek the
+fort. Oh, you will find no cause for alarm, I think."
+
+"And how long will they keep this up?" she asked, as they were ascending
+the parapet from which they could still see the moving mass and the
+flashing lights, weird amid the surrounding darkness.
+
+"They will sit in a ring presently and smoke the pipe of peace and
+enjoyment, and drop off to sleep. And for your satisfaction, not a few
+among those were fur-hunters and traders, white men, who have given up
+the customs of civilized life and enjoy the hardships of the wilderness,
+but who will fight like tigers for their brethren when the issue comes.
+They are seldom recreant to their own blood."
+
+"I do not want to see it again, ever," she cried passionately. "I shall
+hardly sleep for thinking of it and some horrible things a sailor told
+on shipboard. I can believe them all true now."
+
+"And we have had horrible battles, cruelty to prisoners," declared her
+husband. "These poor savages have never been taught anything better, and
+are always at war with each other. But for us, who have a higher state
+of civilization, it seems incredible that we should take a delight in
+destroying our brethren."
+
+It was quiet and peaceful enough inside the fort. The Sieur was still
+engrossed with his papers, marking out routes and places where lakes and
+rivers might be found and where trading posts might be profitably set,
+and colonies established. It was a daring ambition to plant the lilies
+of France up northward, to take in the mighty lakes they had already
+discovered and to cross the continent and find the sure route to India.
+There were heroes in those days and afterwards.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CHANGING ABOUT
+
+
+"If you are ready for your sail and have the courage----"
+
+Laurent Giffard kissed his pretty wife as she sat with some needlework
+in her hand, telling legendary tales, that were half fairy
+embellishments, to the little Rose, who was listening eager-eyed and
+with a delicious color in her cheeks. The child lived in a sort of fairy
+land. Miladi was the queen, her gowns were gold and silver brocade, but
+what brocade was, it would have been difficult for her to describe. She
+was very happy in these days, growing strong so she could take walks
+outside the fort, though she did not venture to do much climbing. The
+old life was almost forgotten. Mère Dubray was very busy with her own
+affairs, and her husband was as exigent as any new lover. Her cookery
+appealed to him in the most important place, his stomach.
+
+"And to think I have done without thee these two years," he would moan.
+
+When she saw her, the little girl had a strange fear that at the last
+moment they would seize her and take her up to the fur country with
+them. Pani was to go; he was of some service, if you kept a sharp eye
+on him, and had a switch handy.
+
+"I'll tell you," he said to Rose when he waylaid her one day, "because
+you never got me into trouble and had me beaten. I shall have to start
+with them and I will go two days' journey, so they won't suspect. Then
+at night I'll start back. I like Quebec, and you and the good gentleman
+who throws you a laugh when he passes, instead of striking you. And I'll
+hunt and fish, and be a sailor. I'll not starve. And you will not tell
+even miladi, who is so beautiful and sweet. Promise."
+
+Rose promised. And now they were to go down the river.
+
+"The courage, of course," and Madame glanced up smilingly. "We take the
+child for the present."
+
+"I shall soon be jealous, _ma mie_, but it is a pleasure to see a bright
+young thing about that can talk with her eyes and not chatter shrilly.
+_Mon dieu!_ what voices most of the wives have, and they are
+transmitting them to their children. Yes; we will start at noon, and be
+gone two days. Destournier has some messages to deliver. Put on thy
+plainest frock, we are not in sunny France now."
+
+She had learned that and only dressed up now and then for her husband's
+sake, or to please the child. And she had made her some pretty frocks
+out of petticoats quite too fine for wear here.
+
+Rose was overjoyed. Wanamee was to accompany them. When they were ready
+they were piloted down to the wharf by Monsieur, and there was M. Ralph
+to welcome them. The river was brisk with boats and canoes and shallops.
+The sun glistened on the naked backs of Indian rowers bending with every
+stroke of the paddles to a rhythmic sort of sound, that later on grew to
+be regular songs. There were squaws handling canoes with grace and
+dexterity. One would have considered Quebec a great _entrepôt_.
+
+But the river with its beautiful bank, its groves of trees that had not
+yet been despoiled, its frowning rocks glinting in the sunshine, its
+wild flowers, its swift dazzle of birds, its great flocks of geese,
+snowy white, in the little coves that uttered shrill cries and then
+huddled together, the islands that reared grassy heads a moment and were
+submerged as the current swept over them.
+
+"Why are they not drowned?" asked Rose. "Or can they swim like the
+little Indian boys?"
+
+M. Giffard laughed--he often did at her quaint questions.
+
+"They are like the trees; they have taken root ever so far down, and the
+tide cannot sweep them away."
+
+"And is Quebec rooted that way? Do the rocks hold fast? And--all the
+places, even France?"
+
+"They have staunch foundations. The good God has anchored them fast."
+
+A puzzled look wavered over her face. "Monsieur, it is said the great
+world is round. Why does not the water spill out as it turns? It would
+fall out of a pail."
+
+"Ah, child, that once puzzled wiser heads than thine. And years must
+pass over thy head before thou canst understand."
+
+"When I am as big as miladi?"
+
+"I am afraid I do not quite understand myself, though I learned it in
+the convent, I am quite sure. And I could not see why we did not fall
+off. Some of the good nuns still believed the world was flat," and
+miladi laughed. "Women's brains were not made for over-much study."
+
+"Is it far to France?"
+
+"Two months' or so sail."
+
+"On a river?"
+
+"Oh, on a great ocean. We must look at the Sieur's chart. Out of sight
+of any land for days and days."
+
+"I should feel afraid. And if you did not know where the land was?"
+
+"But the sailor can tell by his chart."
+
+What a wonderful world it was. She had supposed Quebec the greatest
+thing in it. And now she knew so much about France and the beautiful
+city called Paris, where the King and Queen lived, and ladies who went
+gowned just like Madame, the first time she saw her. And there was an
+England. M. Ralph had been there and seen their island empire, which
+could not compare with France. She had a vague idea France was all the
+rest of the world.
+
+What days they were, for the weather was unusually fine. Now and then
+they paused to explore some small isle, or to get fresh game. As for
+fish, in those days the river seemed full of them. So many small streams
+emptied into the St. Lawrence. Berries were abundant, and they feasted
+to their hearts' content. The Indians dried them in the sun for winter
+use.
+
+Tadoussac was almost as busy as Quebec. As the fur monopoly had been in
+part broken up, there were trappers here with packs of furs, and several
+Indian settlements. It was Champlain's idea which Giffard was to work
+up, to enlist rival traders to become sharers in the traffic, and
+enlarge the trade, instead of keeping in one channel.
+
+Madame and the little girl, piloted by Wanamee, visited several of the
+wigwams, and the surprise of the Indian women at seeing the white lady
+and the child was great indeed. Rose was rather afraid at first, and
+drew back.
+
+"They take it that you are the wife of the great father in France, that
+is the King," translated Wanamee, "because you have crossed the ocean.
+And you must not blame their curiosity. They will do you no harm."
+
+But they wanted to examine my lady's frock and her shoes, with their
+great buckles that nearly covered her small foot. Her sleeves came in
+for a share of wonder, and her white, delicate arms they loaded with
+curious bracelets, made of shells ground and polished until they
+resembled gems. Then, too, they must feast them with a dish of Indian
+cookery, which seemed ground maize broken by curiously arranged
+millstones, in which were put edible roots, fish, and strips of dried
+meat, that proved quite too much for miladi's delicate stomach. The
+child had grown accustomed to it, as Lalotte sometimes indulged in it,
+but she always shook her head in disdain and frowned on it.
+
+"Such _pot au feu_ no one would eat at home," she would declare
+emphatically.
+
+They were loaded with gifts when they came away. Beautifully dressed
+deerskins, strips of work that were remarkable, miladi thought, and she
+wondered how they could accomplish so much with so few advantages.
+
+The child had been a great source of amusement to all on shipboard. Her
+utter ignorance of the outside world, her quaint frankness and innocence
+tempted Giffard to play off on her curiosity and tell wonderful tales of
+the mother country. And then Wanamee would recount Indian legends and
+strange charms and rites used by the sages of the Abenaquis in the time
+of her forefathers, before any white man had been seen in the country.
+
+Then their homeward route began, the pause at the Isle d'Orléans, the
+narrowing river, the more familiar Point Levis, the frowning rocks, the
+palisades, and the fort. All the rest was wildness, except the clearing
+that had been made and kept free that no skulking enemy should take an
+undue advantage and surprise them by a sudden onslaught.
+
+The Sieur de Champlain came down to meet them. Rose was leaping from
+point to point like a young deer. It was no longer a pale face, it had
+been a little changed by sun and wind.
+
+"Well, little one, hast thou made many discoveries?"
+
+"Oh, yes, indeed. I would not mind going to France now. And we have
+brought back some such queer things; beautiful, too. But we did not like
+some of the cooking, miladi and I, and Quebec is dearer, for it is
+home," and her eyes shone with delight.
+
+"Home! Thanks, little maid, for your naming it on this wise," and he
+smiled down in the eager face as he turned to greet Madame.
+
+She was a little weary of the wildness and loneliness of dense woods and
+great hills and banks of the river, that roared and shrieked at times as
+if ghost-haunted. Wanamee's stories had touched the superstitious
+threads of her brain.
+
+M. Giffard took the Sieur's arm and drew him a trifle aside. Destournier
+offered his to the lady and assisted her up the rocky steep. Many a
+tragedy would pass there before old Quebec became new Quebec, with
+famous and heroic story.
+
+She leaned a little heavily on his arm. "The motion of the ship is still
+swaying my brain," she remarked, with a soft laugh. "So, if I am
+awkward, I crave your patience. Oh, see that child! She will surely
+fall."
+
+Rose was climbing this way and that, now hugging a young tree growing
+out of some crevice, then letting it go with a great flap, now
+snatching a handful of wild flowers, and treading the fragrance out of
+wild grapes.
+
+"She is sure-footed like any other wild thing. I saw her first perched
+upon that great gray rock yonder."
+
+"The daring little monkey! I believe they brave every danger. I wonder
+if we shall ever learn anything about her. The Sieur has so much on
+hand, and men are wont to drop the thread of a pursuit or get it tangled
+up with other things, so it would be too much of a burthen to ask him.
+And another year I shall go to Paris myself. If she does not develop too
+much waywardness, and keeps her good looks, I shall take her."
+
+"Then I think you may be quite sure of a companion."
+
+Wanamee had preceded them and thrown open the room to the slant rays of
+western sunshine. Madame sank down on a couch, exhausted. The Indian
+girl brought in some refreshments.
+
+"Stay and partake of some," she said, with a winsome smile. "I cannot be
+bereft of everybody."
+
+But the child came in presently, eager and full of news that was hardly
+news to her, after all.
+
+"Pani is here," she exclaimed. "Madame Dubray and her husband have gone
+with the trappers. They took Pani. He said he would run away. They kept
+him two days, and tied him at night, but he loosened the thongs and ran
+nearly all night. Then he has hidden away, for some new people have
+taken the house. And he wants to stay here. He will be my slave."
+
+She looked eagerly at my lady.
+
+"Thou art getting to be such a venturesome midge that it may be well to
+have so devoted an attendant. Yet I remember he left thee alone and ill
+and hungry not so long ago."
+
+Rose laughed gayly.
+
+"If he had not left me I could not have taken the courage to crawl out.
+And no one else might have come. He wanted to see the ships. And Madame
+Dubray whipped him well, so that score is settled," with a sound of
+justice well-paid for in her voice.
+
+"We will see"--nodding and laughing.
+
+"Then can I tell him?"
+
+"The elders had better do that. But there will be room enough in Quebec
+for him and us, I fancy," returned miladi.
+
+Rose ran away. Pani was waiting out on the gallery.
+
+"They will not mind," she announced. "But you must have some place to
+sleep, and"--studying him critically from the rather narrow face, the
+bony shoulders, and slim legs--"something to eat. Mère Dubray had
+plenty, except towards spring when the stores began to fail."
+
+"I can track rabbits and hares, and catch fish on the thin places in the
+rivers. Oh, I shall not starve. But I'm hungry."
+
+The wistful look in his eyes touched her.
+
+"Let us find Wanamee," she exclaimed, leading the way to the culinary
+department.
+
+Miladi had been surprised and almost shocked at the rough manner of
+living in this new France. The food, too, was primitive, lacking in the
+delicacies to which she had been used, and the manners she thought
+barbarous. But for M. Destournier and the courtesy of the Sieur she
+would have prayed to return at once.
+
+"Wait a little," pleaded Laurent. "If there is a fortune to be made in
+this new world, why should we not have our share? And I can see that
+there is. Matters are quite unsettled at home, but if we go back with
+gold in our purses we shall do well enough."
+
+Then the child had appealed to her. And it was flattering to be the only
+lady of note and have homage paid to her.
+
+So the children sought Wanamee, and while Pani brought some sticks and
+soon had a bed of coals, Wanamee stirred up some cakes of rye and maize,
+and the boy prepared a fish for cooking. He was indeed hungry, and his
+eyes glistened with the delight of eating.
+
+"It smells so good," said Rose. "Wanamee, bring me a piece. I can always
+eat now, and a while ago I could not bear the smell of food."
+
+"You were so thin and white. And Mère Dubray thought every morning you
+would be dead. You wouldn't like to be put in the ground, would you?"
+
+"Oh, no, no!" shivering.
+
+"Nor burned. Then you go to ashes and only the bones are left."
+
+"That is horrid, too. Burning hurts. I have burned my fingers with
+coals."
+
+"But my people don't mind it. They are very brave. And you go to the
+great hunting grounds way over to the west, where the good Manitou has
+everything, and you don't have to work, and no one beats you."
+
+"The white people have a heaven. That is above the sky. And when the
+stars come out it is light as day on the other side, and there are
+flowers and trees, and rivers and all manner of fruit such as you never
+see here."
+
+"I'd rather hunt. When I get to be a man I shall go off and discover
+wonderful things. In some of the mountains there is gold. And out by the
+great oceans where the Hurons have encamped there are copper and silver.
+The company talked about it. Some were for going there. And there were
+fur animals, all the same."
+
+Rose had been considering another subject.
+
+"Pani," she began, with great seriousness, "you are not any one's slave
+now."
+
+"No"--rather hesitatingly. "The Dubrays will never come back, or if they
+should next summer, with furs, I will run away again up to the Saguenay,
+where they will not look. But there are Indian boys in plenty where the
+tribes fight and take prisoners."
+
+"You shall be my slave."
+
+The young Indian's cheek flushed.
+
+"The slave of a girl!" he said, with a touch of disdain.
+
+"Why not? I should not beat you."
+
+"Oh, you couldn't"--triumphantly.
+
+"But you might be miladi's slave," suggested Wanamee, "and then you
+could watch the little one and follow her about to see that nothing
+harmed her."
+
+"There shouldn't anything hurt her." He sprang up. "You see I am growing
+tall, and presently I shall be a man. But I won't be a slave always."
+
+"No, no," said the Indian woman.
+
+"That was very good, excellent," pointing to the two empty birch-bark
+dishes, which he picked up and threw on the coals, a primitive way to
+escape dish washing. "I will find you a heap more. I will get fish or
+berries, and oh, I know where the bees have stored a lot of honey in a
+hollow tree."
+
+"You let them alone for another month," commanded Wanamee. "Honey--that
+will be a treat indeed."
+
+Miladi had missed the sweets of her native land, though there they had
+not been over-plentiful, since royalty must needs be served first. They
+bought maple sugar and a kind of crude syrup of the Abenaqui women, who
+were quite experts in making it. When the sun touched the trees in the
+morning when the hoarfrost had disappeared, they inserted tubes of bark,
+rolled tightly, and caught the sap in the troughs. Then they filled
+their kettles that swung over great fires, and the fragrance arising
+made the forests sweet with a peculiar spiciness. It was a grand time
+for the children, who snatched some of the liquid out of the kettle on a
+birch-bark ladle, and ran into the woods for it to cool. Pani had often
+been with them.
+
+"Let us go down to the old house," exclaimed Rose. "Do you know who is
+there?"
+
+"Pierre Gaudrion. He gets stone for the new walls they are laying
+against the fort. And there are five or six little ones."
+
+"It must be queer. Oh, let us go and see them."
+
+She was off like a flash, but he followed as swiftly. Here was the
+garden where she had pulled weeds with a hot hatred in her heart that
+she would have liked to tear up the whole garden and throw it over in
+the river. She glanced around furtively--what if Mère Dubray should come
+suddenly in search of Pani.
+
+Three little ones were tumbling about on the grass. The oldest girl was
+grinding at the rude mill, a boy was making something out of birch
+branches, interlaced with willow. A round, cheerful face glanced up from
+patching a boy's garment, and smiled. Madame Gaudrion's mother had been
+a white woman left at the Saguenay basin in a dying condition, it was
+supposed, but she had recovered and married a half-breed. One daughter
+had cast in her lot with a roving tribe. Pierre Gaudrion had seen the
+other in one of the journeys up to Tadoussac and brought her home.
+
+The Sieur did not discourage these marriages, for the children
+generally affiliated with the whites, and if the colony was to prosper
+there must be marriages and children.
+
+Rose stopped suddenly, rather embarrassed, for all her bravado.
+
+"I used to live here," as if apologizing.
+
+"Yes. But Mère Dubray was not your mother."
+
+"No. Nor Catherine Arlac."
+
+The woman shook her head. "I know not many people. We live on the other
+side. And the babies come so fast I have not much time. But Pierre say
+now we must have bigger space and garden for the children to work in. So
+we are glad when Mère Dubray go up to the fur country with her man. You
+were ill, they said. But you do not look ill. Did you not want to go
+with her?"
+
+"Oh, no, no. And I live clear up there," nodding to the higher altitude.
+"M'sieu Hébert is there and Madame. And a beautiful lady, Madame
+Giffard. I did not love Mère Dubray."
+
+"If I have a child that will not love me, it would break my heart. What
+else are little ones for until they grow up and marry in turn?"
+
+"But--I was not her child."
+
+"And your mother."
+
+"I do not know. She was dead before I could remember. Then I was brought
+from France."
+
+Suddenly she felt the loss of her mother. She belonged to no one in the
+world.
+
+"Poor _petite_." She made a sudden snatch at her own baby and hugged it
+so tightly that it shrieked, at which she laughed.
+
+"Some day a man will hug thee and thou wilt not scream," she said in
+good humor.
+
+Pani came from round the corner and then darted back. The boy left his
+work and came forward.
+
+"Who was that?" he asked. "My father said 'get an Indian boy to work in
+the garden.' I am making a chair for the little one. And I can't tell
+which are weeds. Yesterday I pulled up some onions and father was angry,
+but he could set them out again."
+
+Rose laughed at that, and thought it remarkable that his father did not
+beat him.
+
+"Pani might show you a little. He belongs to me now. We both used to
+work in the garden. Mère Dubray was always knitting and cooking."
+
+Pani emerged again. "Yes, let us go," and Rose led the way, but she
+would have liked to throw herself down among the babies, who seemed all
+arms and legs.
+
+"Can you read?" the boy said suddenly. "We have a book and I can read
+quite well. My father knows how. And I want to be a great man like the
+Sieur, and some of the soldiers. I want to know how to keep accounts,
+and to go to France some time in the big ships."
+
+Rose colored. "I am going to learn to read this winter, when we have to
+stay in. But it is very difficult--tiresome. I'd rather climb the rocks
+and watch the birds. I had some once that would come for grains and bits
+of corn cake. And the geese were so tame down there by the end of the
+garden."
+
+The rows of corn stood up finely, shaking out their silken heads,
+turning to a bronze red. Then there were potatoes. These were of the
+Dubrays' planting, as well as some of the smaller beds.
+
+"M'sieu Hébert gave father some of these plants. He knows a great deal,
+and he can make all kinds of medicine. It is very fine to know a great
+deal, isn't it?"
+
+"But it must be hard to study so much," returned Rose, with a sigh.
+
+"I don't think so. I wish I had ever so many books like the Sieur and M.
+Hébert. And you can find out places--there are so many of them in the
+world. And do you know there are English people working with all their
+might down in Virginia, and Spanish and Dutch! But some day we shall
+drive them all out and it will be New France as far as you can go. And
+the Indians----"
+
+"You can't drive the Indians out," exclaimed Pani decisively. "The whole
+country is theirs. And there are so many of them. There are tribes and
+tribes all over the land. And they know how to fight."
+
+"They are fighting each other continually. M. Hébert says they will
+sweep each other off after a while. And they are very cruel. You will
+see the French do not fight the French."
+
+Alas, young Pierre Gaudrion, already Catholic and Huguenot were at war:
+one fighting for the right to live in a certain liberty of belief, the
+other thinking they did God a service by undertaking their
+extermination.
+
+The argument rather floored Pani, whose range of knowledge was only wide
+enough to know that many tribes were at bitter enmity with each other.
+
+"Do you want to work in the garden? There are weeds enough to keep you
+busy," said Pierre presently.
+
+"No," returned Pani stoutly.
+
+"And Pani belongs to me," declared Rose.
+
+Pierre turned to look at the girl. Her beauty stirred him strangely.
+Sometimes, when his father sang the old songs of home, the same quiver
+went through every pulse.
+
+"I'm sorry," he said, in a gentler tone. "Now I must go back to my
+chair."
+
+"Is it to be a chair?"
+
+"I can't weave the grasses just right, though some one showed me, only I
+was thinking of other things."
+
+"Let's see." Pani was a little mollified.
+
+They went back to the boy's work.
+
+"I'm only making a little one for Marie. Then I shall try a larger one.
+There are two in the room."
+
+Yes, Rose knew them well. The place was about the same, with the great
+bunk on one side and the smaller one on the other. Mère Dubray's bright
+blankets were gone, with the pictures of the Virgin, and the high
+candlestick, that was alight on certain days. Little mattresses filled
+with dried grass were piled on top of the bunk. It looked like, and yet
+unlike. Rose was glad she did not live here.
+
+Pani inspected the boy's work.
+
+"Oh, you haven't it right. You must put pegs in here, then you can pull
+it up. And this is the way you go."
+
+Pani's deft fingers went in and out like a bit of machinery. It was
+forest lore, and he was at home in it.
+
+"You make it beautiful," exclaimed Pierre. "Oh, go slower, so I can
+understand."
+
+Pani smiled with the praise and put in a word of explanation now and
+then. The boys were fast becoming friends.
+
+"Maman," Pierre cried, "come and see how fine the boy does it. If he
+would come and live with us!"
+
+"I might come a little while and look after the garden. And I could
+catch fish and I know the best places for berries, and the grapes will
+soon be ripening. And the plums. I can shoot birds with an arrow. But I
+belong to mam'selle."
+
+"If she will let you come now and then," wistfully.
+
+"Yes, I might," with an air of condescension.
+
+"Thou art a pretty little lady," was Mère Gaudrion's parting benison to
+the little girl, and Rose smiled. "Come again often."
+
+When they were out of the narrow passageway she said, "Now let us have a
+race. I am glad Mère Dubray is there no longer, are you not? But what a
+funny pile of children!"
+
+They had their race, and a climb, and on the gallery they found miladi
+looking for them, and they told over their adventure.
+
+"Yes," she said smilingly. "I think we can find a place for Pani, and
+between us all I fancy we can keep him so well employed he will not want
+to run away."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+FINDING AMUSEMENTS
+
+
+About the middle of August the Sieur de Champlain and Captain François
+de Pontgrave sailed from Tadoussac for France. The Giffards,
+Destournier, and several others accompanied them to the port, and were
+then to survey some of the places that had advantages for planting
+colonies. They did not return until in September. The season was
+unusually fine and warm, and there had been an abundance of everything.
+The colonists had been busy enough preparing for winter. They had
+learned ways of drying fruit, of smoking meats and fish, of caring for
+their grains. There had been no talk of Indian raids, indeed the
+villages about were friendly with the whites, and friendly with several
+of the outlying tribes. Some had gone on raids farther south.
+
+Madame Giffard would have found time hanging heavy on her hands but for
+the child. She began to teach her to read and to play checkers. Rose did
+not take kindly to embroidery, but some of the Indian work interested
+her. With Pani and Wanamee's assistance she made baskets and curious
+vase-like jars. Pierre Gaudrion came up now and then, and miladi
+considered him quite a prodigy in several ways.
+
+When they were dull and tired miladi gave Rose dancing lessons. The
+child was really fascinated with the enjoyment. Miladi would dress up in
+one of her pretty gowns to the child's great delight, and they would
+invent wonderful figures. Sometimes the two men would join them, and
+they would keep up the amusement till midnight.
+
+Pani was growing rapidly and he was their most devoted knight. And when
+the snows set in there were great snowballing games; sometimes between
+the Indians alone, at others, the whites would take a hand.
+
+It was splendid entertainment for the children to slide about on the
+snowy crust, that glistened in the sunlight as if sprinkled with gems.
+The Indian women often participated in this amusement. And miladi looked
+as bewitching in her deerskin suit, with its fringes and bright
+adornments of feather borders, and her lovely furs, as in her Paris
+attire. She often thought she would like to walk into some assembly and
+make a stir in her strange garments.
+
+What is the Sieur doing? Making new bargains, persuading colonists to
+join them, getting concessions to the profit of New France. Alas! Old
+France was a selfish sort of stepmother. She wanted furs, she wanted
+colonies planted, she wanted explorations, and possessions taken in
+every direction, to thwart English and Dutch, who seemed somehow to be
+prospering, but the money supplies were pared to the narrowest edge.
+
+The little girl would have been much interested in one step her dear
+Sieur was taking, though she did not hear of it until long afterward.
+This was his betrothment and marriage to Marie Hélène, the daughter of
+Nicolas Boullé, private secretary to the young King. A child of twelve,
+and the soldier and explorer who was now forty or over, but held his
+years well and the hardships had written few lines on his kindly and
+handsome face. That he was very much charmed with the child, who was
+really quite mature for her age, was true, though it is thought the
+friendship of her father and her dowry had some weight. But she adored
+her heroic lover, although she was to be returned to the convent to
+finish her education. Then the Sieur made his will and settled a part of
+the dowry on his bride, and the income of all his other property, his
+maps and books, "in case of his death in voyages on the sea and in the
+service of the King."
+
+If the autumn had been lovely and long beyond expectations, winter
+lingered as well. And the travellers had a hard time on their return.
+Lofty bergs floated down the Atlantic, and great floes closed in around
+the vessel, and the rigging was encased in glittering ice. Sometimes
+their hearts failed them and the small boats were made ready, but
+whither would they steer? Captain Pontgrave kept up his courage, and
+"when they brought their battered craft into the harbor of Tadoussac
+they fired a cannon shot in joyous salute," says history. Seventy-four
+days had their journey lasted.
+
+The country was still white with snow, although it was May. Already some
+trading vessels were bidding for furs, but the Montagnais had had a hard
+winter as well, and the Bay traders would have perished on the way.
+
+Champlain pushed on to Quebec, though his heart was full of fears.
+
+Rose was out on the gallery, that Pani was clearing from the frequent
+light falls of snow. A canoe was being rowed by some Indians and in the
+stern sat the dearly-loved Commander. "They have come! they have come!"
+shouted Rose, and she ran in to spread the joyful news. Destournier and
+Giffard were at a critical point in a game of chess, but both sprang up.
+The bell pealed out, there was a salute, and every one in the fort
+rushed out with exclamations of joy. For the sake of the little girl he
+had left, the Sieur stooped and kissed Rose.
+
+Du Parc was in the best of spirits, and had only a good account. There
+had been no sickness, no Indian troubles, and provisions had lasted
+well. All was joy and congratulations. Even the Indian settlements near
+by built bonfires and beat their drums, dancing about with every
+indication of delighted welcome.
+
+He had brought with him the young Indian Savignon, while Etienne Brulé
+had wintered with the Ottawas, perfecting himself in their language. He
+was a fine specimen of his race, as far as physique went, and his winter
+in civilization had given him quite a polish.
+
+There was a great feast. Miladi was in her glory ordering it, and
+Savignon paid her some compliments that quite savored of old times in
+her native land. She was fond of admiration, and here there was but
+small allowance of it.
+
+He was to restore the young brave to his tribe, and Destournier was to
+accompany him. He saw that with trade open to rivals there must be some
+stations. It was true no men could be spared to form a new colony, and
+the few he had induced to emigrate would do better service in the old
+settlement. In Cartier's time there had been the village of Hochelega.
+It was a great stretch of open fertile land, abounding in wild fruits
+and grapes, so he pre-empted it in the name of the King, put up a stout
+cross, and built two or three log huts, and planted some grain seeds
+that might in turn scatter themselves around. And so began Montreal. The
+river was dotted with islands; the largest, on which the wild iris, the
+fleur-de-lis, grew abundantly, he named St. Hélène, in remembrance of
+his little betrothed.
+
+They pushed on beyond the rapids and here he met the Algonquins and
+restored their young brave to them, and was glad to find Etienne Brulé
+in good health and spirits. But Savignon bade him farewell ruefully,
+declaring life in Paris was much more agreeable, and spoiled one for the
+wilderness.
+
+Various bands of Hurons and Algonquins came to meet the great white
+Sagamore, and he secured much trade for the coming season. But the fur
+business was being greatly scattered, and Demont's finances were at a
+rather low ebb, so there could not be the necessary branching out.
+
+Destournier had some schemes as well. He had come to the new world
+partly from curiosity and the desire to mend his fortunes. He saw now
+some fine openings, if he could get a concession or grant of land. His
+old family seat might be disposed of, he had not Laurent Giffard's aim
+to make a fortune here and go back to France and spend it for show.
+
+Madame Giffard was deeply disappointed at this prospect, and Rose was
+inconsolable.
+
+"Who will read to us in the long evenings and the days when the driving
+snow makes it seem like night. And oh, M'sieu, who will dance with me
+and tell me those delightful stories, and laugh at my sayings that come
+like birds' flights across my mind and go their way?"
+
+"You will have miladi. And there are the Gaudrion children. Pierre has a
+heart full of worship for you. And books that the Governor brought. The
+time will pass quickly."
+
+"To you. There will be so many things. But the long, long days. And
+miladi says there are so many pretty girls in Paris, whose dancing and
+singing are marvellous, and who would laugh at a frock of deerskin. Oh,
+you will forget me, and all the time I shall think of you. You will not
+care."
+
+Her beautiful eyes were suffused with tears, the brilliance of her cheek
+faded, and her bosom heaved with emotion. What a girl she would be a few
+years hence. His dear Sieur had married a child--was he really in love
+with her? But his regard was fatherly, brotherly.
+
+"See," he began, "we will make a bargain. When the first star comes out
+you will watch for it and say, 'M'sieu Ralph is looking at it and
+thinking of me.' And I will say--'the little Rose of Quebec is turning
+toward me,' and we will meet in heart. Will not this comfort thee?"
+
+"Oh, I shall hug it to my heart. The star! the star! And when the sky is
+thick with clouds I shall remember you told me the stars were always
+there. And I will shut my eyes and see you. I see strange things at
+times."
+
+"So you must not be unhappy, for I shall return," and he took her
+throbbing fingers in his.
+
+She raised her lovely eyes. What a charming coquette she would make, if
+she were not so innocent. But the long fringe of lashes was beaded with
+tears.
+
+It was odd, he thought, but with all the admiration of her husband
+miladi made as great a time as the child. What should she do in this
+horrible lonely place, shut up in the fort all winter, with no company
+but an Indian woman and a child whose limited understanding took in only
+foolish pleasures. What miladi needed was companionship. Ah! if she
+could return to France. If Laurent would only consent. But now he
+thought only of fortune-making.
+
+"And a return at the end. He is not taking root here. I am. I like the
+boundless freedom of this new country," said Destournier.
+
+"You will marry. There is some demoiselle at home on whom your heart is
+set. And the old friendship will go for naught. You have been--yes, like
+a brother," and she flushed.
+
+"No, I am not likely to marry," he returned gravely.
+
+"But--you will not return," in a desperate kind of tone. "You will be
+won by Paris."
+
+"I shall return. All my interests are here. And as I said--I shall leave
+my heart in this new country."
+
+Then she smiled, a little secure in the thought that she had no rival.
+
+So again the Sieur de Champlain set sail for France, and many a
+discourse he held with Ralph Destournier on the future of Quebec, that
+child of his dreams and his heart. It would be fame enough, he thought,
+to be handed down to posterity as the founder of Quebec, the explorer of
+the great inland seas that joining arms must lead across the continent.
+
+Miladi was very capricious, Rose found, although she did not know the
+meaning of the word. What she wanted to-day she scouted to-morrow.
+Rose's reading was enough to set one wild. Sure she was not
+French-born, or she would know by intuition. Sometimes she would say
+pettishly, "Go away, child, you disturb me," and then Rose would play
+hide-and-seek with Pani, or run down to the Gaudrions. Marie was quite
+an expert in Indian embroidery, the children were gay and frolicsome,
+and there was a new baby. Pierre was very fond of her; a studious
+fellow, with queer ideas that often worked themselves out in some useful
+fashion. They read together, stumbling over words they could not
+understand.
+
+"And I shall build a boat of my own and go out to those wonderful
+rapids. At one moment it feels as if you would be submerged, then you
+ride up on top with a shout. Cubenic said the Sieur stood it as bravely
+as any Indian. Why--if your boat was overturned you could swim."
+
+"But there's a current that sucks you in. And there's a strange woman, a
+windigo, who haunts the rapids and drags you down and eats you."
+
+"I don't believe such nonsense. In one of the Sieur's books there is a
+story of some people who believed there was a spirit in everything.
+There were gods of the waters, of the trees, of the winds, and the
+Indians are much like them. I've never found any of their gods, have
+you?"
+
+"No"--rather reluctantly. "But Wanamee has. And sometimes they bring
+back dead people."
+
+"Then they don't always eat them," and the boy laughed.
+
+She had meant to tell miladi of her tryst and beg her to come out and
+see the star, but when she found her not only indifferent, but fretful,
+she refrained and was glad presently that she had this delicious secret
+to herself. But there was a great mystery. Sometimes the star was
+different. Instead of being golden, it was a pale blue, and then almost
+red. Was it that way in France, she wondered.
+
+She came to have a strange fondness for the stars, and to note their
+changes. Was it true that the old people M'sieu Ralph had read about,
+the Greeks, had seen their gods and goddesses taken up to the sky and
+set in the blue? There were thrones mounted with gems, there were
+figures that chased each other; to-night they were here, to-morrow night
+somewhere else. But the star that came out first was hers, and she sent
+a message across the ocean with it. And the star said in return, "I am
+thinking of you."
+
+He did think of her, and tried to trace out some parentage. Catherine
+Defroy had gone from St. Malo, a single woman. Then by all the accounts
+he could find she must have spent two years in Paris. Clearly she was
+not mother of the child.
+
+After all, what did it matter? Rose would probably spend her life in New
+France. If it was never proven that she came of gentlefolks, Laurent
+Giffard would hardly consent to his wife's mothering her. He had a good
+deal of pride of birth.
+
+The winter passed away and this year spring came early, unchaining the
+streams and sending them headlong to the rivers; filling the air with
+the fragrant new growth of the pines, hemlocks, and cedars, the young
+grasses, and presently all blossoming things. The beauty touched Rose
+deeply. No one understood, so she only talked of these strange things to
+the trees and the stars at night. Often she was a merry romp, climbing
+rocks, out in a canoe, which she had learned to manage perfectly, though
+sometimes Pani accompanied her, sometimes Pierre Gaudrion, who was
+growing fast and making himself very useful to Du Parc.
+
+As for the Sieur, he found much to engross his attention. There was a
+new trading company that had the privilege of eleven years. There was
+another volume of voyages and discoveries, the maps and illustrations
+finely engraved. Then he had laid before the secretary of the King the
+urgent need of some religious instruction. Acadia had quite a thriving
+Jesuit mission. This order was not in high favor with Champlain, who
+deprecated their narrowness. The Sieur Houel recommended the Récollets,
+and four willing missionaries were finally chosen. The company had
+fitted up a large vessel and were taking all the stores they could
+purchase or beg, and quite a number of emigrants of a better class than
+heretofore.
+
+They were all warmly welcomed, and found the colonists in very good
+order. The enthusiastic priest startled them by kneeling on the soil and
+devoutly consecrating it to God, and giving thanks that He had called
+them to this new and arduous field of labor. The coarse gray cassock
+girt at the waist with a bit of rope, the pointed hood, which often hung
+around their necks and betrayed the shaven crown, their general air of
+poverty and humility attracted attention, but did not so much appeal to
+the colonists or the Indians. They were fearful of the new order of
+things.
+
+Quebec had enlarged her borders somewhat. The one-roomed hut had spread
+out into two or three apartments. The gardens had increased. Some roads
+had been made, the workmen taking the stone quarried to add to their own
+houses. Still they received the fathers with a certain degree of
+cordiality.
+
+Champlain set aside ground for their convent, and they first erected an
+altar and celebrated Mass. Père Dolbeau was the officiating priest. The
+people, most of whom came from curiosity, knelt around on the earth,
+while cannon from the ramparts announced the mystic services. The
+Giffards joined in them reverentially, but Rose was full of wonderment.
+Indeed, her joy was so great at seeing Destournier again that she could
+give thanks for nothing else.
+
+Then they erected a rude hut and discussed the work that lay before
+them. Le Caron would go to the Hurons, Dolbeau to the Montagnais, Jamay
+and Du Plessis would take charge of Quebec and the outlying provinces,
+and planned to build a chapel.
+
+Destournier had been successful with his grant. He bad been made
+seignior of a large tract outside of the town, which was destined one
+day to be a part of it. Here he settled some friendly Indians, and
+several of the new-comers, who were to till the soil under his
+directions, and raise different crops to ward off the scarcity of
+rations in the winter. He would build a house for himself and live among
+them.
+
+"But why not remain in the fort?" asked miladi. "What charm can you find
+with those ignorant people? Though perhaps peas and beans, radishes and
+cabbages may console one for more intellectual pursuits."
+
+"I shall only spend the days with them at present," he returned, with a
+smile.
+
+And now again came the influx of the fur-traders. It had been a good
+season and from the new settlement of Montreal to Tadoussac, vessels
+were packing away the precious freight. Champlain had gone with a body
+of soldiers to help defend a town the Iroquois had threatened to attack.
+The missions thus far had borne no fruit. Indeed the new teaching of the
+Récollets in its severity was not pleasant. The Hurons were seized with
+a panic after losing several of their leaders and the Sieur was wounded.
+All winter the people at Quebec waited anxiously for their leader, and
+parties set out to see if they could find any tidings. At last they were
+sighted, and great was the joy at finding their beloved chieftain well
+and unharmed. But he was not allowed to remain long in his pet
+settlement. There were disputes and altercations, and he was summoned to
+France.
+
+"Another year we shall go ourselves," announced Laurent Giffard to his
+wife. "We have enough now to make ourselves comfortable, and I doubt if
+the company can weather through. At all events I shall be glad to be
+well out of it. Art thou glad of the prospect?"
+
+"There is great commotion with the King and his mother, and between
+Huguenot and Catholic," she made answer slowly. "Does the Sieur
+Destournier throw up his schemes in disgust as well?"
+
+"Ah, I think he is wedded to the soil. The Governor trusts everything to
+him, and Du Parc, and both are capable men. But truth to tell I have
+lost faith in the colony. I hear the Virginians and the Bostonnais are
+doing much better. France cannot, or will not, spend the money, nor send
+the men to put the place on a sure foundation. The Indians grow more
+troublesome. They hate being meddled with by the priests. They take
+wives when they want them, and send them away when they are tired of
+them. They torture prisoners--some day the priests will have a taste of
+it themselves."
+
+"They are all horrible," she said, with a shiver.
+
+"And we will go back to La Belle France. I fancy I can manage a sort of
+preferment with Dubissay, who has the ear of the Queen mother at
+present. At all events I am tired of this turmoil, and thou, _ma mie_,
+art wasting thy beauty in this savage land."
+
+He stooped and kissed her. If he had been ready last year, she would
+have hailed the prospect with delight. Why did it not seem so attractive
+now?
+
+"And the child?" she asked presently, her eyes fixed on the floor.
+
+Was the tone indifferent?
+
+"How much dost thou love her, _ma mie_? At first thy heart was sore for
+the loss of our own, but time heals all such wounds. Destournier left no
+stone unturned to discover her parentage, and failed. I think she has
+been some one's love child. True we could give her our name, and with a
+good dowry she could marry well. But she will want some years of convent
+training to tone her down."
+
+"And if we should leave her here? Though they say Miladi de Champlain
+comes over soon, and there may be a court with maids of honor."
+
+He laughed. "What I fancy is this, though I am no seer. Destournier is
+fond of her, fatherly now, but she is shooting up into a tall girl.
+There will not be so many years between them as the Sieur and
+Mademoiselle Boullé. And some day he will take her to wife. 'Twere a
+pity to spoil the romance. She adores him."
+
+Miladi bit her lip hard, and drew her brow into a sharp frown.
+
+"What nonsense!" she made answer.
+
+"Destournier is a fine fellow, and will be a rich one some day."
+
+"The more need that he should marry in his own station."
+
+"But there is talk of reproducing home titles in this new land. And
+Baron Destournier can raise his wife to his own station. If the child
+should not be amenable to training, or develop some waywardness, there
+might be sorrow, rather than joy or satisfaction in thine heart."
+
+"There will be time enough to consider," she returned.
+
+He left the room. She went out on the shady side of the gallery, and
+looked down over the town. The two under discussion a moment ago were
+climbing the steep rocks instead of taking the path where steps were
+cut. The wind blew her shining hair about, her face was filled with
+ripples of laughter. He took her arm and she would have no help, but
+sprang like a deer from point to point, then turned to throw her
+merriment at him.
+
+"Yes, miladi would take her to France. What if some day he should
+follow?"
+
+The Governor spent a month in intense satisfaction, enlarging the
+borders of his pet garden, talking with M. Hébert, who had been watching
+the growth of some fine fruit trees imported from northern France, that
+had blossomed and were perfecting a few specimens of fruit. He thought
+sometimes it would be a joy to give up all cares and rest in cultivating
+the soil. If the summers were short everything grew abundantly. There
+were several rare plants, also, that they had acclimated.
+
+"Bring thy wife over and be content," advised M. Hébert, in a cordial
+tone, "and enjoy the governorship."
+
+M. de Champlain laughed. But presently he said: "Friend, you little know
+the delights of an explorer who brings new countries to light, who
+builds cities that may continue after him. The route to India has not
+yet been located. The fields of gold and silver have not been
+discovered. The lilies of France have not been planted over there,"
+nodding his head. "We must go before the Spaniard gets a foothold. Yet
+there are delights I must confess that even Horace longed for--a
+garden."
+
+But if he longed for it at times he found the restless current hurrying
+him on. Some disaffected members of the company were bringing charges
+against him, desiring to depose him from the governorship. But Condé,
+who had again come into power, knew there was not another man who would
+work so untiringly for the good of New France, or make it bring in such
+rich returns.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+JOURNEYING TO A FAR COUNTRY
+
+
+The colony passed a very fair winter. It was in the latter part of April
+that one night an alarm was given and the big bell at the fort rang out
+its call to arms.
+
+The messenger had trudged through the snow and was breathless.
+
+"An Indian attack. The Iroquois are burning the settlement, and
+murdering our people. To arms! to arms!"
+
+There had been no Indian raid for a long while. Destournier had tried to
+fortify the back of his plantation. There were Montagnais and Algonquins
+of the better type living there peaceably. It was not altogether
+cupidity. An Iroquois woman had been found cruelly murdered, and the
+wandering band laid it at once to the settlement. It took only a brief
+while to work themselves up to a frenzy.
+
+It did not take long to plan revenge. There was no chief at the head;
+indeed, in these roving bands it was every brave for himself. And now
+after a powwow, since they were not large enough in numbers to attack
+the fort, and they found some of the Indian converts were in the new
+settlement, they determined on an onslaught.
+
+The barricade at the back was high and strong. It was not so well
+fortified on the side toward the fort, and they pushed through a weak
+place at the end, lighted their torches, and commenced a treacherous
+assault. Roused from their slumbers, and terrified to the last degree,
+the air was soon filled with shrieks, and bursting in doors, the houses
+were set on fire. They were wary enough to guard their loop-hole for
+escape, but they found themselves outnumbered, and in turn had to fight
+for their own lives. The blazing huts lighted up the snow in a weird
+fashion; the shrieks and cries and jargon of the Iroquois added to the
+frightfulness. Yet the struggle was brief. The enemy, finding themselves
+on the losing side, began to fly, pursued by the soldiers, and indeed,
+many of the inhabitants.
+
+Destournier roused at the first alarm, and Du Parc gave orders that were
+speedily obeyed. The citadel was in a glow of light and wild commotion.
+
+Giffard ran down the stone steps with his musket. Destournier barred his
+way.
+
+"Some of us have no wives," he said briefly. "Go back and keep guard
+until we see what the dastardly attack means."
+
+"There are wives and children in the settlement," was the reply, but he
+paused while Destournier ran on. When he was out of sight, Giffard
+followed.
+
+The soldiers pursued the flying band, but they presently plunged into
+the woods and crept on stealthily, while the pursuers returned. The gray
+morning began to dawn on the smoking ruin and the fitful blazes that the
+men were trying hard to extinguish with the snow. Destournier went from
+one to another. A few huts had not been disturbed, and crying women and
+children were crowding in them. Some bodies lay silent on the
+blood-stained snow. Destournier had taken great pride in the surprise he
+had thought to give the Governor on his return, and here lay most of his
+hopes in ruins.
+
+He gave orders that the wounded should be taken to the fort for
+treatment. It was a gratification to find two Iroquois dead, and when a
+soldier despatched a wounded one he made no comment. It was pitiful when
+the sun rose over the scene of destruction.
+
+"Still there could not have been a large body, or the carnage would have
+been more complete," he said, with some comforting assurance.
+
+"You had better come in for some breakfast," an officer remarked. "You
+look ghastly, and you are blood-stained."
+
+He glanced down at his garments. "Yes," he said, "I will take your
+advice. I want something hot to drink. And we must send some food over
+there."
+
+Rose came flying in as he was demolishing a savory slice of venison.
+
+"Where is M. Giffard?" she cried. "Miladi is so frightened. She wants
+him at once. Oh, wasn't it dreadful! Thank the saints you are safe!"
+
+"Giffard!" He had caught two or three glimpses of him in the mêlée. "He
+may be attending to the wounded. He is a brave fellow in an emergency. I
+must find him."
+
+He swallowed the brandy and water and rushed down to the improvised
+hospital. A dozen or more were being fed and nursed by Wanamee and two
+other Indian women. The priest, too, was kindly exhorting courage and
+patience. Giffard was not here. No one had seen him. He ran over the
+crusty, but trodden-down snow, stained here and there with blood. The
+sun had risen gorgeously, and there was a decided balminess in the air.
+He glanced at the insides of the huts. The furry skins had not been good
+conductors of flames, and the snow on the roofs had saved them. Beside
+the two dead Iroquois there was an Abenaqui woman and her child. In the
+huts that were intact, the frightened women and children had huddled.
+Some of the men were already appraising possible repairs.
+
+"They went this way," announced an Algonquin, in his broken French. He
+had been employed about the fort and found trusty.
+
+The path was marked with blood and fragments of clothing, bags of maize,
+that they had dropped in their flight--finding them a burthen. Here lay
+an Iroquois with a broken leg, who was twisting himself along. The
+Algonquin hit him a blow over the head with the stout club he carried.
+
+"He will not get much further," he commented, as the Indian dropped over
+motionless.
+
+"Have you seen M. Giffard?" Destournier asked.
+
+"_Non, non_. The men came back."
+
+"He is not at the fort."
+
+"Shall we follow on?"
+
+Destournier nodded.
+
+They heard a step crunching over the snow and waited breathlessly.
+
+It was Jacques Roleau they saw as he came in sight, one of the workmen
+at the fort. He gestured to them that all was right.
+
+"They have fled, what was left of them," he explained. "I despatched two
+wounded Iroquois that they had left behind. There are two of our men
+that they must have made prisoners, the M'sieu at the fort who has the
+pretty wife, and young Chauvin"--and he paused, as if there was more to
+say.
+
+"Wounded?"
+
+He shook his head sadly.
+
+"Dead?" Destournier's breath came with a gasp.
+
+"Both dead, M'sieu, but strange, neither has been scalped."
+
+"Let us push on," exclaimed Destournier sadly.
+
+They followed the trail. After a short distance a body had been dragged
+evidently. Roleau led the way through a tortuous path until they came in
+sight of a small vacant spot where sometime Indians had camped, as they
+could tell by the scorched and blackened trees. A nearly nude body had
+been fastened to one and a few dead branches gathered, evidently for a
+fire.
+
+Destournier stood speechless. The head hung down, the face was unmarred,
+save for a few scratches, and he gave thanks for that. But his heart was
+heavy within him. The poor body had been stabbed and cut, yet it had not
+bled much, it seemed.
+
+He would have felt relieved if he had known the whole story. Two
+stalwart bucks had seized Giffard just beyond the settlement and hurried
+him along at such a pace that he could hardly breathe. They fastened his
+arms behind, each man grasping an elbow, and fairly galloped, until one
+of them caught his foot in a fallen tree and went down. In the fall
+Giffard's temple struck against a stone that knocked him senseless. He
+might have revived, but he was hurried along by a stout leathern thong
+slipped under the armpits, and was then dragged a dead weight. They had
+stopped for a holocaust and bound him to a tree, while they despatched
+the younger man. But there was difficulty in finding anything dry enough
+to burn, so they had amused themselves by gashing the dead body. Then
+suddenly alarmed they had plunged farther into the forest, leaving one
+of their own wounded that Roleau had finished.
+
+Giffard had been captured in a moment of incautiousness, but the sights
+and the wantonness had fired his blood and roused a spirit of
+retaliation.
+
+They had nearly stripped both bodies, and carried off the garments.
+
+"If you can manage, M'sieu," exclaimed their guide, "I will take the
+young fellow." He stooped, picked him up, and threw him over his
+shoulder.
+
+"You will find him a heavy burthen," as the man staggered a little.
+
+"I can carry. Do not fear," nodding assurance.
+
+Destournier took off his fur coat and wrapped it about the poor body.
+Each took hold of the improvised litter and they commenced their
+melancholy journey. How could Madame Giffard stand it, for she really
+did love him. The man's heart ached with the sincerest pity.
+
+They laid down their burthens inside the settlement in one of the partly
+destroyed cabins. Du Parc came thither to meet them.
+
+"Ah," he exclaimed, "that fine young fellow who was going to be a great
+success. The company wanted him back in France. And his poor wife! The
+blow will kill her."
+
+"I wished him to remain within for her sake. He was no coward, either. I
+would give the whole settlement if it would restore him to life. The
+Governor thought it an excellent, but venturesome plan. But we must have
+colonists if ever we are to make a town that will be an honor to New
+France."
+
+"It is not such a complete ruin. We have lost two men, one woman, and
+three children. Five Iroquois bodies have been found and two are badly
+wounded."
+
+"And two more out in the woods. They had better be buried, so as to stir
+up no more strife. It could not have been a large party, or we would
+have suffered more severely."
+
+"The English have had many of these surprises. I think we have been
+fortunate, even if we have fewer in numbers. And it would have been
+worse if there had been growing crops."
+
+"I shall have the fortifications strengthened. And perhaps it would be
+well to keep guard."
+
+They left Roleau in charge of the bodies and turned to the fort. The
+wounded had been made comfortable.
+
+Rose sprang down the steps to meet Destournier.
+
+"Oh, have you found him? Miladi is almost dead with grief and anxiety.
+She is sure they have killed M. Giffard."
+
+"Poor wife! How will we tell her?"
+
+"Oh, then he is dead?" The child's face was blanched with terror.
+
+"Yes, he has been killed by the cruel savages. But we have brought home
+his body. Who is with her?"
+
+"Wanamee and Madawando, who is saying charms over her. She is the
+medicine woman who brought back the Gaudrion baby when he was dead. Oh,
+can you not make her bring back M. Giffard? Miladi will surely die of
+grief. Couldn't they put some one in his place? Wouldn't the great God
+listen to the priest's prayers?" and she raised her humid, beseeching
+eyes.
+
+"My child, you loved him dearly."
+
+"Sometimes. Then he made me feel--well, as if I could run away. He was
+never cross. Oh, I think it was because he loved Miladi so very much,
+there was no room for any one else. And that is why I love you
+so--because you have no one belonging to you."
+
+"We are alike in that," he made answer.
+
+He saw Wanamee presently.
+
+"She goes from one dying fit to another. Madawando brings her back. But
+if he is dead, M'sieu, why should they not let her join him?"
+
+Would she be happier in that great unknown land with him. What was there
+here for her?
+
+And some way he felt in part responsible. He had risked his life to save
+Destournier's property.
+
+There were sad days in the fort. The weather came off comparatively
+pleasant, and the half-ruined huts were repaired, the wounded healed,
+the losses made good, as far as possible. The dead Iroquois were put in
+a trench, but better sepulture was provided for the colonists, and the
+services over the body of M. Giffard were in a degree military. The two
+Récollet priests were kindness and devotion personified, and they said
+prayers every hour in their rude little chapel, where a candle was kept
+burning before the altar.
+
+They frowned severely on what they termed the mummeries of Madawando.
+Even the Indian converts, and they were few enough, lapsed into charms
+and incantations in times of trouble. They willingly had their children
+baptized, as if this was one of the charms to ward off danger. But the
+priests labored with unabated courage.
+
+Miladi seemed to hover a long while between the two worlds, it was
+thought, but the real spring was coming on, and all nature was reviving.
+She had never quite wanted to die, so at the lowest ebb she seemed to
+will herself back to life by some occult power.
+
+Rose meanwhile had run quite wild, but she had been Destournier's
+companion in his walks, in his canoe journeys; sometimes with Marie
+Gaudrion, she was in and out of the settlement, and as she understood a
+little of the several Indian languages, she was quite a favorite; but
+Destournier felt troubled about her at times. She was very fearless,
+very upright, and detected the subterfuges of the children of the
+wilderness, condemning them most severely. But they never seemed angry
+with her.
+
+Sometimes he thought he would send her to France and begin her education
+in a convent. But could the wild little thing who skipped and danced and
+sung, climbed rocks and trees, managed a canoe, tamed birds that came
+and sang on her shoulder, endure the dull routine of convent life? She
+could read French quite fluently. She had taken an immense fancy to
+Latin, and caught the lines so easily when Destournier read them from
+musical Horace, or the stirring scenes of the Odyssey, the only two
+Latin books he owned. And her head was stuffed full of wild Indian
+tales.
+
+"I wonder," she said one day, as she sat on the rocks, leaning against
+Destournier's knee, the soft wind playing through the silken tendrils of
+her hair--"I wonder if you should die whether I could be like miladi,
+and want the room dark and have every one go in the softest moccasins,
+and have headaches and the sound of any one's voice pierce through you
+like a knife. It would be terrible."
+
+"Why do you think of that?"
+
+"Because I love you best of everybody. The Governor is very nice, but he
+is in France so much and you are here. Then we can climb rocks together
+and sit in the forests and hear the trees talk. I go to M. Giffard's
+grave and say over the spells Madawando taught me, to bring him back,
+but he does not come. If he could, miladi would be bright and gay again,
+and we would dance and sing, and have merry times. If you died I should
+want to die, too."
+
+He was touched by the child's simple devotion.
+
+"I am not going to die. Your Madawando told me I should live to be very
+old. There were some curious lines in my hand."
+
+"I am so glad," she said simply.
+
+"But you had better not tell the good priest that you are trying to
+bring M. Giffard back to life in this Indian fashion. They think it a
+sin."
+
+"I do not like the priests, in their dirty gray gowns, and their heads
+looking as if they had been scalped. Only when they read in their book.
+It sounds like those great people in the wars of Troy."
+
+And this was a little Christian girl. Were not the priests also praying
+that the souls in purgatory might be lightened of their burden? and he
+smiled.
+
+But somehow miladi pressed heavily upon his conscience. M. Giffard had
+come to _his_ assistance, to save his property, as well as to save human
+lives. He lost sight of the great brotherhood of mankind, of the heroism
+of a truly noble soul. Was there anything he could do to lighten her
+burthen?
+
+At last she expressed a desire to see him. He had looked to find her
+wasted away with grief, changed so that it would be sorrow to look upon
+her. She was pale, but, it seemed, more really beautiful than he had
+ever known her. Her gown was white, and she had a thin black scarf
+thrown around her shoulders which enhanced her fairness. There could be
+no shopping for mourning in this benighted country.
+
+"I thought I should go to him," she said in her soft, half-languid
+voice. "But the good Père believes there is something for me to do and
+that I must be content to remain, and thankful to live. But all is so
+changed. Sometimes I make myself believe that Laurent has gone back to
+France to settle matters. He counted so on our return. And that he will
+come again for me."
+
+"You would like to go to friends?"
+
+"Alas, there are not many. Some have gone to England, some to Holland,
+not liking the new King's policy. And some are dead. I should have no
+one to make a home for me. A woman's loneliness is intense. She cannot
+turn to business, nor go out and find friends."
+
+That was true enough. He pitied her profoundly.
+
+"Is it true our Governor is bringing his new wife to Quebec?" she asked
+presently.
+
+"So the trading vessels have said. They are already loading up with
+furs, and trade seems brisk. Of course it brings great confusion. I have
+taken charge of M. Giffard's bales that came in last week. They had
+better be sent as usual. The Paris firm is eager for them. They are a
+fine lot. What is your pleasure?"
+
+"Oh, relieve me of all care that you can. I am so helpless. Laurent did
+everything. Women were never meant for business, he thought. I am no
+wiser than a child."
+
+She looked so helpless, so sweet, so dependent.
+
+"I shall be glad to do what I can. Yes, it would be no place for a
+woman. She could not manage matters. And if you like to trust me----"
+
+"I would trust you in all things. Laurent thought your judgment
+excellent. He cared so much for you. Oh, if you will take charge----"
+
+She looked up with sweet, appealing eyes. Did he not owe her some
+protection and care? He was pondering silently.
+
+"You have relieved me of such a burthen. I think I shall get well now.
+I hardly knew whether I wanted most to live or die."
+
+"Life is best, sweetest." It would be for her. He uttered the sentence
+involuntarily.
+
+"You make it so." Her eyes were bewitchingly downcast and a faint color
+fluttered over her face, while her pretty hands worked nervously.
+
+He paced the gallery afterward in the twilight, when the stars were
+slowly finding their way through the blue vault overhead, and the river
+plashed by with its monotone of music. She might desire to return to
+France; this life in the wilderness did not appeal to delicate women.
+Yet she had taken it very cheerfully, he thought.
+
+If she decided to stay--there was one way in which he could befriend
+her, perhaps make her happy again. Marriage was hardly considered the
+outcome of love in that period, many other considerations entered into
+it. There were betrothals where the future husband and wife saw each
+other for the first time. And they did very well. His ideas of married
+life were a sort of good-fellowship and admiration, if the woman was
+pretty; good cooking and a desire to please among the commoner ones. At
+four and twenty he had not given the matter much consideration. Madame
+Giffard was full thirty, but she looked like a girl in her lightness and
+grace. And he owed the memory of M. Giffard something. This step would
+make amends and allay a troublesome sort of conscience in the matter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+WHAT ROSE DID NOT LIKE
+
+
+Eustache Boullé, the Governor's brother-in-law, had been not a little
+surprised when his sister was helped off the vessel at Tadoussac. He
+greeted her warmly.
+
+"But I never believed you would come to this wild country," he
+exclaimed, with a half-mischievous smile. "I am afraid the Sieur has let
+his hopes of the future run riot in his brain. He can see great things
+with that far gaze of his."
+
+"But a good wife follows her husband. We have had a rather stormy and
+tiresome passage, but praised be the saints, we have at last reached our
+haven."
+
+"I hope you will see some promise in it. We on the business side do not
+look for pleasure alone."
+
+"It is wild, but marvellously fine. The islands with their frowning
+rocks and glowing verdure, the points, and headlands, the great gulf and
+the river are really majestic. And you--you are a man. Two years have
+made a wondrous change. I wish our mother could see you. She has
+frightful dreams of your being captured by Indians."
+
+He laughed at that.
+
+"Are the Indians very fierce here?" she asked timidly.
+
+"Some tribes are, the Hurons. And others are very easily managed if you
+can keep fire-water away from them."
+
+"Fire"--wonderingly.
+
+"Rum or brandy. You will see strange sights. But you must not get
+frightened. Now tell me about our parents."
+
+The Sieur was quite angry when he heard some boats had been up the
+river, and bartered firearms and ammunition for peltries. It was their
+desire to keep the white man's weapons away from the savages.
+
+Pontgrave had left a bark for the Governor, and Eustache joined them as
+they went journeying on to Quebec. It was new and strange to the young
+wife, whose lines so far had been cast in civilized places. The wide,
+ever-changing river, the rough, unbroken country with here and there a
+clearing, where parties of hunters had encamped and left their rude
+stone fireplaces, the endless woods with high hills back of them, and
+several groups of Indians with a wigwam for shelter, that interested her
+very much. Braves were spread out on the carpet of dried leaves, playing
+some kind of game with short knives and smoking leisurely. Squaws
+gossiping and gesticulating with as much interest as their fairer
+sisters, their attire new and strange, and papooses tumbling about. They
+passed great tangles of wild grapes that scented the air, here and there
+an island shimmering with the bloom of blueberries.
+
+Then the great cliff of Quebec came in sight. Latterly it had taken on
+an aspect of decay that caused the Governor to frown. The courtyard was
+littered with rubbish from a building that had actually fallen down, and
+a new one was being erected. And though some of the houses were quite
+comfortable within, the exterior was very unattractive, from the
+different materials, like patches put on to add warmth in winter.
+
+The cannon rang out a salute, and the lilies of France floated in the
+brilliant sunshine. Officers and men had formed a sort of cordon, and
+from the gallery several ladies looked down and waved handkerchiefs. The
+Héberts, with their son and daughter, a few other women, a little above
+the peasant rank, had joined them and Madame Giffard, who still essayed
+a rôle of delicacy.
+
+The Sieur took formal possession again in the name of the new Governor
+General, the Duke of Montmorency. Then they repaired to the little
+chapel, where the priest held a service of thanksgiving for their safe
+arrival.
+
+The Récollets had chosen a site on the St. Charles river, some distance
+from the post, and had begun the erection of a church and convent, for
+headquarters. Madame Champlain was pleased to hear this and held quite a
+lengthy talk with Père Jamay, who was glad to find the new wife took a
+fervent interest in religion, for even among the French women he had not
+awakened the influence he had hoped for, in his enthusiasm.
+
+Eustache began a tour of observation. Perched on a rock with a great
+hemlock tree back of her, he saw a small human being that he was quite
+sure was not an Indian girl. She was talking to something, and raised
+her small forefinger to emphasize her words. What incantation was she
+using?
+
+As he came nearer he saw it was a flock of pigeons. She had been feeding
+them berries and grains of rye. They arched their glossy necks and cooed
+in answer. He watched in amaze, drawing nearer. What sprite of the
+forest was this?
+
+Did she feel the influence that invaded her solitude? She glanced up
+with wide startled eyes at the intruder, and looked at first as if she
+would fly.
+
+"Do not be afraid, I will not harm you," said a clear, reassuring voice.
+"Are you charming the wild things of the forest? Your incantation was in
+French--do they understand the language?"
+
+"They understand me."
+
+There was a curious dignity in her reply.
+
+"You are French, Mam'selle?"
+
+"I came from France a long while ago, so long that I do not remember."
+
+"Was it in another life? Are you human, or some forest nymph? For you
+are not out of childhood."
+
+"I do not understand."
+
+"But you must belong to some one----"
+
+"No," she said proudly. "I have never really belonged to any one. M'sieu
+Destournier is my good friend, and miladi took me when the Dubrays went
+to the fur country. But she has been ill, and she does not like me as
+she used."
+
+"But you must have a home----"
+
+"I live at the post, mostly with Wanamee. Some days my lady sends for
+me. But I like out-of-doors, and the birds, and the blue sky, and the
+voice of the falling waters that are always going on, and the great gray
+rocks, where I find mossy little caves with red bloom like tiny
+papooses, and the tall grasses that shake their heads so wisely, as if
+they knew secrets they would never tell. And the birds--even some of the
+little lizards with their bright black eyes. They are dainty, not like
+the snakes that go twisting along."
+
+"Are you not afraid of them?"
+
+"I do not molest them," calmly.
+
+"You should have been down at the post. The Governor's wife has come."
+
+"Yes, I saw her. And I did not like her. But the Sieur was always kind
+to me. He used to show me journeys on the maps, and the great lakes he
+has seen. He has been all over the world, I believe."
+
+"Oh, no. But I think he would like to. Why do you not like Madame de
+Champlain?"
+
+She studied him with a thoughtful gaze.
+
+"M'sieu Ralph told me when he went to France he was betrothed to a
+pretty little French girl, and that some day he would bring her here to
+be his wife. I was glad of the little girl. I like Marie Gaudrion, but
+she has to care for the babies and--she does not understand why I love
+the woods and the rocks. And I thought this other little _girl_----"
+
+She was so naïve that he smiled, but it was not the smile to hurt one.
+
+"She was a little girl then. But every one grows. Some day you will be a
+woman."
+
+"No, I will not. I shall stay this way," and she patted the ground
+decisively with her small foot, the moccasin being little more than a
+sandal, and showed the high arch and shapely ankle that dimpled with the
+motion.
+
+"I am afraid you cannot. But I think you will like Madame when you know
+her. I am her brother, though I have not seen her for over two years."
+
+She studied him attentively. The birds began to grow restless and
+circled about her as if to warn off the intruder. Then she suddenly
+listened. There was a familiar step climbing the rock.
+
+M'sieu Destournier parted the hemlock branches.
+
+"I thought I should find you here. Why did you run away? Ah, M. Boullé,"
+but the older man frowned a little.
+
+"She left the company because my sister was grown up and not the little
+girl she imagined. Is she a product of the forest? Her very ignorance is
+charming."
+
+"I am not ignorant!" she returned. "I can read a page in Latin, and that
+miladi cannot do."
+
+"She is a curious child," explained Destournier, "but a sweet and noble
+nature, and innocent is the better word for it. The birds all know her,
+and she has a tame doe that follows her about, except that it will not
+venture inside the palisade. I'm not sure but she could charm a wolf."
+
+"The Loup Garou," laughed the younger man. "I think nothing would dare
+harm her. But I should like my sister to see her. Oh, I am sure you will
+like her, even if she is a woman grown."
+
+"Come," said Destournier, holding out his hand.
+
+The pigeons had circled wider and wider, and were now purplish shadows
+against the serene blue. Rose sprang up and clasped Destournier's hand.
+But she was silent as they took their way down.
+
+"Whatever bewitched my august brother-in-law about this place I cannot
+see. Except that the new fort will sweep the river and render the town
+impregnable from that side. It will be the key of the North. But
+Montreal will be a finer town at much less cost."
+
+Rose was fain to refuse at the last moment, but M'sieu Ralph persuaded.
+The few women of any note were gathered in the room miladi had first
+occupied. Rose looked curiously at the daughter of M. Hébert--she was so
+much taller than she used to be, and her hair was put up on her head
+with a big comb.
+
+"Thou art a sweet child," said Madame de Champlain. "And whose daughter
+may she be?"
+
+It was an awkward question. Destournier flushed unconsciously.
+
+"She is the Rose of Quebec," he made answer, with a smile. "Her parents
+were dead before she came here."
+
+"Ah, I remember hearing the Governor speak of her, and learned that
+there were so few real citizens in Quebec who were to grow up with the
+town as their birthright. It is but a dreary-looking place, yet the wild
+river, the great gulf, the magnificent forests give one a sense of
+grandeur, yet loneliness. And my husband says it is the same hundreds of
+miles to the westward; that there are lakes like oceans in themselves.
+And such furs! All Paris is wild with the beauty of them. Yet they lie
+around here as if of no value."
+
+"You would find that the traders appraise them pretty well," and he
+raised his brows a trifle, while a rather amused expression played about
+his eyes.
+
+"Is there always such a turmoil of trade?"
+
+"Oh, no. The traders scatter before mid-autumn. The cold weather sets in
+and the snow and ice are our companions. The small streams freeze up.
+But the Sieur has written of all these things in his book."
+
+He looked inquiringly at her for a touch of enthusiasm, but her sweet
+face was placid.
+
+"Monsieur my husband desired that I should be educated in his religion
+in the convent. We do not take up worldly matters, that is not
+considered becoming to girls and women. We think more of the souls that
+may be saved from perdition. The men go ahead to discover, the priests
+come to teach these ignorant savages that they have souls that must be
+returned to God, or suffer eternally."
+
+There spoke the devotee. Destournier wondered a little how the Sieur had
+come to choose a dévote for a wife. For he was a born explorer, with a
+body and a will of such strength that present defeat only spurred him
+on. But where was there a woman to match him, to add to his courage and
+resolve! Perhaps men did not need such women. Destournier was not an
+enthusiast in religious matters. He had been here long enough to
+understand the hold their almost childish superstitions had on the
+Indians, their dull and brutish lack of any high motive, their brutal
+and barbarous customs. They were ready to be baptized a dozen times over
+just as they would use any of their own charms, or for the gain of some
+trifle.
+
+Madame seemed to study the frank face of the little girl. How beautiful
+her eyes were; her eager, intelligent, spirited face; the fine skin that
+was neither light nor dark, and withstood sun and wind alike, and lost
+none of its attractive tints. But she was so different from the little
+girls sent to the nuns for training. They never looked up at you with
+these wide-open eyes that seemed to question you, to weigh you.
+
+"There is no convent here where you can be taught?" addressing herself
+to the child.
+
+"The fathers are building one. But it is only for the men. The women
+cook and learn to dress deerskins until they are like velvet. They must
+make the clothing, for not a great deal comes from France. And it would
+only do for ladies like you and Madame Giffard."
+
+"But there must be some education, some training, some prayers," and the
+lady looked rather helpless.
+
+She was very sweet and beautiful in her soft silken dress of gray, that
+was flowered in the same color, and trimmed with fur and velvet. From
+her belt depended a chain of carved ivory beads and a crucifix, from
+another chain a small oval looking-glass in a silver frame. Her flaring
+collar of lace and the stomacher were worked in pearls. Many Parisians
+had them sewn with jewels.
+
+"I can read French very well," said Rose, after a pause. "And some
+Latin."
+
+"Oh, the prayers, and some of the old hymns----"
+
+"No, it isn't prayers exactly--except to their gods. There are so many
+gods. Jove was the great one."
+
+"Oh, my child, this is heresy. There is but one God and the Holy Virgin,
+and the saints to whom you can make invocation."
+
+"Well, then I think you have a number of gods. Do you pray to them all?
+And what do you pray for?"
+
+"For the wicked world to be converted to God, for them to love Him, and
+serve Him."
+
+"And how do they serve Him?" inquired the child. "If He is the great God
+Father Jamay teaches He can do everything, have everything. It is all
+His. Then why does He not keep people well, so they can work, and not
+blight the crops with fierce storms. Sometimes great fields of maize are
+swept down. And the little children die; the Indians kill each other,
+and at times the white men who serve them."
+
+"Oh, child, you do not understand. There must be convents in this new
+world for the training of girls. They must be taught to pray that God's
+will may be done, not their own."
+
+"How would I know it was God's will?" asked the irreverent child,
+decisively, yet with a certain sweetness.
+
+"The good Father would tell you."
+
+"How would he know?"
+
+"He lives a holy life in communion with God."
+
+"What is the convent like?" suddenly changing her thoughts.
+
+"It is a large house full of little ones, the sisters' cells, the
+novices' cells----"
+
+"There are some at the post. They put criminals in them. They are filthy
+and dark," with a kind of protesting vehemence.
+
+"These are clean, because they are whitewashed, and you scrub the floor
+twice a week. There is a little pallet on which you sleep, a
+_prie-dieu_----"
+
+"What is that?" interrupted the child.
+
+"A little altar, with a stone step on which you kneel. And a crucifix at
+the top, a book of prayer and invocation. Many of the sisters pray an
+hour at midnight. All pray an hour in the morning, then breakfast and
+the chapel for another hour, with prayers and singing. After that the
+classes. The little girls are taught the catechism and manners, if they
+are to go out in the world, sewing and embroidery. At noon prayers again
+and a little lunch, then work out of doors for an hour, and running
+about for exercise, catechising again, singing, supper and a chapel
+hour, and then to bed. But the nuns spend the evening in prayer, so do
+the devout."
+
+"Madame, I shall never go in a convent, if the Fathers build one for
+girls. I like the big out-of-doors. And if God made the world He made it
+for some purpose, that people should go out and enjoy it. I like the
+wilderness, the great blue sky, the sun and the stars at night, the
+trees and the river, and the birds and the deer and the beautiful wild
+geese, as they sail in great flocks. If I was shut up in a cell I should
+beat my head against the stones until it was a jelly, and then I should
+be dead."
+
+Madame de Champlain looked at the child in amaze. In her decorous life
+she had known nothing like it.
+
+"And I wish there were no women. I do not like women any more. Men are
+better because they live out of doors and do not pray so much. Except
+the priests. And they are dirty."
+
+Then she turned away and went out on the gallery, with a curiously
+swelling heart. Oh, why was not Marie Gaudrion different? What made
+people so unlike. If there was some one----
+
+"Ha, little maid, where are you running to so fast?" exclaimed a
+laughing voice. "Have you seen my sister yet?"
+
+Eustache Boullé caught her arm, but she shook him off, and stood up
+squarely, facing him. What vigor and resolution there was in her small
+bewitching face.
+
+"Hi, hi! thou art a plucky little _fille_, ready for a quarrel by the
+looks of thy flashing eyes. What have I done to thee, that thou shouldst
+shake me off as a viper?"
+
+"Nothing! I am not to be handled roughly. I am going my way, and I think
+it will not interfere with thine."
+
+A pleasant smile crossed his face which made him really attractive, and
+half disarmed her fierceness.
+
+"My way is set in no special lines until I return to Tadoussac. Hast
+thou seen my sister?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Every one loves her. She is as good as she is beautiful. And she will
+charm thee," in a triumphant tone, gathering that the interview had not
+already done this.
+
+"I am not to be charmed in that fashion. Yes, she is beautiful, but she
+would like me to be put in a convent. And I would throw myself in the
+river first."
+
+"There are no convents, little one. And but few people to put into them.
+In a new country it is best that they marry and have families. When
+there are too many women then convents play a useful part."
+
+"Let me pass," she cried disdainfully, but not trying to push aside.
+
+"Tell me where you go!"
+
+"To Mère Gaudrion's to see that soft-headed Marie. I wish she had some
+ideas, but she is good and cheerful, and does as she is told."
+
+"You are not very complimentary to your friend."
+
+"But if I said she had a bad temper, and told what was not true, and
+slapped her little brothers and sisters, that would be a falsehood. And
+if I said she understood the song of the birds and the sough of the wind
+among the trees, and the running, tumbling little streams that are
+always saying 'oh! let me get to the gulf as soon as possible, for I
+want to see what a great ocean is like,' it would not be true either. I
+like Marie," calmly.
+
+"Thou art a curious little casuist. I am glad you like her. It shows
+that you are human. There are strange creatures in the woods and wilds
+of this new world."
+
+"There is the Loup Garou, but I have not seen him. He gets changed from
+a man to a fierce dog, and if you kill the dog, the man dies. There is
+the Windigo, and the old medicine woman can call strange things out of a
+sick person who has been bewitched, and then he gets well. But M.
+Destournier laughs at these stories."
+
+The young man had been backing slowly toward the steps and she had
+followed without taking note.
+
+Now he said--"Let me help you down."
+
+"I am not lame, M'sieu, neither am I blind."
+
+"Will you take me to see Marie Gaudrion?"
+
+"You would laugh at her, I see it in your eyes."
+
+"Are my eyes such telltales?"
+
+He had not the placid fairness of his sister, and his chestnut hair
+curled about his temples. His cheeks were red enough for a girl.
+
+"Why should you want to see her?"
+
+"I want to see all there is in Quebec. I want to know how the colony
+progresses. I may put it in a book."
+
+"Like the Governor. But you could not make maps out of people," with an
+air of triumph.
+
+"I'm not so sure. See here."
+
+He drew from his pocket a roll and held one of the leaves before her
+eyes.
+
+"Oh, that is old Temekwisa sitting out by the hut. And, M'sieu, he looks
+half drunken, as he nearly always is. And that is Jacques Barbeau
+breaking stone. Why, it is wonderful. And who else have you?"
+
+There were several Indians in a powwow around the fire, there was a
+woman with a papoose on her back, and a few partly done.
+
+"And the Sieur--and your sister?" eagerly.
+
+"I have tried dozens of times and cannot please myself. The Indians have
+about the same salient points, and that lack of expression when they are
+tranquil. They are easy to do. And I can sometimes catch the fierce
+anger. At home I would have a teacher. Here I have to go by myself, try,
+and tear up. Then I am busy with many other things."
+
+Her resentment had mostly subsided. His gift, if it could be called
+that, fascinated her. She had reproduced wonderful pictures in her
+brain, but to do them with her hand would be marvellous, like the Sieur
+writing his books.
+
+They had reached the garden of the Gaudrions. Pierre was employed
+regularly now and was studying the plans of the new fort. Marie was
+seated on the grass, cutting leather fringe for garments and leggings.
+You could use up otherwise useless bits that way. The Mère was farther
+down pulling weeds from the carrot bed, and directing the labors of two
+children, at whom she shook a switch now and then. Marie had a baby on
+each side of her, tumbling about in the grass.
+
+She looked up and nodded, while a heavy sort of smile settled about her
+lips, the upper one protruding a little, on account of two prominent
+teeth. Eustache had seen the peasant type at home, the low forehead, the
+deep-set eyes, the short nose, flattened at the base, the wide mouth and
+rather broad, unmeaning countenance, the type of women who bear burthens
+without complaining and do not resent when they are beaten. Marie had an
+abundance of blue-black hair, a clear skin, and a soft color in her
+cheeks.
+
+Boullé glanced from one to the other, the lithe figure, the spirited
+face, the eyes that could flash and soften and sparkle with mirth almost
+in a minute, it seemed. What a distance lay between them.
+
+"Marie, this is"--then Rose paused and flushed, and glanced at her
+unbidden companion.
+
+"I am Eustache Boullé and my sister is the wife of the Governor de
+Champlain. And though I have been up and down the river I have never
+really visited Quebec before."
+
+Marie nodded and went on cutting fringe.
+
+"And he has done pictures--Temekwisa, that you would know in a minute.
+He did them with a pencil. Show them to her," she ordered, in a pretty
+peremptory manner, as with a graceful gesture of the hand she invited
+him to be seated on the grass, deftly rolling one baby over, who stared
+an instant, and then fell to sucking his fist.
+
+Marie's heavy face lighted up with a kind of cheerful surprise.
+
+"Why did you not go up and see them come in? And after the service of
+thanks, almost everybody went to see our dear Sieur's wife. She is
+beautiful in the face and wears a silken gown, and a little cap so fine
+you can see her hair through it. And she has small hands that look like
+snow, but not many rings, like Madame Giffard."
+
+"_Ma mère_ went to the prayers, but we could not both go. I saw the line
+of boats and heard the salute. And your sister will live here with the
+Governor?"
+
+Eustache wanted to laugh, but commanded his countenance.
+
+"Yes, though 'tis a dreary place to live in after gay France. I long to
+go back."
+
+"They are to build a new fort. My father will work on it, and my
+brother, Pierre. And he wonders that you do not come oftener, Rose."
+
+"There has not been a moonlight in a long while. I cannot come in the
+dark. And now he wants his own way in all the plans and I like mine. He
+has grown so big he is not amusing any more."
+
+"But he likes you just as well," the girl said naïvely.
+
+Eustache glanced. Rose did not change color at this frank admission.
+
+Then the gun boomed out to announce the day's work for the government
+was over.
+
+Rose sprang up. "It will soon be supper time," she said.
+
+"Stay and have it with us. There are some cold roasted pigeons, with
+spiced gravy turned over them. You shall have a whole one."
+
+"You are very good, Marie, but there are so many men about who have been
+drinking too much, that M. Destournier would read me a long lecture."
+
+"But Pierre would walk up with thee."
+
+Eustache had gathered up his pictures. They had only been an excuse to
+prolong his interview with Rose.
+
+"I will see that no harm comes to your friend. Adieu, Mam'selle," and he
+bowed politely, at which Marie only stared.
+
+"We are very good friends, are we not?" as he was parting with the
+pretty child.
+
+"But I might not like you to-morrow," archly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+ABOUT MARRIAGES
+
+
+The new fort was begun on the summit of the cliff, almost two hundred
+feet above the water, and the guns would command it up and down. A good
+deal of stone was used. New houses were being reared in a much better
+fashion, the crevices thickly plastered with mortar, the chimneys of
+stone, with generous fireplaces. Destournier had repaired his small
+settlement and added some ground to the cultivated area.
+
+"The only way to colonize," declared the Sieur. "If we could rouse the
+Indians into taking more interest. Civilization does not seem to attract
+them, though the women make good wives, and they are a scarce commodity.
+The English and the Dutch are wiser in this respect than we. When
+children are born on the soil and marry with their neighbors, one may be
+sure of good citizens."
+
+The church, too, was progressing, and was called Notre Dame des Anges.
+Madame de Champlain was intensely religious, and used her best efforts
+to further the plans. She took a great interest in the Indian children,
+and when she found many of the women were not really married to the
+laborers around the fort, insisted that Père Jamay should perform the
+ceremony. The women were quite delighted with this, considering it a
+great mark of respect.
+
+She began to study the Algonquin language, which was the most prevalent.
+She had brought three serving women from France, but they were not
+heroic enough to be enamored of the hardships. There was so little
+companionship for her that but for her religion she would have had a
+lonely time. The Héberts were plain people and hardly felt themselves on
+a par with the wife of their Governor, though Champlain himself, with
+more democratic tastes, used often to drop in to consult the farmer and
+take a meal.
+
+Madame Giffard was not really religious. She was fond of pleasure and
+games of cards, and really hated any self-denial, or long prayers,
+though she went to Mass now and then. But between her and the earnest,
+devoted Hélène there was no sympathy.
+
+The new house was ready by October. Hélène would fain have had it made
+less comfortable, but this the Governor would not permit. It would be
+hung with furs when the bitter weather came in.
+
+No one paid much attention to Rose, who came and went, and wandered
+about at her own sweet will. Eustache Boullé was fairly fascinated with
+her, and followed her like a shadow when he was not in attendance on his
+sister. He persuaded her to sit for a picture, but it was quite
+impossible to catch her elusive beauty. She would turn her head, change
+the curve of her pretty lips, allow her eyes to rove about and then let
+the lids drop decorously in a fashion he called a nun's face; but it was
+adorable.
+
+"I shall not be a nun," she would declare vehemently.
+
+"No, Mam'selle, thou art the kind to dance on a man's heart and make him
+most happy and most wretched. No nun's coif for that sunny, tangled mop
+of thine."
+
+He would fain have lingered through the winter, but a peremptory message
+came for him.
+
+"I shall be here another summer and thou wilt be older, and understand
+better what life is like."
+
+"It is good enough and pleasant enough now," she answered perversely.
+
+"I wonder--if thou wilt miss me?"
+
+"Why, yes, silly! The splendid canoeing and the races we run, and I may
+be big enough next summer to go to Lachine. I would like to rush through
+the rapids that Antoine the sailor tells about, where you feel as if you
+were going down to the centre of the world."
+
+"No woman would dare. It would not be safe," he objected.
+
+"Men are not always lost, only a few clumsy ones. And I can swim with
+the best of them."
+
+"M. Destournier will not let you go."
+
+"He is not my father. I belong just to myself, and I will do as I
+like."
+
+She stamped her foot on the ground, but she laughed as well. He was not
+nineteen yet, but a man would be able to manage her.
+
+She did miss him when he was gone. And it seemed as if Marie grew more
+stupid and cared less for her. And that lout of a Jules Personeau would
+sit by her on the grass, or help her pick berries or grapes and open
+them skilfully, take out the seeds or the pits of plums, and place them
+on the flat rocks to dry. He never seemed to talk. And Rose knew that M.
+Destournier scolded because he was not breaking stone.
+
+He was building a new house himself, and helping the Sieur plan out the
+path from the fort up above to the settlement down below. They did not
+dream that one day it would be the upper and the lower town, and that on
+the plain would be fought one of the historic battles of the world,
+where two of the bravest of men would give up their lives, and the
+lilies of France go down for the last time. Quebec was beginning to look
+quite a town.
+
+Destournier's house commanded his settlement, which was more strongly
+fortified with a higher palisade, over which curious thorn vines were
+growing for protection. He had a fine wheat field, and some tobacco. Of
+Indian corn a great waving regiment planted only two rows thick so as to
+give no chance for skulking marauders.
+
+The house of M. Giffard was falling into decay. Miladi had sent to
+France early in the season for many new stuffs and trinkets, and the
+settlement of some affairs, instead of turning all over to Destournier.
+The goods had come at an exorbitant price, but there had been a great
+tangle in money matters, and at his death his concessions had passed
+into other hands.
+
+"They always manage to rob a woman," he thought grimly.
+
+"I supposed you were to leave things in my hands," he said, a little
+upbraidingly, to her.
+
+"I make you so much trouble. And you have so much to do for the Governor
+and your settlement, and I am so weak and helpless. I have never been
+strong since that dreadful night. I miss all the care and love. Oh, if
+you were a woman you would know how heart-breaking it was. I wish I were
+dead! I wish I were dead!"
+
+"And you do not care to go back to France?"
+
+"Do not torment me with that question. I should die on the voyage. And
+to be there without friends would be horrible. I have no taste for a
+convent."
+
+A great many times the vague plan had entered his mind as a sort of
+duty. Now he would put it into execution.
+
+"Become my wife," he said. He leaned over and took her slim hands in his
+and glanced earnestly into her eyes, and saw there were fine wrinkles
+setting about them. What did it matter? She needed protection and care,
+and there was no woman here that he could love as the romances
+described. He was too busy a man, too practical.
+
+She let her head drop on his broad breast. She had dreamed of this and
+used many little arts, but had never been sure of their effect. There
+were the years between, but she needed his strength and devotion more
+than a younger woman.
+
+"Oh, ought I be so happy again?" she murmured. "There is so much that is
+strong and generous to you that a woman could rest content in giving her
+whole life to you, her best love."
+
+He wished she had not said that. He would have been content that her
+best love should lie softly in the grave, like an atmosphere around the
+sleeping body of Laurent Giffard, whom he had admired very much, and who
+had loved his wife with the fervor of youth. He drew a long breath of
+pity for the man. It seemed as if he was taking something away from him.
+
+"Is it true?" she asked, in a long silence.
+
+"That I shall care for you, yes. That you will be my wife." Then he
+kissed her tenderly.
+
+"I am so happy. Oh, you cannot think how sad I have been for months,
+with no one to care for me," and her voice was exquisitely pathetic.
+
+"I have cared for you all this while," he said. "You were like a sister
+to whom I owed a duty."
+
+"Duty is not quite love," in her soft murmurous tone, touching his cheek
+caressingly.
+
+He wondered a little what love was like, if this tranquil half pity was
+all. Madame de Champlain was like a child to her husband, the women
+emigrants thus far had not been of a high order, and the marriages had
+been mostly for the sake of a helpmeet and possible children. The
+Governor had really encouraged the mixed marriages, where the Indian
+women were of the better sort. A few of them were taking kindly to
+religion, and had many really useful arts in the way of making garments
+out of dressed deerskins. He chose rather some of those who had been
+taken prisoners and had no real affiliation with the tribes. They felt
+honored by marrying a white man, and now Père Jamay performed a legal
+and religious ceremony, so that no man could put away his wife.
+
+"Oh, what do you think!" and Rose sprang eagerly to Destournier,
+catching him by the arm with both hands and giving a swing, as he was
+pacing the gallery, deep in his new plans. "It is so full of amusement
+for me. And I can't understand how she can do it. Jules Personeau is
+such a stupid! And that great shock of hair that keeps tumbling into his
+eyes. It is such a queer color, almost as if much sitting in the sun was
+turning it red."
+
+"What about Jules? He is very absent-minded nowadays, and does not
+attend to his work. The summer will soon be gone."
+
+"Oh, it isn't so much about Jules. Marie Gaudrion is going to marry
+him."
+
+"Why, then I think it is half about Jules," laughing down into the eager
+face. "A girl can't be married alone."
+
+"Well, I suppose you would have to go and live with some one," in a
+puzzled tone. "But Jules has such rough, dirty hands. He caught me a few
+days ago and patted my cheek, and I slapped him. I will not have rough
+hands touch me! And Marie laughs. She is only thirteen, but she says she
+is a woman. I don't want to be a woman. I won't have a husband, and be
+taken off to a hut, and cook, and work in the garden. M'sieu, I should
+fly to the woods and hide."
+
+"And the poor fellow would get no dinner." He laughed at her vehemence.
+"I suppose Jules is in love and we must excuse his absent-mindedness.
+Will it be soon?"
+
+"Why, yes, Jules is getting his house ready. Barbe is to help her mother
+and care for the babies. I like Marie some," nodding indecisively, "but
+I wish there was a girl who liked to run and play, and climb trees, and
+talk to the birds, and oh, do a hundred things, all different from the
+other."
+
+She gave a little hop and a laugh of exquisite freedom. She was full of
+restless grace, as the birds themselves; her blooming cheeks and shining
+eyes, the way she carried her head, the face breaking into dimples with
+every motion, the mouth tempting in its rosy sweetness. He bent and
+kissed her. She held him a moment by the shoulders.
+
+"Oh, I like you, I like you," she cried. "You are above them all, you
+have something,"--her pretty brow knit,--"yet you are better than the
+Sieur even, the best of them all. If you will wait a long while I might
+marry you, but no other, no other," shaking her curls.
+
+He laughed, yet it was not from her naïve confession. She did not
+realize what she was saying.
+
+"How old am I?" insistently.
+
+"About ten, I think."
+
+"Ten. And ten more would be twenty. Is that old?"
+
+"Oh, no."
+
+"And Madame de Champlain was twelve when she was married in France.
+Well, I suppose that is right. And--two years more! No, M'sieu, I shall
+wait until I am twenty. Maybe I shall not want to climb trees then, nor
+scramble over rocks, nor chase the squirrels, and pelt them with nuts."
+
+"Thou wilt be a decorous little lady then."
+
+"That is a long way off."
+
+"Yes. And Wanamee is calling thee."
+
+"The priest says we must call her Jolette, that is her Christian name.
+Must I have another name? Well, I will not. Good-night," and away she
+ran.
+
+He fell into rumination again. What would she say to his marriage? He
+had a misgiving she would take it rather hardly. She had not been so
+rapturously in love with miladi of late, but since the death of her
+husband, the rather noisy glee of the child had annoyed her. She would
+be better now. Of course they would keep the child, she had no other
+friends, nor home.
+
+Marie Gaudrion's marriage was quite a mystery to Rose. That any one
+could love such an uncouth fellow as Jules, that a girl could leave the
+comfortable home and pretty garden, for now the fruit trees had grown
+and were full of fragrant bloom in the early season, and the ripening
+fruit later on, and go to that dismal little place under the rocks.
+
+"You see it will be much warmer," Jules had said. It was built against
+the rock. "This will shield us from the north wind and the heavy snows,
+and another year we will take a place further down in the allotment. I
+will lay in a store of things, and we will be as happy as the squirrels
+in their hollow tree."
+
+Marie and her mother cleared it up a bit. The floor was of rough planks
+filled in with mortar, and skins were laid down for carpet. There was
+but one window looking toward the south, and the door was on that side
+also. Then a few steps and a sort of plateau. Inside there was a box
+bunk, where the household goods were piled away inside. A few shelves
+with dishes, a table, and several stools completed the furnishing.
+
+So on Sunday they went up to the unfinished chapel on the St. Charles,
+where a Mass was said, and the young couple were united. It was a lovely
+day, and they rowed down in the canoes to the Gaudrions, where a feast
+was given and healths drank to the newly-wedded couple, in which they
+were wished much happiness and many children. The table was spread
+luxuriously; the Mère had been two days cooking. Roasts and broils, game
+and fish, and many of the early fruits in preserve and just ripened.
+Sunday was a day for gorging in this primitive land, while summer
+lasted. No one need starve then.
+
+Afterward the young couple were escorted home.
+
+Rose sat out in the moonlight thinking of the strangeness of it all. How
+could Marie like it? Mère Gaudrion had said, "Jules will make a good
+husband, if he is clumsy and not handsome. He will never beat Marie, and
+now he will settle to work again, and make a good living, since courting
+days are over."
+
+The child wondered what courting days were. Several strange ideas came
+into her mind. It was as if it grew suddenly and there were things in
+the world she would like to know about. Perhaps M. Ralph could tell her.
+Miladi said she was tiresome when she asked questions, and there was
+always a headache. Would her head ache when she was grown up? And she
+stood in curious awe of Madame de Champlain, who would only talk of the
+saints and martyrs, and repeat prayers. She was very attractive to the
+children, and gathered them about her, letting them gaze in her little
+mirror she carried at her belt, as was the fashion in France. They liked
+the touch of her soft hand on their heads, they were sometimes allowed
+to press their tawny cheeks against it. Then she would try to instruct
+them in the Catechism. They learned the sentences by rote, in an eager
+sort of way, but she could see the real understanding was lacking.
+
+"It seems an almost hopeless task," she said one day to Père Jamay. "And
+though the little girls in the convent seemed obtuse, they did
+understand what devotion was. These children would worship me. When I
+talk of the blessed Virgin they are fain to press their faces to the hem
+of my gown, taking it to mean that I am our dear Lady of Sorrows.
+Neither do they comprehend penance, they suppose they have offended me
+personally."
+
+"'Tis a curious race that God has allowed to sink to the lowest ebb,
+that His laborers should work the harder in the vineyard. I do not
+despair. There will come a glorious day when every soul shall bow the
+knee to our blessed Lord. The men seem incapable of any true discernment
+of holy things. But we must not weary in well-doing. Think what a
+glorious thing it would be to convert this nation to the true faith."
+
+The lady sighed. Many a day she went to her _prie-dieu_ not seven times,
+but twice that, to pray for their conversion.
+
+"We must win the children. They will grow up with some knowledge and
+cast aside their superstitions. We must be filled with holy zeal and
+never weary doing our Master's will."
+
+She had tried to win Rose, as well as some of the more intelligent
+half-breeds. But prayers were wearisome to the child. And why should you
+ask the same thing over and over again? Even M. Destournier, she had
+noticed, did not like to be importuned, and why then the great God, who
+had all the world to care for, and sent to His creatures what He thought
+best.
+
+The child looked out on the wide vault so full of stars, and her heart
+was thrilled with the great mystery. What was the beautiful world beyond
+that was called heaven? What did they know who had never seen it? The
+splendor of the great white moon--moving majestically through the
+blue--touched her with a sort of ecstasy. Was it another world? And how
+tenderly it seemed to touch the tree tops, silvering the branches and
+deepening the shadows until they were haunts of darkness. Did not other
+gods dwell there, as those old people in the islands on the other side
+of the world dreamed? Over the river hung trailing clouds of misty
+sheen, there was a musical lapping of the waves, the curious vibration
+of countless insects--now the shrill cry of some night bird, then such
+softness again that the world seemed asleep.
+
+"_Ma fille, ma fille_," and the half-inquiring accent of Wanamee's voice
+fell on her ear.
+
+"I am here. It is so beautiful. Wanamee, did you ever feel that you must
+float away to some other world and learn things that seem to hover all
+about you, and yet you cannot grasp?"
+
+"You cannot, child, until you are admitted to the company of the saints.
+And this life is very comfortable, to some at least. Thou hast no
+trouble, little one. But it is time for the bed."
+
+"Why can I not sleep out here? The Indians sleep under the tree. So has
+M'sieu Ralph, and the Governor. Oh, I should like to and have just that
+great blue sky and the stars over me."
+
+"They would not show under the tree branches. And there are wolves and
+strollers that it would not be safe to see at this time of the year,
+when there are so many drunken traders. So come in, child."
+
+She rose slowly. A little room in the end of the Giffard house was
+devoted to her and Wanamee. Two small pallets raised a little above the
+floor, a stand with a crucifix, that the Governor's wife insisted was
+necessary, a box, in which winter bedding was stored, and that served
+for a seat, completed the simple furniture.
+
+Rose knelt before the stand. There were two or three Latin prayers she
+often said aloud, but to-night her lips did not move. This figure on the
+cross filled her with a kind of horror just now.
+
+"Mam'selle," said the waiting Wanamee.
+
+The child rose. "You must pray for yourself to-night," she said in a
+soft voice, throwing her pliant body on the pallet. "I do not understand
+anything about God any more. I do not see why He should send His Son to
+die for the thousands of people who do not care for Him. The great
+Manitou of the Indians did not do it."
+
+"_Ma fille_, ask the priest. But then is it necessary to ask God when we
+have only to believe?"
+
+"I am afraid I don't even believe," was the hesitating reply.
+
+"Surely thou art wicked. There will be penance for thee."
+
+"I will not do penance either. You are cruel if you torture dumb
+animals, and it is said they have not the keen feeling of humans. I am
+not sure. But where one thinks of the pain or punishment he is bearing
+it is more bitter. And what right has another to inflict it upon you?"
+
+Wanamee was silent. She would ask the good priest. But ah, could she
+have her darling punished?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+MILADI AND M. DESTOURNIER
+
+
+"But what are you to do with this nice house? Why, the Governor's is
+hardly better. Will you live here and not at the post? And how pretty
+the furnishings are?"
+
+Rose's face was wreathed in smiles, and the dimples played hide-and-seek
+in a most entrancing manner.
+
+"Yes, I am to live here. And you, and Wanamee, and Nugava, and----"
+
+She clapped her hands and jumped up and down, she pirouetted around with
+grace and lightness that would have enchanted the King of La Belle
+France. Where did she get this wonderful harmony of movement. His eyes
+followed her in admiration. She paused. "And what part is to be given to
+me?"
+
+"This. And Wanamee will have the room between, to be within call."
+
+His cheek flushed. How was he to get his secret told?
+
+"And this will be yours, M'sieu. I know it on account of the books. And
+I can come in here and you shall teach me to read some of the new
+things. I have been very naughty and lazy, have I not. But in the
+winter one cannot roam about. Oh, how delightful it will be!"
+
+She looked up out of such clear, happy eyes. How could he destroy her
+delight--he knew it would.
+
+"There will be some one else here," he began.
+
+"Not Père Jamay. He is with Madame a good deal. I do not like his sour
+face when he frowns upon me. And--oh, you will not have me sent to
+France and put in a convent. I would kill myself first."
+
+"No, no. It is not the priest. I am not over in love with him myself. It
+is some one sweet and pretty, and that you love----"
+
+"That I love"--wonderingly.
+
+He took both her hands in his.
+
+"Rose," with tender gravity, "I am going to marry Madame Giffard."
+
+She stiffened up and looked straight at him, the glow on her cheek
+fading to marble paleness.
+
+"_Petite_, you did love her dearly. You will love her again for my sake.
+No, you shall not go away in this angry mood. Do you not wish me to be
+happy?"
+
+"Miladi belongs to her husband, who is dead. When she goes to heaven he
+will be there, and you two--well, one must give up. Do you not remember
+that Osaka murdered his wife because she went away from him and married
+another brave?"
+
+He was amused at her passion.
+
+"I will give her up then. It is only for this life. And she needs some
+one to care for her. Why are you so opposed to it, when you used to
+love her? She will be like a mother to you."
+
+"I do not want any mother," proudly. "And she does not love me now. Oh,
+one can feel it just like a blast of unfriendly wind. And when she has
+you she will not care for any one else."
+
+"But I can care for you both. You know you belong to me. And sometime,
+when new people cross the ocean, some brave, fine young fellow will love
+you and want to marry you."
+
+"I will not marry him."
+
+"Oh, my little girl, be reasonable. We shall all be happy here together.
+And you will grow up to womanhood and learn many things that will please
+you and be of great service. And will go to France some day----"
+
+"I will not go anywhere with her. Unclasp my hands. I do not belong to
+you any more, to no one, I am----"
+
+She burst into a passion of weeping. In spite of her struggles he
+clasped her to his heart and kissed the throbbing temples, that seemed
+as if they would burst.
+
+"Oh, Rose, my little one, whom I love as a child, and always shall love,
+listen to me and be comforted."
+
+"She will not let you love me. She will want me to be sent to France and
+be put in a convent. Father Jamay said that was what I needed. Oh, you
+will see!"
+
+The sobs seemed to rend her small body. He could feel the beating of her
+heart and all his soul was moved with pity, although he knew her grief
+was unreasonable.
+
+"And you are willing to make me very unhappy, to spoil all my pleasure
+in the new home. Oh, my child, I hardly thought that of you."
+
+She made another struggle and freed herself. She stood erect, it seemed
+as if she had grown inches. "You may be happy with her," she said, with
+a dignity that would have been amusing if it had not been sad, and then
+she dashed out of the room.
+
+He sat down and leaned his elbow on the table, his head on his hand. He
+had gathered from several things miladi had suggested, that she was
+rather indifferent to the child, but he did not surmise that Rose had
+felt and understood it. No one had a better right than he, since in all
+probability her parentage would remain unknown. He would not relinquish
+her. She should be a daughter to him. He realized that he had a curious
+love for the child, that she had attracted him from the first. In the
+years to come her beauty and winsomeness would captivate a husband, with
+the dowry he could give her.
+
+For several days he saw very little of her. He was busy and miladi was
+exigent. Rose wandered about, sometimes to the settlement, watching the
+busy women dressing skins, making garments, cutting fringes, and
+embroidering wampum for the braves. The tawny children played about, the
+small papooses, strapped in their cases of bark, blinked and
+occasionally uttered wearisome cries. Or she rowed about in her canoe,
+often with Pani, for the river current was rather treacherous. Then she
+scudded through the woods like a deer, winding in and out of the stately
+columns that were here silver-gray, there white; beech and birch, dark
+hemlocks, that not having space to branch out, grew up tall with a head
+almost like a palm. Insects hummed and shrilled, or whirred like a tiny
+orchestra. Now and then a bird flung out a strain of melody, squirrels
+ran about, and the doe came and put its nose in her hand. She had tied a
+strip of skin, colored red, about its neck, that no one might shoot it.
+The rich, deep moss cushioned the ground. Occasionally an acorn fell.
+She would sit here in dreamy content by the hours, often just enjoying,
+sometimes puzzling her brains over all the mysteries that in the years
+to come education would solve. So few could read, indeed books were only
+for the few.
+
+Then she ran up and down the rocks, hid in the nooks, came out again in
+dryad fashion. She had been wont to laugh and make echoes ring about,
+but now her heart, in spite of all she could do, was not light enough
+for that. Wanamee was sore troubled by her reticence, for she was too
+proud to make any complaint. Indeed, she did not know what to complain
+of. In her childish heart everything was vague, she could not reason,
+she could only feel that something had been snatched out of her life and
+set in another's. She would henceforth be lonely.
+
+"Miladi wants to see you," said Wanamee one morning. "She wonders why
+you do not run in as you used. And she has something joyful to tell
+you."
+
+Rose shut her lips tightly together and stamped on the floor.
+
+"Oh, _ma petite_, you have guessed then! Or, perhaps M'sieu told you.
+Miladi is to marry him, and they are to go to the nice new house he is
+building. They are to take you and me and Pani. And he will have the two
+Montagnais, who have been his good servants. We shall get out of this
+old, tumble-down post station, and be near the Héberts. Then M'sieu is
+getting such a nice big wheat field and garden."
+
+Rose was drawing long breaths. She would not cry or utter a complaint.
+Wanamee approached her, holding out both hands.
+
+"Do not touch me," she entreated, in a passionate tone. "Do not say
+anything more. When I am a little tranquil I will go and see her. I know
+what she wants me to say--that I am glad. There is something just here
+that keeps me from being glad," and she pressed her hands tightly over
+her heart. "I do not know what it is."
+
+"Surely you are not jealous of miladi? They are grown-up people. And
+M'sieu told her yesterday--I heard them talking--that you were to be a
+child to them, that they would both love you. Miladi has been irritable,
+and not so gay as she used, but she is better now, and will soon be her
+olden self. She was very nice and cheerful this morning, and laughed
+with the joy of other days. Oh, child, do not disturb it by any
+tempers."
+
+Wanamee's eyes were soft and entreating.
+
+"Oh, you need not fear," the child exclaimed, proudly. "Now I will go."
+
+She tapped at miladi's door, and a very sweet voice said--"Come, little
+stranger."
+
+She opened it. Miladi was sitting by the small casement window, in one
+of her pretty silken gowns, long laid by. There was a dainty rose flush
+on her cheek, but the hand she held out was much thinner than of yore,
+when in the place of knuckles there were dimples.
+
+"Where have you been all these days when I have not seen you, little
+maid? Come here and kiss me, and wish me joy, as they do in old France.
+For I am going to take your favorite as a husband, and you are to be our
+little daughter."
+
+Rose lifted up her face. The kiss was on her forehead.
+
+"Now, kiss me," and she touched the small shoulder with something like a
+shake, as she offered her cheek.
+
+It was a cold little kiss from lips that hardly moved. Miladi laughed
+with a pretty, amused ripple.
+
+"In good sooth," she said merrily, "some lover will teach you to kiss
+presently. Thou art growing very pretty, Rose, and when some of the
+gallants come over from Paris, they will esteem the foundling of Quebec
+the heroine of romance."
+
+The child did not flush under the compliment, or the sting, but glanced
+down on the floor.
+
+"Come, thou hast not wished me joy."
+
+"Madame, as I have not been to France I do not know how they wish joy."
+
+"Oh, you formal little child!" laughing gayly. "Do you not know what it
+is to be happy? Why, you used to be as merry as the birds in singing
+time."
+
+"I can still be merry with the birds."
+
+"But you must be merry for M. Destournier. He wishes you to be happy,
+and has asked me to be a mother to you. Why, I fell in love with you
+long ago, when you were so ill. And surely you have not forgotten when I
+found you on the gallery, in a dead faint. You were grateful for
+everything then."
+
+Had she loved miladi so much? Why did she not love her now? Why was her
+heart so cold? like lead in her bosom.
+
+"I am grateful for everything."
+
+"Then say you are glad I am going to marry M. Ralph, who loves me
+dearly."
+
+"Then I shall be glad you are to marry him. But I am sorry for M.
+Giffard, in his lonely grave."
+
+"Oh, horrors, child! Do you think I ought to be buried in the same
+grave? There, run away. You give me the shivers."
+
+Rose made a formal little courtesy, and walked slowly out of the room,
+with a swelling heart.
+
+Miladi told of the scene to her lover daintily, and with some
+embellishments, adding--"She is a jealous little thing. You will be
+between two fires."
+
+"The fires will not scorch, I think," smiling. "She will soon outgrow
+the childish whim."
+
+In his secret heart there was a feeling of joy that he had touched such
+depths in the little girl's soul. Miladi was rather annoyed that he had
+not agreed to send her to some convent in France, as she hoped. But in a
+year or two she might choose it for herself.
+
+They went up to the chapel to be married. The Governor gave the bride
+away. She was gowned just as Rose had seen her that first time, only she
+was covered with a fine deerskin cloak, that she laid aside as they
+walked up the aisle, rather scandalizing the two Récollet fathers. She
+looked quite like a girl, and it was evident she was very happy.
+
+Then they had a feast in the new house, and it was the first occasion of
+real note there had been in Quebec. Rose was very quiet and reserved
+among the grown folks, though M. de Champlain found time to chat with
+her, and tell her that now she had found real parents.
+
+After this there was a busy season preparing for the winter, as usual,
+drying and preserving fruits, taking up root vegetables and storing
+them, gathering nuts, and getting in grains of all kinds. Now they kept
+pigs alive until about midwinter, and tried to have fresh game quite
+often. The scurvy was practically banished.
+
+As for Rose, the marriage made not so much difference. She was let very
+much alone, and rambled about as she listed, until the snows came.
+Occasionally she visited Marie, but everything was in a huddle in the
+small place, and the chimney often smoked when the wind was east. But
+Marie seemed strangely content and happy. Or she went to the Gaudrions,
+which she really liked, even if the babies did tumble over her.
+
+She went sometimes to the classes the Governor's wife was teaching, and
+translated to the Indian children many things it was difficult for them
+to understand.
+
+Madame de Champlain would say--"Child, thou ought to be in the service
+of the good God and His Virgin Mother. He has given thee many
+attractions, but they are to be trained for His work, not for thy own
+pleasure. We are not to live a life of ease, but to deny ourselves for
+the sake of the souls of those around us."
+
+"I think oftentimes, Madame, they have no souls," returned the daring
+girl. "They seem never able to distinguish between the true God and
+their many gods. And if they are ill they use charms. Their religion, I
+observe, makes them very happy."
+
+"There are many false things that please the carnal soul. That is what
+we are to fight against. Oh, child, I am afraid the evil one desires
+thee strongly. Thou shouldst go to confession, as we do at home, and
+accept the penances the good priests put upon thee."
+
+Confession had not made much headway with these children of the new
+world. Father Jamay, to his great disgust, found they would tell almost
+anything, thinking to please him with a multitude of sins, and they went
+off to forget their penance. So it was not strongly insisted upon.
+
+Madame de Champlain was a dévote. In her secret heart she longed for the
+old convent life. Still she was deeply interested in the plans of the
+Récollet fathers, who were establishing missions among the Hurons and
+the Nipissings, and learning the languages. She gave generously of her
+allowance, and denied herself many things; would, indeed, have given up
+more had her husband allowed it.
+
+Captain Pontgrave came in to spend the winter, brave and cheerful,
+though he had lost his only son. While the men exchanged plans for the
+future, and smoked in comfort, Madame was often kneeling on a flat stone
+she had ordered sent to her little convent-like niche, praying for the
+salvation of the new world to be laid at the foot of God's throne, and
+to be a glory to old France. But the court of old France was revelling
+in pleasure and demanding furs for profit.
+
+Destournier occasionally joined the conclave. His heart and soul were in
+this new land and her advancement, but his wife demanded his company
+most of his evenings. She sat in her high-backed chair wrapped in furs
+listening to his reading aloud or appearing to, though she often drowsed
+off. But there was another who drank in every word, if she did not quite
+understand. The wide stone chimney gave out its glowing fire of great
+logs, sometimes hemlock branches that diffused a grateful fragrance
+around the room. On a sort of settle, soft with folds of furs, Rose
+would stretch out gracefully, or curl up like a kitten, and with
+wide-open eyes turn her glance from the fascinating fire to the reader's
+face, repeating in her brain the sentences she could catch. Sometimes it
+was poetry, and then she fairly revelled in delight.
+
+After a few weeks she seemed to accept the fact of the marriage with
+equanimity, but she grew silent and reserved. She understood there was a
+secret animosity between herself and miladi, even if they were outwardly
+agreeable. She had gathered many pretty and refined ways from Madame de
+Champlain, or else they were part of the unknown birthright. She had
+turned quite industrious as well, the winter day seemed dreary when one
+had no employment. She read a good deal too, she could understand the
+French, and occasionally amused herself translating.
+
+When the spring opened the Governor and several others went to the new
+trading post and town, Mont Réal. There really seemed more advantages
+here than at Quebec. There was a long stretch of arable land, plenty of
+fruit trees, if they were wild; a good port, and more ease in catching
+the traders as they came along. There, too, stray Indians often brought
+in a few choice furs, which they traded for various trifles, exchanging
+these again for rum.
+
+Rose drew a long breath of delight when the spring fairly opened, and
+she could fly to her olden haunts. Oh, how dear they were! Though now
+she often smuggled one of M. Ralph's books and amused herself reading
+aloud until the woods rang with the melodious sounds.
+
+Miladi liked a sail now and then on the river, when it was tranquil. She
+did not seem to grow stronger, though she would not admit that she was
+ill. She watched Rose with a curious half-dread. She was growing tall,
+but her figure kept its lithe symmetry. Out in the woods she sometimes
+danced like a wild creature. Miladi had been so fond of dancing in M.
+Giffard's time, but now it put her out of breath and brought a pain to
+her side. She really envied the bright young creature in the grace and
+rosiness of perfect health.
+
+This summer a band of Jesuits came to the colony. They received a rather
+frigid welcome from the colonists, but the Récollets, convinced that
+they were making very slow advance in so large a field, opened their
+convent to them, and assisted them in getting headquarters of their own.
+And the church in Quebec began to take shape, it was such a journey to
+the convent services at the St. Charles river.
+
+There followed a long, cold winter. Miladi was housed snug and warm, but
+she grew thinner, so that her rings would not stay on her slim fingers.
+There had been troubles with the Indians and at times M. Destournier was
+obliged to be away, and this fretted her sorely.
+
+There was a great conclave at Three Rivers, to make a new treaty of
+peace with several of the tribes. A solemn smoking of pipes, passing of
+wampum, feasts and dances. And then, as usual, the influx of traders.
+
+Madame de Champlain desired to return to France with her husband, who
+was to sail in August. The rough life was not at all to her taste.
+
+"Oh," said miladi, eagerly, when she heard this, "let us go, too. I am
+tired of these long, cold winters. I was not made for this kind of life.
+If M. Giffard had lived a year longer he would have had a competency;
+and then we should have returned home. Surely you have made money."
+
+"But mine is not where I can take it at a month's notice. I have been
+building on my plantation, weeding out some incompetent and drunken
+tenants, and putting in others. Pontgrave is going. Du Pare is much at
+the new settlement at Beaupré. It would not be possible for me to go,
+but you might."
+
+"Go alone?" in dismay.
+
+"It would not be alone. Madame de Champlain would be glad of your
+company."
+
+"A woman who has no other thought but continual prayers, and anxieties
+for the souls of the whole world."
+
+"Another year----"
+
+"I want to go now"--impatiently.
+
+She was like a fretful child. He looked in vain now for the charms she
+had once possessed.
+
+"I could not possibly. It would be at a great loss. And I am not
+enamored of the broils and disputes. How do I know but some charge may
+be trumped up against me? The fur company seize upon any pretext. And
+even a brief absence might ruin some of my best plans. Marguerite, I am
+more of a Canadian than a Frenchman. The Sieur has promised to interest
+some new emigrants. I see great possibilities ahead of us."
+
+"So you have talked always. I am homesick for La Belle France. I want no
+more of Canada, of Quebec, that has grown hateful to me."
+
+Her voice was high and tremulous, and there burned a red spot on each
+cheek.
+
+"Then let me send you. You should stay a year to recuperate, and I may
+come for you."
+
+"I will take Rose."
+
+"If she wishes. But I will not have her put in a convent."
+
+"She is like a wild deer. Do you mean to marry her to some half-breed?
+There seems no one else. The men who come on business leave wives
+behind. There is no one to marry."
+
+"You found some one," he returned good-naturedly, smoothing her fair
+hair.
+
+"Can you find another?"
+
+"She is but a child. There need to be no hurry."
+
+"She has outgrown childhood. To be sure, there is Pierre Gaudrion, who
+hangs about awkwardly, now and then."
+
+"She will never marry Pierre Gaudrion. She is of too fine stuff."
+
+"A foundling! Who knows aught about her? Most Frenchmen like a well-born
+mother for their children."
+
+"She is in no haste for a husband. But do not let us dispute about her.
+You excite yourself too much. Think seriously of this project. The Sieur
+will see you safely housed when once you are there."
+
+He turned and went out. She fell into a violent fit of weeping. She
+could coax anything out of Laurent, poor Laurent, who might have been
+alive to-day but for the friendship he thought he owed M. Destournier.
+And they might now be in Paris, where there were all sorts of gay
+goings-on. This life was too stupid for a woman, too cold, too lonely.
+And a wife should be a husband's first thought. Ralph was cold and
+cruel, and had grown stern, almost morose.
+
+He walked over to the plantation. By one of the log huts Rose stood
+talking to an Indian woman. Yes, she was no longer a child. She was tall
+and shapely, full of vigor, glowing with health, radiant in coloring,
+yes, beautiful. There was much of the olden time about her in the smiles
+and dimples and eagerness, though she was grave in miladi's presence.
+
+Yet neither was she a woman. The virginal lines had not wholly filled
+out, but there was a promise of affluence that neither my lady nor the
+Madame possessed. For the lovely Hélène had dévote written in every line
+of her face, a rapt expression, that seemed to lift her above the
+ordinary world. The souls of those she came in contact with were the
+great thing. And though the Sieur was a good Catholic, he was also of
+the present world, and its advancement, and had always been inspired
+with the love of an explorer, and of a full, free life. He could never
+have been a priest. He had the right view of colonization, too. Homes
+were to be made. Men and women were to be attached to the soil to make
+it yield up the bountiful provision hidden in its mighty breast.
+
+And miladi! There had been so few women in his life that he knew nothing
+of contrast, or analysis. Some of the men took Indian wives for a year
+or so: that had never appealed to him. He had been charmed by Madame
+Giffard from the very first meeting with her, but she was another man's
+wife, and she loved her husband. The pretty coquetries were a part of
+the civilized world over in France and meant only a graceful desire to
+please. Then in her sorrow he pitied her profoundly, and felt that he
+owed her the highest and most sacred duty.
+
+But as he studied Rose now, and thought of a suggested lover in Pierre
+Gaudrion, his whole soul rose in revolt. And the other thought of
+sending her away was equally distasteful. Why, she was the light and
+sweetness of the settlement. In a different fashion, she captured the
+hearts of the Indian women, and taught them the love of home-making,
+roused in some of them intelligence. How did she come by it? There was
+Wanamee.
+
+He did not dream that he had awakened a desire for knowledge in the
+girl's breast and brain. But she had gone beyond him in the lore of the
+sea and the sky, and the romance of the trees, that to him were
+promising materials for houses and boats. They were her friends. She
+could translate the soft murmur that ran through their leaves, or the
+sweet, wild whistle of the wind that blew in from the river or down from
+the high hills,--from the ice and snow of the fur country. And sometimes
+he had seen her run races with the foaming river, where it whirled and
+eddied and fretted against a spur of the mighty rocks. All her life,
+from the day he found her on the rocks, seemed to pass before him in one
+great flash. He exulted that she belonged to no one, that he had the
+best right to her. He could not have told why. Heaven had denied him a
+child of his very own, and he had learned that miladi considered babies
+a wearisome burthen, fit only for peasants and Indian women.
+
+Did the saintly and beautiful Hélène think so as well? he wondered. He
+had learned a good deal about womankind since his marriage, but he made
+a grand mistake, he had learned only about one woman; and she was not
+the noblest of her kind.
+
+Rose turned suddenly and saw him in that half-waiting attitude. There
+was little introspection, or analysis, in those days; people simply
+lived, felt without understanding. She had outgrown her first feeling of
+aversion. In a vague fashion she realized that miladi needed protection
+and care that no one but M. Destournier could give her. She was sorry
+she could not ramble about, that she never brightened up, and sung and
+danced any more. And this was why she, Rose, did not want to grow old
+and give up the delights of vivid, enchanting exercise.
+
+Why miladi was captious and changeful, never of the same mind twice, she
+could not understand. What suited her to-day bored her to-morrow. She
+gave up trying to please, though she was generally ready and gracious.
+But she remarked it was the same way with M. Ralph, and he bore the
+captiousness with so sweet a temper that she felt moved to emulate him.
+In the depths of her heart there was a great pity, and it was sweet to
+him, though neither ever adverted to it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A FEAST OF SUMMER
+
+
+As if his eyes had summoned her, she turned toward him. Out here in
+God's wide, beautiful world they could be the same friends, and not fret
+any one. It might have been dangerous if he had not been so upright a
+man, with no subtle reasonings, and she less simple-hearted.
+
+"I have been helping Evening Star arrange her house. She is anxious to
+be like a Frenchwoman, and has put off many Indian ways since she became
+a convert."
+
+"But you do not give her her Christian name," and he smiled.
+
+"Maria Assunta! It isn't half as pretty. She has such lovely deep eyes,
+and such velvety skin that her Indian name suits her best. What does it
+matter?"
+
+"Perhaps it helps them to break away from Indian superstitions. I do see
+some improvement in the women, but the men----"
+
+She laughed lightly. "The women were better in the beginning. They were
+used to work. And all the braves care for is hunting and drinking bouts.
+If I were a priest, I should consider them hardly worth the trouble."
+
+"A fine priest you would make. They consider you half a heretic."
+
+"I go to chapel, M'sieu, when one can get there. I know a great many
+prayers, but they are much alike. I would like all the world to be
+upright and good, but I do not want to stay in a stifling little box
+until my breath is almost gone, and my knees stiff, saying a thing over
+and over. M'sieu, I can feel the Great Presence out on the beautiful
+rocks, as I look down on the river and watch the colors come and go,
+amber and rose, and greens of so many tints; and the music that is
+always so different. Then I think God does not mean us to shut it all
+out and be melancholy."
+
+"You were ever a wild little thing."
+
+"I can be grave, M'sieu, and silent, when there is need, for others. But
+I cannot give up all of my own life. I say to my heart--'Be still, it is
+only for a little while'--then comes the dance of freedom."
+
+She laughed, with a ripple of music.
+
+"I wonder," he began, after a pause, watching her lithe step and the
+proud way she carried her head--"I wonder if you would like to cross the
+ocean, to go to France?"
+
+"With the beautiful Madame? It is said she is to sail as soon as the
+boats are loaded."
+
+"Miladi might go with her. I could not be spared. And you----"
+
+He saw the sudden, great throb that moved her breast up to her very
+shoulders.
+
+"I should not want to go," in a quiet tone.
+
+"But if I found at the last hour that I could go?"
+
+She drew a long breath. "M'sieu, I have no desire to see France. I hear
+you and the Governor talk about it, and the great court where the King
+spends his time in foolishness, and the Queen Mother plots wicked
+schemes. And they throw people in prison for religion's sake. Did I hear
+a story of some people who were burned at the stake? Why, that is as
+cruel as the untaught Indians. And to cross the big, fearful ocean. Last
+summer we sailed up to the great gulf, you know, and you could see where
+the ocean and sky met. No, I like this old, rocky place the best."
+
+"But if miladi wanted you to go very much?"
+
+"She will not want me very much, in her heart," and she glanced up so
+straightforwardly that he flushed. "No, you will leave me here and I
+will be very religious. I will go to the chapel every Sunday and pray. I
+will have a _prie-dieu_ in one corner, and kneel many times a day,
+praying that you will come back safely. I shall have something real to
+pray for then. And--miladi will be very happy."
+
+There was a fervor, touching in its earnestness, that penetrated his
+soul.
+
+"You will not miss me much," he ventured.
+
+The quick tears sprang to her eyes.
+
+"Oh, yes, I should miss you," and her voice had a little tremble in it.
+"But you would return. Oh, yes, I know the good God would send you back.
+See how many times he has sent the Sieur de Champlain back!"
+
+She raised her face to his, and though the tears still beaded her long
+lashes, the lips smiled adorably. He could have kissed her, but his fine
+respect told him that endearment was sacred to another man now.
+
+"I do not think I shall go. Some one must be here to see that things do
+not go to wreck."
+
+She wondered if miladi would go without him. They walked on silently. He
+was thinking of the other man. The Sieur hoped to persuade some
+better-class emigrants on his next voyage.
+
+Whether miladi would have gone or not could not be known. She was taken
+quite ill. The doctor came down from Tadoussac, and said she would not
+be strong enough to stand such a long voyage.
+
+Wanamee was her indefatigable nurse when her husband was away, as he was
+compelled to be in the daytime. On a few occasions she insisted that
+Rose should read from some old volumes of poems. She used to watch, with
+strange, longing eyes. Ah, if she could be young again, and strong. Did
+M'sieu Ralph often think of the years between, and that some time in the
+future she would be an old woman! He appeared to grow more vigorous and
+younger.
+
+There were busy times in the little town. The traders seemed to be
+rougher every year. They were not much inside the palisade, but they set
+up booths and tents on the shore edge, and there was much drinking and
+chaffering.
+
+"Thou must not go outside of the palisade," said Destournier to Rose.
+"There are many rude, drunken men about."
+
+She did not demur. In truth she spent many hours comforting the Indian
+women for the loss of their angel lady, whom they had truly worshipped,
+and whom, in their vague ignorant fashion, they had confused with the
+Virgin. But she had wearied of the wildness and the lack of the society
+of the nuns that she loved so dearly. Two of her maids would return with
+her, the other had married.
+
+And though she had not made very warm friends with Madame Destournier,
+she would have liked her companionship on the long voyage. And miladi
+was really sorry to have the break, since there were so few women, even
+if she did tire of her religion.
+
+"If we do not meet again here," Madame Hélène said, in her
+sweetly-modulated voice, that savored of the convent, "it is to be hoped
+we shall reach the home where we shall rest with the saints, when the
+Divine has had His will with us. Farewell, my sister, and may the Holy
+Virgin come to your assistance in the darkest hours."
+
+Then she knelt and prayed. Miladi shuddered. Was she going to die? Oh,
+no, she could not.
+
+The vessel came down from Tadoussac. All the river was afloat, as usual,
+at this season. A young man sprang off and pressed his sister's hand
+warmly.
+
+The Héberts, with their son and daughter, the married maid and her
+husband and several others, who had stood a little in awe of the
+Governor's lady, were there to wish her _bon voyage_. Her husband
+assisted her, with the tenderest care. Was he happy with her, when she
+was only half his age? M. Destournier wondered.
+
+When they started, a salute was fired. He was leaving his new fort but
+half completed.
+
+"Who was that pretty young girl who kept so close to the Héberts?"
+Eustache Boullé asked his sister. "There, talking to that group of
+Indian women."
+
+"Oh, that is M. Destournier's ward. Surely, you saw her when you first
+came here, though she was but a child then. A foundling, it seems. Good
+Father Jamay was quite urgent that she should be sent home, and spend
+some years in a convent."
+
+"And she refused? She looks like it. Oh, yes, I remember the child."
+
+"Beauty is a great snare where there is a wayward will," sighed the
+devoted Hélène. "It is no country for young girls of the better class.
+Though no one knows to what class she really belongs."
+
+Eustache fell into a dream. What a bright attractive child she had
+been. How could he have forgotten her? He was two-and-twenty now, and
+his man's heart had been stirred by her beauty.
+
+If Rose was not so much of a dévote she began to make herself useful to
+many of the Indian converts who missed their dear lady. To keep their
+houses tidy, to learn a little about the useful side of gardening, and
+how their crops must be tended, to insure the best results. The children
+could be set to do much of this.
+
+Quebec fell back to its natural state. There was no more carousing along
+the river, no drunken men wrangling in the booths, no affrays. Rose
+could ramble about as she liked, and she felt like a prisoner set free.
+Madame Destournier was better, and each day took a sail upon the river,
+which seemed to strengthen her greatly. Presently they would spend a
+fortnight at the new settlement, Mont Réal. Many things were left in the
+hands of M. Destournier, and his own affairs had greatly increased.
+
+One afternoon Rose had espied a branch of purple plums, that no one had
+touched, on a great tree that had had space and sun, but fruited only on
+the southern side. No stick or stone could dislodge them. How tempting
+they looked, in their rich, melting sheen.
+
+"I must have some," she said, eyeing the size of the trunk, the smooth
+bark, and the distance before there was any limb. Then she considered.
+Finding a crotched stick, a limb that had been broken off in some high
+wind, she caught it in the lowest branch and gently pulled it down until
+she grasped it with her hand.
+
+Yes, it was tough. She swung to it. Then she felt her way up cautiously,
+like a cat, and when she swung near enough, caught one arm around the
+tree trunk. It was a hard scramble, but she stood upon it triumphantly.
+It bore her weight, yet she must go higher, for she could not reach the
+temptingly-laden limb. Now and then a branch swayed--if she had her
+stick up here that she had dropped so disdainfully when she had captured
+the limb.
+
+"It is a good thing to be sure you will not want what you fling away,"
+she said to herself, sententiously.
+
+"Aha!" She had caught the limb and drew it in carefully. There she sat,
+queen of a solitary feast. Were ever plums so luscious! Some of the
+ripest fell to the ground and smashed, making cones of golden red, with
+a tiny cap of purple at the top.
+
+In the old Latin book she still dipped into occasionally there were
+descriptions of orchards laden with fruit that made the air around
+fragrant. She could imagine herself there.
+
+In that country there were gods everywhere, by the streams, where one
+named Pan played on pipes. What were pipes that could emit music? The
+nooks hid them. The zephyrs repeated their songs and laments.
+
+There was a swift dazzle and a bird lighted on the branch above her, and
+poured out such a melodious warble that she was entranced. A bird from
+some other tree answered. Ah! what delight to eat her fill to measures
+of sweetest music, and she suddenly joined in.
+
+The young fellow who had been following a beaten path paused in amaze.
+Was it a human voice? It broke off into a clear, beautiful whistle that,
+striking against a ledge of rock, rebounded in an echo. He crept along
+on the soft grass, where the underbrush had some time been fired. The
+tree was swaying to and fro, and a shower of fruit came to the ground.
+
+He drew nearer and then he espied the dryad. From one point he could see
+a girl, sitting in superb unconcern. Was it the one he had been
+searching for diligently the last hour? How had she been able to perch
+herself up there?
+
+Presently she had taken her fill of the fruit, of swinging daintily to
+and fro, of watching the sun-beams play hide-and-seek among the distant
+fir trees, that held black nooks in their shade, of studying with
+intense ecstasy the wonderful colors gathering around the setting sun,
+for which she had no name, but that always seemed as if set to some
+wondrous music. Every pulse stirred within her, making life itself
+sweet.
+
+She stepped down on the lower limb. It would be rather rough to slide
+down the tree trunk, but she had not minded it in her childhood. The
+other way she had often tried as well. She held on to the limb above,
+and walked out on hers, until it began to sway so that she could hardly
+balance herself. Then she gave one spring, and almost came down in the
+young man's arms.
+
+She righted herself in a moment, and stared at him. There was something
+familiar in the soft eyes, in the general contour of the face.
+
+"You do not remember me!"
+
+"Let me think," she said, with a calmness that amused him. "Yes, it
+comes to me. I saw you on the boat that conveyed Madame de Champlain.
+You are her brother."
+
+"Eustache Boullé, at your service," and he bowed gracefully. "But I did
+not know you, Mam'selle. You were such a child four years ago. Even then
+you made an impression upon me."
+
+She was so little used to compliments that it did not stir her in the
+slightest. She was wondering, and at length she said--
+
+"How did you find me?"
+
+"By hard searching, Mam'selle. I saw your foster-mother--I believe she
+is that--and she gave me a graphic description of your wanderings. I
+paused here because the beauty of the place attracted me. And I heard a
+voice I knew must be human, emulating the birds, so I drew nearer. Will
+you forgive me when I confess I rifled your store? What plums these are!
+I did not know that Canada could produce anything so utterly delicious.
+We have some wild sour ones that get dried and made eatable in the
+winter, when other things are scarce. And the Indians make a
+queer-tasting drink out of them."
+
+"I found this tree quite by accident. I never saw it before, and if you
+will look, there are only two branches that have any fruit. The other
+side of the tree is barren. And that high branch will give the birds a
+feast. I do not think I could venture up there," laughing.
+
+"I wondered how you ventured at all. And how you dared come down that
+way."
+
+His eyes expressed the utmost admiration.
+
+"Oh," she answered carelessly, "that was an old trick of mine, my
+childhood's delight. I used to try how far I could walk out before the
+limb would give me warning."
+
+"But if it had broken?"
+
+"Why, I should have jumped, all the same. You did not go with your
+sister and M. de Champlain."
+
+"I had half a mind to, then I reconsidered."
+
+She met his gaze calmly, as if she was wondering a little what had
+prevented him.
+
+"And I came to Quebec. It begins to grow. But we want something beside
+Indians. M. Destournier has settled quite a plantation of them, and my
+sister has believed in their conversion. But when one knows them
+well--he has not so much faith in them. They are apt to revert to the
+original belief, crude superstitions."
+
+"It is hard to believe," the girl said slowly.
+
+"That depends. Some beliefs are very pleasant and appeal to the heart."
+
+"But is it of real service to God that one rolls in a bed of thorns, or
+walks barefoot over sharp stones, or kneels all night on a hard, cold
+floor? There are so many beautiful things in the world, and God has made
+them----"
+
+"As a snare, the priest will tell you. Mam'selle, thou hast not been
+made for a devotee. It would be a great loss to one man if thou shouldst
+bury all these charms in a convent."
+
+"I do not know any man who would grieve," she made answer indifferently.
+
+"But you might," and a peculiar smile settled about his lips.
+
+"I am going to take home as many of these plums as I can carry. Madame
+Destournier is not well, and has a great longing for different things. I
+found some splendid berries yesterday which she ate with a relish.
+Sickness gives one many desires. I am glad I am always well. At least I
+was never ill but once, and that was long ago."
+
+She sprang up and began to look about her. "If I could find some large
+leaves----"
+
+"I will fill my pockets."
+
+She looked helplessly at her own garments, and then colored vividly,
+thinking if this young man were not here she would gather a lapful. Why
+should she have this strange consciousness?
+
+Nothing of service met her gaze, and she drew her brow into a little
+frown. It gave her a curious piquancy, and interested him. She had
+spirit.
+
+"Oh, I know! What a dullard I was. Those great flaring dockweeds do not
+grow about here. But something else will answer."
+
+She ran over to an old birch tree and tore off great pieces of bark,
+then gathering some half-dried grasses, began to fashion a sort of pail,
+bending up the edges to make the bottom. She was so quick and deft, it
+was a pleasure to watch her. Then she filled it with the choicest of the
+fruit. There was still some left.
+
+"We might have another feast," he suggested.
+
+"I have feasted sufficiently. Let us make another basket. It can be
+smaller than this."
+
+It was very pleasant to dally there in the woods. He was unnecessarily
+awkward, that the slim fingers might touch his, and her little laugh was
+charming.
+
+"Allow me to carry the larger one," and he reached for it.
+
+"No, no. You are weighted in the pockets. And these are choice. I will
+have no one take part in them."
+
+She drew herself aside and began to march with a graceful, vigorous
+step, her head proudly poised on the arching neck that, bared to summer
+suns and wind, yet was always white. The delicious little hollow, where
+the collar bones met, was formed to lay kisses in, and be filled with
+warm, throbbing lips. Yes, he was right in coming back to Quebec, she
+was more enchanting than the glimpse of her had been.
+
+"Why do you look at me so?" she cried, with a kind of quick repulsion
+she did not understand, but it angered her.
+
+"It is the homage we pay to beauty, Mam'selle."
+
+"Your sister is beautiful," she said, with an abruptness that was almost
+anger.
+
+"So thought the Sieur de Champlain, and I believe she was not offended
+at it."
+
+"I am not like that," she declared decisively. "She was fair as a lily,
+and Father Jamay said she had the face of a saint."
+
+"I am not so partial to saints myself. And my brother-in-law would have
+been better satisfied, I do believe, if she had been less saintly."
+
+She looked a trifle puzzled.
+
+"It is long since you left France," she commented irrelevantly.
+
+"I was not seventeen. It is six years ago."
+
+"Do you mean to go back?"
+
+"Sometime, Mam'selle. Would you like to go?"
+
+"No," she said decidedly.
+
+"But why not?" amused.
+
+"Because I like Quebec."
+
+"It is a wretched wilderness of a place."
+
+"Madame Destournier talks about France. Why, if Paris is all gayety and
+pleasure, are people put in dungeons, and then to death? And there seem
+so many rulers. They are not always good to the Sieur, either."
+
+"They do not understand. But these are too weighty matters for a young
+head."
+
+"Why do they not want a great, beautiful town here! All they care about
+is the furs, and the rough men and Indians spoil the summer. I like to
+hear the Sieur tell what might be, houses and castles, and streets,
+instead of these crooked, winding paths, and--there are fine shops,
+where you buy beautiful things," glancing vaguely at him.
+
+"Why should you not like to go thither then, if you can dream of these
+delights?"
+
+"I want the Sieur to have his way, and do some of the things he has set
+his heart upon. Miladi would like it too. But I am well enough
+satisfied."
+
+She tossed her head in her superb strength. He had not known many women,
+and they were older. There was something in her fresh sweetness that
+touched him to the soul.
+
+"This way, M'sieu." He was plunging ahead, keeping pace with some
+tumultuous thoughts.
+
+"Ah----!"
+
+"And see--you have been careless. You are sowing plums along the way.
+This is no place for them to take root."
+
+She gave a little laugh as well, though she had begun in a sharp tone.
+
+He had pressed the side of his slight receptacle and made a yawning
+crack in it.
+
+"Well, now you must gather that great leaf and patch it. Here are some
+pine needles. I sew with them sometimes. You do not need a thread."
+
+Was she laughing at him?
+
+He managed to repair the damages, and picked up the plums he had not
+trodden upon, that were yielding their wine-like fragrance to the air.
+
+"Which way do you go, M'sieu?" she asked, with unconscious hauteur.
+
+"Why--to M. Destournier's. I called on miladi, and she sent me to find
+you in some wood, she hardly knew where. And I have brought you safely
+back."
+
+"M'sieu, I have come back many a time in safety without you."
+
+Her voice had a suggestion of dismissal in it.
+
+"I must present my spoils to Madame. No, I believe they are yours, you
+were the discoverer, you made the purple shower that I only helped
+gather."
+
+She skipped up the steps lightly. How dainty her moccasined feet were!
+The short skirt showed the small ankles and the swell of the beautiful
+leg. Her figure was not a whit behind his sister's convent-trained one,
+but she was fearless as a deer.
+
+Miladi sat out on the gallery in her chair, that could be moved about
+with ease by a small lever at the side. Looking down at the youthful
+figures, the thought beset her that haunts all women, that here was
+material for a very fortunate match. He was much superior to Pierre
+Gaudrion.
+
+"The trophies of the hunt," Boullé exclaimed gayly. "The huntress and
+the most delicious harvest. I have seen nothing like it."
+
+"I found some plums, a tree quite by itself, and only two branches of
+fruit. We must send some of the best pits to M. Hébert. And I shall
+plant a row in the Sieur's garden."
+
+She brought out a dish and took them carefully from the birch-bark
+receptacle. The exquisite bloom had not been disturbed.
+
+"I will get a dish for yours," she said to the young man.
+
+"Mine were the gleanings," he laughed.
+
+Miladi's eyes glowed at the sight of the feast. Rose had not emptied all
+of hers out, and now she laid three beauties in the corner of the
+cupboard, looking around until she espied a pan. Wooden platters were
+mostly used, even the Indian women were handy in fashioning them.
+
+The young man had taken a seat and a plum, and was regaling his hostess
+with the adventure.
+
+"Curious that I should find the place so easily," and he smiled most
+beguilingly. "Sometimes one seems led in just the right way."
+
+For several reasons he preferred not to say he had heard the singing.
+
+"Yes," and now she gave a soft, answering smile, as if there might be a
+mysterious understanding between them. Miladi was often ennuied, now
+that she was never really well, and the sight and voice of a young man
+cheered her inexplicably.
+
+"Every one knows her. She is the most fearless thing."
+
+"I remember her when she was very little. How tall she has grown. A very
+pretty girl."
+
+"Youth always has a prettiness. It is the roundness and coloring. I
+often long to go back and have it all over again. I should remain in
+France. I do not see what there is in this bleak country to charm one."
+
+"There was some talk of your going with my sister, was there not?"
+
+"Yes. But I was too ill. And M. Destournier thought he could not leave.
+He has many interests here."
+
+Rose re-entered the room.
+
+"I never tasted such delicious plums," the elder commented, in a pleased
+tone. "I want some saved as long as they will keep."
+
+"There is a quantity of them. I should have had to make another journey
+but for M. Boullé," and she dropped a charming little courtesy.
+
+"We might see if we could not find another tree."
+
+"I doubt it."
+
+"Will you stay some time?" asked miladi.
+
+"They can do without me a while. Business is mostly over."
+
+She raised her eyes, and they said she was pleased with the plan. Rose
+busied herself about the room, then suddenly disappeared. She had seen
+M. Destournier coming up the crooked pathway, and with a parcel in her
+hand, went out to meet him.
+
+"I thought of you. Miladi was delighted with hers. Some seagull must
+have brought the pit across the ocean. It is so much finer than any we
+have around here."
+
+He broke it open, but the golden purple juice ran over his hand.
+
+"It is the wine of sunshine. Here is to thy health, Rose of Quebec."
+
+"M. Boullé is in there," nodding. "He came out in the wood and found me
+up the tree," and she laughed gayly.
+
+"Found thee----" Something sharp went to the heart of the man, and he
+looked down into the fearless eyes, with their gay, unsuspecting
+innocence.
+
+"As if I could be lost in dear old Quebec!"
+
+"Is it dear to thee?"
+
+"Why, I have never known any other place, any other home."
+
+There were many knowledges beside that of childhood. And among them one
+might be all-engrossing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+A LOVER IN EARNEST
+
+
+Eustache Boullé seemed in no hurry to return to Tadoussac. He was
+wonderfully interested in the new fort, in the different improvements,
+in miladi, who, somehow, seemed to improve and render herself very
+agreeable. She had a queer feeling about him. If one could be young
+again--ah, that would be back in France. She had a happy time with
+Laurent. She had exulted in winning her second husband, but somehow the
+real flavor and zest of love had not been there.
+
+When Eustache was with Rose she experienced a keen, hungering jealousy,
+and it was then she wanted to be young. The girl was strangely obtuse.
+She never colored when he came, or evinced any half-bashful joy, she
+left him with miladi, and went off with the utmost unconcern. She was
+much in the settlement, showing the Indian women nice ways of keeping
+their homes and children tidy, so that when the beautiful wife of the
+Governor returned they would have great improvement to show her. True,
+they went out canoeing, and the sweet breath of the river washing the
+sedgy grass on the small islands, gave a faint tang of salt, or where it
+dashed and fretted against the rocks made iridescent spray. There were
+so many beautiful places. And though she had seen the falls more than
+once, she went again to please him, after making several excuses. Pani
+was her bodyguard. He was still small, and lithe as an eel, and the
+mixture of races showed in him. Wanamee was sometimes peremptorily
+ordered to accompany him.
+
+The wooing of looks and smiles had little effect on her. Sometimes he
+reached for her hand, but it cunningly evaded him. She seemed so
+sufficient for herself that the matter was reduced to good-comrade-ship.
+Yet there were times when he was wild to kiss the rosy, dimpling mouth,
+to press the soft cheek, to hold the pliant figure in his arms.
+
+It was but right that he should ask M. Destournier for his
+foster-daughter.
+
+To lose her! Ah, how could he give her up?
+
+"Would you come to Quebec?"
+
+"My interests are at Tadoussac. And there are the fisheries at the
+islands growing more profitable. But I might come often if she grew
+homesick, and pined for this rough, rocky place."
+
+"It will be as she pleases," the man said, with a heavy heart.
+
+"I must tell you that I think Madame favors my suit."
+
+M. Destournier merely bowed.
+
+The husband and wife had never touched upon the subject. She could not
+decide. The girl was very useful to her since she had fallen into
+invalid ways. M. Destournier had to be journeying about a good deal. She
+could read so delightfully when the nights were long, tiresome, and
+sleepless. Even Wanamee could not arrange her hair with such deft
+touches, and it really appeared as if she could take off the burthen of
+years by some delicate manipulations. Yes, she would miss her very much.
+But it would be a grand match for a foundling. And if they went to
+France, she would rouse herself and go. M. Destournier was so occupied
+with the matters of the town that he had grown indifferent, and seldom
+played the lover.
+
+But how was Eustache to propose to a girl who could not, or would not
+understand, who never allowed any endearments or softened to sentiment.
+Why, here had been a whole fortnight since he had won the Sieur's tardy
+consent. Now and then he had found some soft-eyed Indian girl not averse
+to modestly-caressing ways, but his religion kept him from any absolute
+wrong, and meaning to marry some time, he had not played at love.
+
+So he came to miladi with his anxieties. Was there ever a woman's soul
+formed with no longing, no understanding of the divine passion, that
+could kneel at the marriage altar in singleness of heart?
+
+Miladi studied the young man. Had the girl no warm blood coursing
+through her veins, no throb of pleased vanity, at the preference of this
+patient lover? Perhaps he was too patient.
+
+"Yes," she made answer, "I will see. You are quite sure your family will
+not be displeased? We know nothing of her birth, you are aware."
+
+"Her beauty will make amends for that."
+
+One could not deny her beauty. Such a dower had never been miladi's,
+though she had been pretty in youth.
+
+"Beg her to listen to me."
+
+"A man should be able to compel a woman to listen," she made answer a
+little sharply.
+
+Glancing out over the space between, she caught sight of Rose and her
+husband coming down from the fort. She was gay enough now, talking with
+no restraint.
+
+"I am almost jealous of M. Destournier," Eustache said, with a sigh.
+
+Miladi was suddenly jealous as well, and this swept away the last shred
+of reluctance.
+
+"You give her great honor by this marriage proposal. She shall be
+compelled to consider it."
+
+"A thousand thanks. If Madame will excuse, I will go out to them."
+
+M. Destournier left her with the young lover. Would she not go out on
+the river? No. Then let them take a forest ramble. There were some fine
+grapes back of the settlement. Pani had brought in a great basket full.
+What would she do?
+
+"Sit here on this ledge and watch the river. Pierre Cadotte is at the
+fort. They came through the rapids at Lachine. It was very exciting. He
+has been at the trading post up to the strait and tells marvellous
+stories of hardships and heroism. And the good priest up there has made
+converts already."
+
+She was always so interested in some far-off thing.
+
+"I wish a priest might make a convert here. There is much need."
+
+She was off her guard. Canoes and boats were going up and down the
+river. Some men were hauling in a catch of fish; just below, an Indian
+woman sat weaving reed baskets, while a group of children played around.
+Not an ideal spot for love-making, but Eustache was desperate.
+
+"Thee"--leaning over until his black curls touched hers. "I would have
+thee converted to love and matrimony. I have been a coward, and kept my
+heartaches and desires to myself. I can do it no longer."
+
+"But I am not for matrimony." She raised her clear eyes that would have
+disheartened almost any man. "I do not want any husband. I like my own
+fancies, and I suppose they are strange. There is only one person I ever
+talk to about them. No one else understands. I think sometimes I do not
+belong here, but to another country; no, the country is well enough. I
+am suited to that. I do not want to go away."
+
+"You would like old France, Paris. My mother would be glad to welcome
+you, I know. And, oh, you would like Paris. Or, if you would rather stay
+here----"
+
+"I do not want to be married in a long time yet. Women change so much
+when they have husbands, and it seems as if they made themselves unhappy
+over many things their husbands do."
+
+"But my sister was very happy. She would not have come all the way to
+New France if she had not loved her husband dearly."
+
+"You see that is so different. I do not love any one in that manner.
+And, oh, M'sieu, she was like an angel, and prayed so much. It is a good
+thing, but I would not like to stay in a darkened room and pray. I like
+better to be roaming in the woods, and singing with the birds, and
+gathering flowers. I believe I am not old enough to accept these
+things."
+
+"But my sister was only twelve when she was betrothed to the Sieur de
+Champlain."
+
+"You see something makes the difference." Her brow knit in perplexity.
+"If it is a thing you want, it would be very easy to reach out your hand
+and take it----"
+
+"But I want it!" He reached out his hand and caught hers. "I love you,
+strange, bewitching as you are in your innocence. And I would teach you
+what love was. No young girl loves much before marriage. But when she is
+with her husband day by day and his devotion is laid at her feet, she
+cannot help understanding what a delight it is, and she learns to give
+of her sweetest and best, as you will, my adorable child."
+
+The heat of his hand and the pulse throbbing in every finger roused a
+deeper feeling of resistance. She tried to withdraw it, but the pressure
+only tightened.
+
+"Will you release my hand?" she said, with a new-born dignity. "It is
+mine, not yours!"
+
+"But I wish it for mine. Oh, Rose, you sweet, delightful creature, you
+_must_ learn to love me. I cannot give you up. And the Destourniers are
+quite willing. I have asked for you."
+
+"No one can give me away. I belong only to myself."
+
+She drew her hand away in an unguarded moment. She sprang up straight
+and lithe, her head poised superbly. Every pulse within him was
+mysteriously stirred, and his breath came in gasps. Yes, he must set her
+in his life. It would be bleak and barren without. To kiss the rosy lips
+when he listed, to pillow the fair head on his shoulder, to encircle the
+supple figure, so full of vitality, in his arms--yes, that would be the
+highest delight.
+
+"I will wait," he said, in a beseeching voice. "You are but a child.
+Pity has not sprung up in your heart yet. I will wait and watch for the
+first sign."
+
+"Go!" She made a dismissing gesture with her hand. "Do not attempt to
+follow me."
+
+He stood still, looking after her. His whole soul was aflame, his voice
+could have cried to the heavens above that she might be enkindled with
+the sacred flame that leaped and flashed within him.
+
+Rose picked her way deftly, daintily over the rocky way. She did not
+stop at the house, but went on to the beach. A fish-hawk was chasing a
+robin, that suddenly veered round as if asking her protection, and
+picking up a sharp stone, she took aim at the hawk and stunned him for
+an instant, so that he lost his balance.
+
+"Bravo, little Rose," said a hearty voice, and the canoe turned in the
+bend. "If your stone had been larger it might have done more execution."
+
+"But I saved the bird." The robin had perched himself on the limb of a
+dead fir tree, and began a gay song.
+
+"You had better go farther away from your enemy," she counselled. Then
+to the canoeist--"Will you let me come in and go down the river?"
+
+"Yes, I will take you down. What did you do with young Boullé?"
+
+She colored a little. "I want to tell you."
+
+"I saw you both up on the cliff."
+
+"I came away and left him."
+
+He drew up the canoe and she stepped in lightly, seating herself so
+gently that the canoe did not even swerve.
+
+"How blue the water is! And so clear. It is like the heaven above. And
+there are rays of sun in the river bed. It does not seem very deep, does
+it? I could almost touch it with my hand."
+
+Destournier laughed. "Suppose you try?"
+
+"And tip us over?" She smiled as well.
+
+It was so lovely that both were moved to silence. Now and then they
+glanced at each other, at some special point or happening. She was not
+effusive.
+
+After a while she began with--"Do you like M. Boullé very much?"
+
+"He is a promising young man, I am glad he did not return to France. We
+have few enough of them here. Every one counts."
+
+"He will go some time," she said, reflectively.
+
+A sudden thought flashed through his mind. The girl's face was very
+calm, but her eyes had a sort of protest in them.
+
+"Will he take you?" Destournier asked, in a husky tone.
+
+"Oh, M'sieu Ralph, would you send me? Would you give me to any one
+else?"
+
+Now her eyes were alight with an eager breathless expression that was
+almost anguish.
+
+"Not if you did not want to go."
+
+"I do not want to go anywhere. Oh, M'sieu Ralph," and now her tone was
+piteous, "I wish you would send him away. I liked him very well at
+first, but now he wants me to love him, and I cannot, the kind of love
+that impels one to marry, and I do not want to be married."
+
+"Has he tried to persuade you?"
+
+Ralph Destournier knew he would make a good husband. Some time Rose
+would marry. But it was plain she did not love him. And though love
+might not be necessary, it was a very sweet accompaniment that, he knew
+now, it was sad to miss.
+
+"He talked to me about marriage. I do not like it." She gave a little
+shiver, and the color went out of her face, even her lips, and her
+pliant figure seemed to shrink as from a blow.
+
+"My child, no one shall marry you against your will, neither shall you
+be taken away. Rest content in my promise."
+
+She nodded, then smiled, with trusting eyes. He wondered a little about
+her future. While he lived--well, the Sieur de Champlain was well and
+hearty, and much older. She was only a child yet, though she had
+suddenly grown tall. He could care for her in the years to come, and she
+would no doubt find a mate. He knew very little about girls. They
+generally went to convents and were educated and husbands were chosen
+for them by their parents. But in this new world matters had changed.
+There was talk of a convent to train the Indian girls, and the
+half-breeds who took more readily to civilization. The priests were in
+earnest about it, but money was lacking. Rose had picked up much useful
+knowledge, and knew some things unusual for a girl. Good Father Jamay
+would be shocked at Terence, Aristophanes, and Virgil for a girl.
+
+"So you do not like marriage?" he said, rather jestingly.
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"But then you know nothing about it."
+
+"Why, there is the Sieur and the beautiful Madame. And you and miladi.
+And Marie, with her dirty house and her babies. She is not as nice as
+the Indian women. And they have to wait upon the braves or else, when
+the braves are off fur hunting, they have to plant the crops and catch
+fish, and even hunt and mend tents, and do such hard work. All that is
+no delight like dreaming on the moss in the woods, and talking to the
+birds, and breathing the fragrance all about, and having rushes of
+delight sweep over you like a waft from the beautiful heaven above. Oh,
+why should I marry; to think of some one else that I do not want and not
+feel that my life was my very own."
+
+He studied the youthful unconscious face before him, the clear, fine
+skin, a few shades deeper from the daily contact with sun and much
+dallying on the river; the beautiful dark eyes that seemed always
+gathering the choicest of life, with joy and wonder; the rounded cheeks,
+with exquisitely-faint coloring, seeming to join the clear-cut chin,
+with its dimpled cleft melting into the shapely throat, that upheld it
+like a flower on a strong, yet delicate stem. He was strangely moved by
+the peculiar aloofness of the beauty.
+
+Her soft hair hung about her like a cloud, the curling ends moved now
+and then as if by their own vigorous life. Indeed, there was an intense
+sort of vitality about her that, quiescent as it often was, in this
+trifling, daily round, could shoot up into a bewildering flame. Perhaps
+that was love. She did not have it for Eustache Boullé, she might never
+have it for him. Were men and women but half alive? Was there some
+sudden revivifying influence that raised them above the daily wants,
+that gave them an insight into a new existence? Had he ever experienced
+it?
+
+The sun dropped down behind a range of hills, covered with pines, furs,
+and cedars, that were growing into a compact dark wall, the interstices
+being black. The edge of the river took on these sombre hues, but a
+little beyond there were long strips of rose and tawny gold, between
+zones of purple and green. The current tossed them hither and thither,
+like some weird thing winding about. Destournier was strangely moved by
+this mysterious kinship to nature that he had never experienced before.
+
+"We must turn back," he began briefly, though it seemed to him he could
+gladly go on to a new life in some other land.
+
+She nodded. The tide was growing a little stronger, but it was in their
+favor. They kept quite near the shore, where it was dark in spaces, and
+then opened into a sort of clearing, only to close again. Even now the
+voyager dreams on the enchanting shores that are not all given up to
+towns and business.
+
+She began to sing. It was melody without words. Now and then she
+recalled a French verse or two, then it settled into some melancholy
+Indian plaint, or the evening song of a belated bird. She was not
+singing for him, yet he was enchanted.
+
+He drew in the canoe presently. She sprang out with the agile grace
+caught from much solitary rambling and climbing. Then she waited for him
+to fasten it.
+
+"You are quite sure that you will not consent to M. Boullé's wishes?"
+she inquired, as they turned in and out of the winding path.
+
+"You shall be left entirely free. You shall not marry at all, if you
+prefer," he answered solemnly.
+
+"Oh, a thousand thanks. And you will convince miladi. I think she wishes
+M. Boullé all success. I must go make my peace with Wanamee and get some
+supper."
+
+She ran to the end of the house, the wide kitchen, where the cooking was
+done. Wanamee and Mawha were in a discussion, as often happened. Pani
+sat with a great wooden platter on his knees, eating voraciously. Rose
+realized suddenly that she was hungry, and the smell of the broiling
+fish was appetizing.
+
+"I'm famished, Wanamee," she cried. "Will you give me some supper?"
+
+"Miladi is much vexed with you, little one. She had supper sent to her
+room and M. Boullé was there. They wanted you and M. Destournier. There
+was to be a--I do not know what you call it, but he wanted you to
+promise to be his wife, for he goes to Tadoussac to-morrow."
+
+Rose's heart beat with a guilty joy.
+
+"I should not promise that. I do not want to be a wife."
+
+Mawha, who had been a wife several times, a tall, rather severe-looking
+Indian woman, turned upon her.
+
+"Thou art well-grown and shouldst have a husband. Girls get too wild if
+they are let go too long. A husband keeps them in order."
+
+"I will have some supper," Rose said, with dignity, ignoring the
+stricture.
+
+Then she cleared a place on the table and brushed it clean with the
+birch twigs. Wanamee brought a plate of Indian meal cake, deliciously
+browned, some potatoes baked in the hot ashes, and a great slice of
+fish, with a dish of spiced preserves of some green fruit and berries.
+
+"I looked for you," Pani said. "Were you up on the mountain?"
+
+Rose shook her head.
+
+She was hungry, but she dallied over her meal, wondering if she had best
+go in and say good-night to miladi. She did not always; she quite
+understood now that there were times when miladi did not care to see
+her; then, at others, she sent for her. Now she would let her send. She
+went up to her small chamber presently. The young moon was travelling
+over westward with her attendant star. There were boats still out on the
+river, merry voices, others in loud and angry dispute. Why did people
+want to quarrel, when the world was so beautiful! Then a shrill cry of
+some night bird, guards coming and going about the fort. She grew drowsy
+presently, and went to bed, serene in the belief that M. Boullé would go
+his way and torment her no more, for had not M. Ralph promised?
+
+M. Ralph and miladi were having a rather stormy time. She had inquired
+very peremptorily what had kept him so late. Pani had been sent to the
+warehouse and had not found him, neither had he been at the fort.
+
+M. Destournier was no hand to prevaricate. He lived an open, honest
+life, and had few secrets beside those of business. Ordinarily, he would
+have explained what he had been about the last two hours, but he had a
+sudden premonition that it was wiser not to do so. Miladi was sometimes
+captious where Rose was concerned.
+
+"I was busy," he made answer briefly.
+
+"M. Boullé goes to Tadoussac to-morrow. The vessel came down for him
+to-day. Some urgent business requires his attention."
+
+"He has loitered quite long enough," commented her husband. "He is a
+pleasant young fellow, but there is more than indolent pleasuring to a
+young man's life."
+
+"He has had a purpose, a matter that lies near his heart. This new
+country and the lack of fixed rules are demoralizing, and it will be a
+good thing when there is a convent for the proper training of girls. But
+lawless as Rose has grown, he has asked her in marriage. We wanted you
+to ratify the consent I have given. He will make arrangements for the
+marriage a few months hence."
+
+"You seem to think Rose has no voice in this."
+
+"Why should she have? Do we not stand in the place of parents? My father
+chose M. Giffard, and he was presented to me as my future husband. No
+well-bred girl makes any demur. But it seems that Mam'selle Rose has
+some queer ideas, imbibed from heaven only knows where, that she must
+experience a kind of overwhelming preference for a man, which would be
+positively disgraceful in a young girl who has no right to consider love
+until she is called upon to give it to her husband. It will be a most
+excellent thing for her."
+
+There was a moment or two of silence. He was considering how best to
+make his protest.
+
+"Well--why do you not reply?" tartly. "The young man is very ardent. She
+can never do better."
+
+"She is but a child. There need be no haste. And if she does not
+care----"
+
+"She is no longer a child. Fully fourteen, I think, and Mam'selle Boullé
+was married younger that that."
+
+"And whether the Sieur would quite approve. There are some formalities
+in old France which we have not shaken off. His parents are still
+alive----"
+
+"And he is quite certain he can have the mystery about her fathomed. She
+should go down on her knees to a man who would prove her honorably born,
+even if he had no fortune. To-morrow morning he wants the matter
+settled, and a betrothal, before he goes. If you know where she is, you
+had better summon her and instruct her as to her duty. She is quite old
+enough to understand. She has played the child too long already, and it
+has spoiled her."
+
+"I will not have her betrothed against her will. She has no fancy for
+marriage. And there will be time enough. If M. Boullé chooses to wait
+until the Sieur returns, and he consents----"
+
+"She has always been a favorite of his," interrupted miladi. Then
+suddenly--"Why are you so obstinate about it, when it will be such an
+excellent thing for her?"
+
+"I am not obstinate about it, only as far as she is concerned. If she
+desired it she should have my full and free consent. But I will not
+insist upon a step she does not desire."
+
+"As if a girl knew what was best!" reiterated miladi scornfully. "And
+why should you wish to keep her? Unless"--and now miladi's eyes flashed
+fire--"unless----"
+
+"Do not say it!" He held up his hand forbiddingly.
+
+"I will say it! You are not her father, and it seems strange you should
+have such an overwhelming fondness for her as to keep her from a most
+excellent marriage, and persuade yourself that a woman grown can indulge
+in all kinds of childish behavior, without detriment to her character.
+If it is your fondness for her that stands in the way----"
+
+Miladi at that moment was in a jealous fury. The passion leaped to her
+heart full-grown. She understood now why she half-feared, half-disliked
+the child that she had once esteemed a pet and plaything. She had
+supplanted her in her husband's affections. She had youth and beauty,
+and miladi was fading, beside being years older than her husband, and
+then never very well any more.
+
+"Hush!" exclaimed her husband, in a commanding tone. "I forbid you to
+think of such a thing! When have I failed in my devotion to you?
+To-morrow she shall have her choice, but she shall not be forced into
+any promise beside her own wishes. And then I will find a new home for
+her."
+
+He turned and went out of the room. Miladi pounded on the table before
+her with her small fist, as if she could beat the life out of
+something.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+FROM A GIRL'S HEART
+
+
+Rose stood looking over the wide expanse of the river to the opposite
+shore, wondering a little. Down there, miles and miles below, were the
+English settlements. The men, as traders, came to Quebec now and then.
+Were the English women like the French? Were there young girls among
+them? She was beginning to experience a peculiar loneliness, a want of
+companionship, that no one about her could satisfy.
+
+"Madame Destournier wishes to see you," exclaimed Pani, who had been
+sent on the errand.
+
+She went slowly to miladi's room, and entering it wished her
+good-morning, with a dainty courtesy.
+
+"You will be needed for a matter in hand," began miladi, "about which I
+desire to say a few words before the gentlemen come. It would have been
+settled yesterday, but you were not to be found. Where were you?"
+
+Miladi asked it carelessly, so intent on the matter in hand that she did
+not remark the color that flew up to the fair brow.
+
+"Out on the river," she answered briefly.
+
+"It is not proper for you to go alone. I have told you of this before.
+You are a young woman, and with so many men roaming about, it is too
+bold and unsafe, as well."
+
+"I am never in any danger."
+
+"You do not know. But then it is not proper."
+
+Rose made no reply to that. For some time miladi had not seemed to care
+where she went. And she often did have Pani with her.
+
+There was a rather awkward silence. Rose was meditating an escape. Then
+miladi began, in so severe a tone that every nerve within her quivered.
+
+"Yes, you were needed yesterday afternoon. M. Boullé came in and laid
+before me a grave matter. You two seem to have wandered about in a
+manner that would have scandalized a more civilized place, but there
+appear to be no restrictions in this wilderness of savages. I have not
+been able to watch over you as I should, and Wanamee does not
+understand. Out of all this freedom, so unusual to a French maid, has
+come a proposal of marriage, and this morning you are to be betrothed."
+
+"I? But I have not consented, Madame. I told M. Boullé yesterday that I
+could not marry him, that I did not want to marry any one."
+
+"You will consider. Remember you are a foundling, with no name of
+ancestry, no parents, that a man might refer to with pride when children
+grow up about the family altar. It is not a thing to be quite satisfied
+with, Mademoiselle, or proud of," and there was a sting in her tone.
+"This man loves you so well that he is willing to overlook it and offer
+you honorable marriage, which but few men would do. We have accepted him
+for you. He returns to Tadoussac to-day, but the marriage day will be
+settled and though you cannot have what I would wish, we will do our
+best."
+
+The girl's face had changed from scarlet to deathly whiteness. Something
+inside of her seemed to spring into a flame of knowledge, of womanhood,
+and burn up grandly. That subtle chemistry that works in the girl's
+soul, and transforms it, sometimes slowly, was in her case like the
+sudden bursting of a bud into flowering. She was her own. She had said
+this before; in a way, she had always felt it; but now it was graven
+with a point of steel.
+
+"Madame," she began, in a tone she vainly strove to render steady, "only
+yesterday I told M. Boullé I could not take the love he proffered me,
+and make any return. And then I felt on a certain equality. I understand
+better now. I am nameless, a rose of the wilderness, a foundling, as you
+said. So I will marry no man who may be ashamed of me before his
+children. Thank M. Boullé for the honor, and tell him----"
+
+The door opened, Destournier recalled one of the few plays he had seen
+in Paris, with a tragedienne who had won a king's heart, and it seemed
+almost as if this girl might step into fame, so proud and full of power
+was she, standing there. Miladi had not been willing to wait for a
+conference. But the result would have been the same.
+
+Both men looked at her in surprise, and were speechless for a moment.
+Then M. Destournier, recovering, reached out and took the girl's slim,
+nerveless hand.
+
+"Rose," he said, "M. Boullé has done us all the honor to ask your hand
+in marriage. If you can accept him you will have our heartiest wishes
+for your happiness; if you feel that you cannot, if no affection draws
+you to him, then do not give him a cold, loveless heart in return. Make
+your own choice; there is no one to compel you, no one to insist."
+
+"I thank you, M. Boullé, for the honor." She held her head up very
+straight; it seemed as if she had grown since yesterday. Her eyes were
+fearless in their high light, the delicious curves of her lips seemed
+set as if they had been carved, instead of rosy flesh. "It is more than
+the usual honor, I believe. I am a nameless foundling, and have been
+handed about from one to another, and they were not the kind in whom one
+could take pride. Therefore, I shall not bestow myself on any man, and
+no one has any right to take advantage of his generosity. If I loved
+you, I should do the same thing. How much more resolute I should be when
+I do not love you, and would wed you simply for the sake of sheltering
+myself under your name. I am sorry any one has considered this possible,
+since it is not."
+
+Boullé took a step forward and grasped her hand, as he poured out a
+torrent of ardent love. Miladi looked on, amazed. Was the girl made of
+stone, or was her heart elsewhere? She made no appeal to M. Destournier,
+indeed her face was turned a trifle from him.
+
+"You pain me," she said wearily, yet with a tender pity. "I can say no
+more."
+
+"But I will wait," he pleaded.
+
+"My answer would always be the same."
+
+"Rose!" miladi exclaimed.
+
+"Madame Destournier, I thank you also for your kindness to a foundling,
+and you, also," turning to M. Destournier, "for home and shelter, and
+many other things. I feel now that since I have disappointed you I
+cannot avail myself of your generosity any longer. I can find another
+home----"
+
+She turned swiftly as a ray of light, and disappeared.
+
+"Have you no control over her?" cried Madame angrily, "that she defies
+you to your face. It shows the blood that runs in her veins, wayward,
+ungrateful thing that no honor can raise, no generosity touch. She has
+the heart of a stone. M. Boullé, you have made a fortunate escape."
+
+"But I love her, Madame. And I thought her noble in her refusal, but I
+would have taken her to my heart, no matter what she was. And I do not
+quite despair. I may find some link that will rehabilitate her. She must
+have come from a fine race. There is no peasant blood there."
+
+"Perhaps honorable peasant blood may be cleaner than a king's bastard,"
+returned miladi scornfully.
+
+"You have my most fervent sympathy," and M. Destournier wrung the
+lover's hand. "But it would be ill work marrying a woman who did not
+care for you. Perhaps another year"--should he give him hope? It was
+such an honest, earnest face, and he would have been brave to set at
+naught family tradition.
+
+They went down the winding stair together. Rose was nowhere to be seen.
+
+"Oh, you will watch over her?" M. Boullé cried, with a lover's
+desperation.
+
+"Do not fear. She has been like a child to me. No harm shall come to
+her."
+
+Miladi in her transport of rage tore the handkerchief she held in her
+hand to shreds, and stamped her foot on the floor.
+
+"She shall never come in this house again, the deceitful, ungrateful
+wretch. And he shall not care for her, or befriend her in any way. She
+must love him, and it is no child's love, either. Why, I have been blind
+and silly all this last year."
+
+Rose had flown out of the house, across the gardens and the settlement
+to the woods, where she had spent so many delightful hours. She threw
+herself down on the moss and the fragrant pine needles, and gave way to
+a fit of weeping that seemed to rend both soul and body. Was she an
+outcast? Oh, it could not be that M. Destournier would forsake her. But
+she could ask nothing from him, and miladi would never see her again.
+Why could she not have loved M. Boullé? Did it take so much love to be a
+man's wife? to be held in his arms and kissed, to live with him day by
+day--and she shuddered at the thought.
+
+But she was young, and the flood of tears subsided. She sat up, leaning
+against a stout pine. Then she rose and peered about. Was it true that
+M. Boullé was to go away? What if he came and found her again?
+
+She crawled out cautiously, and looked up at the sun. It had passed the
+meridian. She was hungry, so she searched about and found some berries,
+but she longed for something more substantial. For the first time
+solitude seemed to pall upon her. She felt as if everything had been
+swept away.
+
+Toward night she crept down to the settlement. Several of the Indian
+women would take her in, she knew. There was Noko sitting just outside
+her tent; she would not accept a cabin of logs or stone. She was making
+a cape of gulls' feathers, that she might sell to some of the traders,
+who often took curious Indian finery home with their furs. Her three
+sons were trappers. One had a wife and three children that the poor
+mother provided for, and when her brave came home, she was devoted to
+him, grateful for a pleasant word. What curious ideas these aborigines
+had of wedded love!
+
+"Noko, will you take me in for the night, and give me some supper?" she
+asked, as she threw herself down beside the Indian woman, who, at
+forty, looked at least sixty, and though she had the face of her tribe,
+it was marked by a grave sort of pleasantness, and not the severity that
+generally characterized middle life.
+
+"Has the Sieur gone to Tadoussac?"
+
+"Not that I know of. But I have offended miladi. And your wigwam is
+always so clean, and there are no children."
+
+The woman shook her head with a sort of remonstrance.
+
+"You will have them of your own some day. When they are little, you will
+care for them. They will be no trouble. When they are older, you will be
+proud of them, and rejoice in their bravery. Then they go away, and
+forget."
+
+She began to put up her work. "Are you in earnest?" she asked. "Do you
+need shelter?"
+
+"Oh, the Gaudrions would take me in, but there is such a crowd, I am for
+a little quiet and solitude to-night."
+
+"Thou shalt have it. The Sieur has been good to me. But it is hardly
+wise to quarrel with one's home."
+
+"There was no quarrel. Miladi wanted me to do something that I could
+not. And you know I have no real claim upon them, Noko, I belong to
+Quebec, not to any person."
+
+She gave a little laugh that sounded almost shrill. There was not so
+much joy in belonging only to one's self.
+
+"To Quebec, yes."
+
+"Now let me kindle the fire. See how handy I can be. And to-morrow I can
+help you with that beautiful cape. I suppose the great ladies in Paris
+feel very grand in some of these things. I heard the Governor say that a
+great deal of money was paid for a deerskin dress by some one at court.
+It was worked beautifully, and as soft as velvet."
+
+Rose busied herself in her eager, graceful fashion. Noko broiled some
+deer steak on the coals, and had a stew made of various things, with
+fish for the foundation. Rose was not very partial to this, but the
+steak and the cakes made of rye and corn, and well browned, tasted good
+to the hungry girl. There was a tea made of herbs, which had a
+delightful fragrance.
+
+Afterward they sat in the doorway, and one and another came to give Noko
+a bit of gossip. Rose crept off to bed presently. How fragrant the fresh
+balsam of fir was, and the tired girl soon fell asleep.
+
+M. Destournier had been quite engrossed with a few forgotten things that
+had to go to Tadoussac. Then the vessel pushed off and he turned to the
+storehouse. Presently a load would go to France. Though he was
+mechanically busy, his thoughts turned to Rose. She must have another
+home. He had wondered more than once how it had come to pass that miladi
+had lost so many of her charms, yet grown so much more exacting. He had
+awakened to the fact that he had never been a rapturous lover. He paid
+Eustache Boullé all honor that he had proved so manly and brave, yet in
+his secret heart he felt glad that Rose had not loved him. Why, he could
+not tell, except that she was too young. And he wondered how much miladi
+had loved Laurent Giffard. How much was she capable of loving? And the
+sweet angel-like Hélène, who had willingly crossed the ocean and exiled
+herself from the life she loved to these uncongenial surroundings. They
+were that for a woman.
+
+When business was through with, he made his way down to M. Hébert's.
+Though the man had been bred an apothecary, and had a wider education
+than many in a higher round, he was making an excellent and enthusiastic
+farmer. Madame Hébert had brought some of the old-world knowledge and
+frugality with her, and put them in practice, bringing up her daughters
+to habits of industry, while the son was equally well trained by the
+father.
+
+M. Hébert was busy with his young fruit trees. Every year he sent for
+some hardy kind, and had quite a variety. He was a colonist, which so
+few of the emigrants were.
+
+After a walk about the garden, they went in to see Madame Hébert and
+Thérèse, who was making lace. Then M. Destournier preferred his request
+that they would take Rose for a while. He did not hint at any
+disagreement. Madame Destournier's health was precarious, and she had
+little idea of what was necessary for a girl, having been
+convent-trained herself. Now that Madame de Champlain had gone there
+was no real companionship for Rose, who was surely outgrowing her
+childish fancies.
+
+"How would you like it, Thérèse?" asked her mother.
+
+Thérèse was a solid dark-eyed, dark-haired, rather heavy-looking girl,
+without the French vivacity and eagerness. Destournier smiled inwardly;
+he could hardly fancy their being companions; yet in a way, each might
+benefit the other.
+
+"Why--if you approved. Though I am never lonely," raising her eyes to
+the visitor.
+
+"Rose is quite given to rambling about. She haunts the woods, she is
+fond of canoeing, and I think she has quite a mind for study. I am sorry
+there are so few opportunities. Our good fathers seem to frown on
+everything but prayers."
+
+"Prayers are good, but there must be work, as well," said Madame Hébert,
+who had been brought up a Huguenot, and who thought conventual life a
+great waste.
+
+"I should like the change for her. It may not be for long, but it would
+be a favor. And you need not feel that you must devote a great deal of
+time and energy to her, but give her the shelter of a home, until
+matters change a little," with a hopeful accent in his voice, and a
+smile that had the same aspect.
+
+"Madame Destournier is not well?" in a tone of inquiry.
+
+"No. She should have gone to France with the Sieur and his wife, but it
+was thought she had not the strength to stand the sea voyage. I feel
+much troubled about her."
+
+Madame Hébert was sympathetic, but she had never admired the wife as
+much as she did the husband. She was too volatile in the early days, and
+held her head quite too high.
+
+It was arranged that Rose should be an inmate of the Hébert home for a
+month or two. It was such a comfortable, cheerful-looking place. There
+was a set of bookshelves, and no one beside the Governor owned more than
+a prayer-book, which did little good, since they could hardly read in
+their own language.
+
+M. Ralph did not go at once to his wife, but stopped in the kitchen.
+Mawha was brewing some herbs. Wanamee entered with a plate on which
+there was some wheaten toast.
+
+"She will not take it. She does nothing but fret for Monsieur, and say
+dreadful things about _ma fille_"--then she stopped in a fright, seeing
+her master.
+
+"Where is Rose?" he asked.
+
+"She has not been here all day. I sent Pani to look for her, but he has
+not returned."
+
+M. Destournier went to his wife's room. She was hysterical and
+unreasonable.
+
+"Promise me that such a miserable, deceitful thing as that girl is shall
+never enter this house," she cried. "I cannot breathe the same air with
+her. You must choose between us. If you keep to her, I shall know you
+have no love for me. I will kill myself."
+
+"Marguerite, calm yourself. Rose is not to remain here, but go to the
+Héberts. So you will have quiet and nothing to do but recover your
+health. And if you can get well enough, we will go to Montreal, as I
+have to transact some business. The change will do you good."
+
+"You will not take her?"
+
+"No, no. Now let the girl alone. She is provided for, and you have the
+two women at your service."
+
+"She did nothing for me. And after roaming the woods and canoeing with
+M. Boullé, she should have been glad to marry him, for decency's sake."
+
+"We will let her quite alone," he exclaimed authoritatively. "Why did
+you not eat some supper?"
+
+"I couldn't. Oh, Ralph, be kind to me. Do not let that girl steal your
+love from me. I was quite as pretty in youth, but the years are hard on
+one. And I need your love more than ever. You are not tender and
+caressing as Laurent was."
+
+He bent over and kissed her, smoothed her tangled hair, and patted the
+hot cheek.
+
+"I have been busy all day, and have had no supper," he began, loosening
+the hands about his neck.
+
+She sobbed wildly. She had been so lonely all day. She missed M. Boullé
+so much. He would have been a son to them.
+
+He had to tear himself away. He did not take his supper, but rushed out
+to make inquiries. Where had Rose gone? Was she wandering about the
+woods? There had been wolves, stray Indians, and a dozen dangers. The
+palisade gates were fastened. He asked at two or three of the cabins,
+where he knew she was a favorite. And where was Pani?
+
+Pani was asleep on a soft couch of moss, under a clump of great oak
+trees. He had lain down, warm and tired, and his nap was good for ten or
+twelve hours.
+
+"I saw her by Noko's wigwam," said a woman, as she heard him inquiring.
+
+Not even waiting to thank her, he rushed thither. Noko had the
+reputation of being a sort of seer, though she seldom used her gift. She
+sat on the stone beside her door, and a woman knelt before her, to whom
+she was talking in a low monotonous tone. His step startled the
+listener, and she sprang up.
+
+"Whither did Rose go?" he asked peremptorily, seizing Noko's arm.
+
+"She is here, Monsieur. She is in bed asleep. There is trouble and the
+fair-haired woman hates her. You had better not try to make them agree.
+And she has no love for the dark-haired suitor who is on the river,
+dreaming of her. She is too young. Let her alone."
+
+"I wanted to know that she was safe. I will see her in the morning. Keep
+her until I come."
+
+"Yes, Monsieur."
+
+Madame Destournier had wept herself to sleep, and was breathing in
+comparative tranquillity. Ralph sat down beside the bed. If Rose had
+loved Eustache Boullé, the way would have been smooth as a summer sea.
+Was he sorry, or mysteriously glad? Why should he be glad? he demanded
+of himself.
+
+Rose made no demur the next morning when M. Destournier told her of the
+new arrangements, only stipulating that she should have her liberty, to
+go and come as she pleased.
+
+"Are you very angry because I could not take M. Boullé for a husband?"
+she inquired timidly.
+
+"Oh, no, no. It was your life, Mademoiselle, for sorrow or joy. You only
+had the right to choose."
+
+The bronze lashes quivered sensitively upon her cheeks, and a soft flush
+seemed to tangle itself among them.
+
+"Is it joy, M'sieu?" in a low tone.
+
+"It ought to be."
+
+"Then I shall wait until there comes a touch of joy greater than any I
+have yet known. And I have had thrills of delight that have gone all
+through my body, but they faded. The love for a husband should last
+one's whole life."
+
+"Yes, Mademoiselle. Why not?"
+
+All the white tones of her skin flushed to rose, and crept even among
+the tendrils of her hair and over her small ears. Had he ever remarked
+how perfect they were before?
+
+"_Ma fille_," he responded softly. "And you will be content until better
+times."
+
+"So long as I do not have to marry, yes."
+
+"That is a good _fille_. I shall see you now and then. You will like M.
+Hébert. He has plenty of books, and it will be a good practice to read
+up French."
+
+She nodded.
+
+He took a second thought.
+
+"You may as well go now, and I will see that all is fair sailing. Noko,
+thanks for keeping Rose of Quebec where neither wolves nor marauders
+could get at her."
+
+They walked quietly along, she with her agile step, that gave graceful
+turns to her figure. She was hardly a woman, and yet more than a child.
+But she kept the sweet simplicity of the latter.
+
+Madame Hébert gave her a pleasant welcome. Thérèse glanced up from her
+lace work and nodded, hoping in a formal and quite ungirlish manner that
+she would be happy with them. Rose sat down beside her, and looked at
+the lace. There were pins stuck in a cushion and Thérèse threw her
+thread over this one and that one. How queer it looked.
+
+"But if you should go wrong?" she inquired.
+
+"Here is the pattern. This is quite simple. I have one very intricate,
+but handsome, like they make at home, Maman says. And one with beads. I
+took the idea from an Indian woman. I have some finished work, too."
+
+"I have done a little of that. Miladi, that is Madame Destournier, used
+to do embroidery. At first she had such a store of pretty things. But
+now they cost so much. Only there are always packs of furs to exchange."
+
+M. Hébert came in, with a pleasant word for his guest. They were
+extremely sorry that Madame was ill, but it gave them the pleasure of a
+visit from Rose. M. Destournier said she was fond of reading; he had
+some poets, and books on gardening, out of which he made poetry, smiling
+with French gayety.
+
+On the whole, Rose liked the exchange. For a few days it seemed rather
+stiff, but there were so many new things, and M. Hébert liked a good
+listener. She walked about the garden with him. There were some rare
+flowers, of which he was very proud, and several he had found in the
+woods. Then there was a bed of herbs, and he distilled remedies, as well
+as some delightful perfumes. He soon grew quite fond of the pretty girl
+who was so interested in his pursuits, and fond of hearing him read
+aloud, and though his wife and children listened amiably, their thoughts
+were more on their work. Industry was Madame Hébert's cardinal virtue,
+and her daughter was a girl after her own heart.
+
+But this fresh young creature to whom a marvellous world was being
+opened, who watched with eager eyes, who smiled or was saddened, who was
+sympathetic or indignant, who flushed or paled with the pain of tragedy,
+how charming she was!
+
+She often ran up to the old home for a word with Wanamee, who was glad
+to see her. Miladi was neither better nor worse, some days so irritable
+that nothing could please her.
+
+"She would keep M. Destournier beside her all the time," said Wanamee,
+"but a man has business. He is not meant for a nurse, and to yield to
+every whim. She is not a happy woman, miladi, and one hardly knows how
+much of her illness is imaginary. If she would only brighten up and go
+out a little, I think she would be better."
+
+Rose used her strongest efforts to induce Thérèse to take a ramble with
+her. She did go to the woods occasionally, but she took her work along,
+always.
+
+"Why do you keep so closely to it?" Rose asked one day.
+
+"Mam'selle, part is for my trousseau. Maman instructed me in the fashion
+of her old home, where girls begin to fill up a chest, to be ready."
+
+"Oh, Thérèse, have you a lover?"
+
+"_Non._" Thérèse shook her head. "But I may have, some day. There will
+be people, men sent over to settle New France. The King has promised."
+
+"Did you see M. Boullé, when he was here?"
+
+"Oh, yes. And a nice young man he is, too."
+
+"I wish he had wanted to marry you. He is nice and good to look at. How
+could one marry Pierre Gaudrion, with his low brow and fierce eyebrows
+that meet over his nose, and his great hands, that seem made of lead, if
+he lays them on you! Yet he is smart and ingenious."
+
+"And they say now that he visits Anastase Fromont. She will make a good
+wife."
+
+Rose gave a little shiver. She could recall one time, the last, when
+Pierre had laid his hand on both her shoulders and drawn her to him, and
+she had wrenched herself away, every drop of blood within her rising up
+in protest.
+
+"Don't you dare to touch me again, or I will kill you," she had flung
+out with blazing eyes.
+
+Then for weeks he had never so much as looked at her.
+
+"Yes," retrospectively. "Why do people take likes the wrong way? Now if
+M. Boullé had----"
+
+"It is said he was wild for love of you," interposed Thérèse.
+
+"That made the trouble. Miladi liked him so much. Thérèse, there is some
+kind of love we must have before you can put yourself in a man's hand,
+and let him take you to his home, where you must remain while life
+lasts. A whole long life, think of it! And if you wanted to get free the
+priest would forbid it. There would be nothing but to throw yourself
+into the river."
+
+Thérèse looked with frightened eyes at the impetuous girl.
+
+"There is God to obey and serve. And if He sends you a good husband--M.
+Boullé was brother to our dear Sieur's wife. It would have been an
+excellent marriage."
+
+"If it hadst only been thou!" Rose's short-lived passion was over, and
+she was smiling.
+
+"But you see, Mam'selle, they are strong Catholics. I follow my mother's
+faith, and we do not believe telling beads and saying prayers is all of
+the true service to the Lord. So it would never have done."
+
+Rose was minded to laugh at the grave, satisfied tone, and the placid
+face.
+
+"I am not a good Catholic, either. I do not go to confession. I do not
+tell lies nor steal, and though I get in tempers, it is because people
+try me and insist that I should do what I know it would be wrong for me
+to do. I did not want any husband, and I said so."
+
+"But all girls hope to marry some time. I should like to have as good a
+husband as my mother has, and be as happy with him."
+
+"He is delightful," admitted Rose. "But your mother loved him."
+
+"He was chosen for her, and there was no good reason why she should not
+accept him. Yes, they have been very happy. But in France girls do not
+have a voice, and when the husband is chosen, they set themselves about
+making every act and thought of theirs agreeable."
+
+"But if he was--unworthy?"
+
+"Few parents would choose an unworthy lover, I think. They have the good
+of their children at heart."
+
+Eustache Boullé had not been unworthy. He would have married her,
+nameless. Her heart turned suddenly tender toward him. She was learning
+that in the greater world there was a certain pride of birth, an honor
+in being well-born. She was better satisfied that she had not accepted
+Eustache. What if the Sieur had been opposed to it and Madame de
+Champlain frowned upon her?
+
+And then the Sieur returned, but he came alone. The house in the Rue St.
+Germain l'Auxerrois, with Madame Boullé, was more attractive than the
+roughness of a half-civilized country. Even then Hélène plead for
+permission to become a lay sister in a convent, which would have meant a
+separation, but he would not agree to this. Ten years after his death
+she entered the Ursuline Convent, and some years later founded one in
+the town of Meaux, endowing it with most of her fortune. And though the
+next summer Eustache renewed his suit, he met with a firm refusal, and
+found the influence of his brother-in-law was against him.
+
+Rose had been brave enough to lay the matter before him.
+
+"Little one," he said, in the most fatherly tone--"if thou dost not love
+a man enough to give him thy whole soul, except what belongs to God, to
+desire to spend thy life with him, to honor and serve him with the best
+thou hast, then do not marry him. It is a bitter thing for a man to go
+hungry for love, when a woman has promised to hold the cup of joy to his
+lips."
+
+Eustache then returned to France, and after a period of study and
+preparation, took holy orders, as a Friar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+A WAY OVER THORNS
+
+
+Champlain found on his arrival five Jesuit priests, who had received a
+poor welcome, even from their French brethren. The Récollets had offered
+them the hospitality of their convent, which had been gratefully
+accepted. So far not much advance had been made among the Indians, who
+seemed incapable of discerning the spiritual side of religion, though
+they eagerly caught up any superstition.
+
+There had also come over a number of emigrants, two or three families,
+the others, men of no high degree, who had been tempted by the lure of a
+speedy fortune. It was a long, hard, cold winter, and throngs of Indians
+applied for relief. Champlain had established a farm at Beaupré, down
+the river, and stocked it with cattle he had imported. But for weeks
+everything was half-buried in snow.
+
+One morning M. Destournier came in. Rose was sitting by the fire in M.
+Hébert's study and shop. The great fireplace was full of blazing logs,
+and she looked the picture, not only of comfort, but delight. She had
+not seen much of him for the month past. There was no opportunity for
+sledging even, the roads had been so piled with snow. Then she had
+taken quite a domestic turn, much to the gratification of Madame Hébert.
+
+M. Destournier looked thin and careworn. Rose sprang up, deeply touched.
+
+"Oh, you are ill," she cried. "I have not seen you in so long. Sit here
+in the warmth. And miladi?"
+
+She always inquired after her.
+
+"That is what I have come about. Rose, my dear child, can you forget
+enough of the past, and the long silence, to come back to us? Miladi
+wants you, needs you, has sent me to see. She is very ill, and lonely."
+
+Rose flushed warmly, with both pain and pleasure, and her eyes softened,
+almost to tears.
+
+"I shall be glad to come." There was a tremble of emotion in her voice.
+"I realize how great a disappointment it was to her, but you know I was
+right, and when I asked the Sieur if I had been too hasty, or unjust, he
+approved. He thinks no woman ought to marry without giving her whole
+heart, and somehow I had none to give," blushing deeply and looking
+lovelier than ever. "I think it is because--because I am a foundling,
+and could not go to any man with honor. So I must make myself happy in
+my own way."
+
+Her figure had taken on more womanly lines, though it was still slim and
+exquisitely graceful. And the girlish beauty had ripened somewhat,
+losing none of its olden charm.
+
+She colored still more deeply under his glance.
+
+"Is there anything new with miladi?" she inquired, with some hesitation.
+
+"It seems a gradual wasting away and weakness. She thinks she will be
+better when spring opens, and longs to return to France. I am putting my
+affairs in shape to make this possible. She is very lonely. She has
+missed your brightness and vivacity. It has seemed a different place."
+
+Rose's heart swelled with pity. She forgave Madame from the depths of
+her heart, remembering only the old times and the tenderness.
+
+"When shall I come?"
+
+"At once. She begged for you last week, but I was afraid it was a
+restless fancy. The road is quite well broken. What a winter we have
+had! The drought last summer shortened crops, and there have been so
+many extra mouths to feed among the unfortunate Indians. So if you will
+inform the Héberts--I have seen Monsieur."
+
+She went through to the kitchen, where mother and daughter were
+concocting savory messes for the sick. They both returned with her and
+expressed much sympathy for the invalid. M. Hébert had said to his wife
+that miladi was slowly nearing her end, while her real disease seemed a
+mystery, but medical lore in the new world had not made much advance.
+
+"We shall only lend her to you for a while," Madame Hébert said, with a
+faint smile. "I hardly know how Monsieur will do without her. She is
+truly a rose-bloom in this dreary winter, that seems as if it would
+never end."
+
+"And I want her to bloom for a while in the room where my poor sick wife
+has to stay. She longs for some freshness and sweetness," he said, in a
+pleading tone.
+
+"She was rightly named," said Madame, with a smile. "Her poor mother
+must have died, I am quite sure, for she could not have sent away such
+an adorable child. Even when Mère Dubray had her, she was charming, in
+her wild, eager ways, like a bird. The good God made her a living Rose,
+indeed, to show how lovely a human Rose could be."
+
+She came in the room wrapped in her furs, her hood with its border of
+silver-fox framing in her face, that glowed with youth and health.
+
+"You have all been so good to me," and her beautiful eyes were alight
+with gratitude. "I shall come in often, and oh, I shall think of you
+every hour in the day."
+
+"Do not forget the latest pattern of lace-making," added the practical,
+industrious Thérèse.
+
+It was glorious without, a white world with a sky of such deep blue it
+almost sparkled. Leafless trees stretched out long black or gray arms,
+and here and there a white birch stood up grandly, like some fair
+goddess astray. Stretches of evergreens suggested life, but beyond them
+hills of snow rising higher and higher, until they seemed lost in the
+blue, surmounted by a sparkling frost line.
+
+The paths had been beaten down--occasionally a tract around a doorway
+shovelled. It was hard and smooth as a floor. Destournier slipped her
+arm within his, and then gazed at her in surprise.
+
+"You must have grown. How tall you are. I wonder if I shall get
+accustomed to the new phase? I seem always to see the little girl who
+sat upon my knee. Oh, do you remember when you were ill at Mère
+Dubray's?"
+
+"All my life comes to me in pictures. I sometimes think I can remember
+what was before the long sail in the boat, but it is so vague. Now it is
+all here, its rough ways, its rocks, its beautiful river are a part of
+me. I am never longing to go elsewhere. I am sorry Madame de Champlain
+did not love it as well. And the Sieur was such a good, tender husband."
+
+Destournier sighed a little, also. The Sieur kept busy and full of
+plans, but occasionally there came a wistfulness in his eyes and a pain
+in the lines that were settling so rapidly about his face.
+
+They crunched over the icy paths. A time or two she slipped, and he drew
+her nearer, the touch of her body, though wrapped in its furs, giving
+him a delicious thrill. He lifted her up the steep ways he had seen her
+climb with the litheness of a squirrel.
+
+Wanamee came out with a fervent welcome. The old kitchen was the same.
+Pani was toasting himself in his favorite corner. Mawha was doing Indian
+bead and feather work, and looked up with a cordial nod.
+
+"Get good and warm. I will tell miladi you have come. You will find her
+much changed, but she does not like it remarked upon."
+
+She and Wanamee were in an earnest talk when she was summoned. The room
+had in it some new appointments, brought from France, but even a
+luxurious court beauty might have envied the rich fur rugs lying about
+and hanging over the rude and somewhat clumsy chairs of home
+manufacture.
+
+Pillowed up in a half-sitting posture in the bed was miladi. Rose could
+hardly forbear a shocked exclamation. When she had seen her every day,
+the changes had passed unremarked, for they had begun, even then. The
+lovely skin was yellowed and wrinkled and defined the cheek bones, the
+beautiful hair had grown dull, and the eyes had lost their lustre. All
+her youth was gone, she was an old lady, even before the time.
+
+And this vision of youthful, vigorous beauty was like a sudden sunburst,
+when the day had been dull and cloudy. She seemed to animate the room,
+to light up the farthest recesses, to bring a breath of revivifying air
+and hope.
+
+"I have wanted you so," the invalid said piteously. "Oh, how strong and
+well you are! I never was very strong, and so the illness has taken a
+deeper hold on me. And now you must help me to get well. Your freshness
+will be an elixir--that is what I have wanted. Wanamee is good for a
+servant nurse, but I have needed something finer and better."
+
+She held out her hand and Rose pressed it to her lips. It was bony,
+showing swollen blue veins, and had a clammy coldness that struck a
+chill to the rosy lips.
+
+"Did you like them at the Héberts? They are very staid people, and think
+only of work, I believe."
+
+"They were very kind, and I found them well-informed about everything."
+
+"Why, when they know so much, can they not cure me? You know it is not
+as though my case was very serious. I am weak, that is all. The doctor
+came down from Tadoussac, but he just shook his head, and his powders
+did me no good. M. Hébert sent some extracts of herbs, but nothing gives
+me any strength. And the snow and cold stays on as if spring would never
+come. What have you been doing all this while? You couldn't run about in
+the woods."
+
+"Oh, Madame, I am outgrowing that wild longing, though the trees have a
+hundred voices, and I seem to understand what they say, and the song of
+the birds, the ripple and plash of the river. But I have been learning
+other things. How great the world is, and the stories of kings and
+queens, and brave travellers, who go about and discover new places. It
+widens one's subjects of thought. And I have learned some cooking, and
+how to make home seem cheerful, and the weaving of pretty laces, like
+those the ships bring over. I am not so idle now."
+
+"And you liked them very much?" She uttered this rather resentfully.
+
+"Ah, Madame, how could one help, when people were so good, and took so
+much pains with one."
+
+Her voice was sweet and appealing, yet it had a strand of strength and
+appreciation. But had _she_ not been good to the little girl all these
+years!
+
+"Has Mam'selle Thérèse any lover?" she asked, after a pause.
+
+"Not yet, Madame. Some old family friends are to come over in the
+summer, and one has a son that Thérèse played with in childhood. It may
+be that she will like him."
+
+"And she will do as her parents desire!"
+
+"They are very just with her, and love her dearly."
+
+"And the brother?"
+
+"He went to Mont Réal before the hard cold. If there were only people to
+settle there it would be finer than Quebec, it is said."
+
+"I am so tired of Quebec. Next summer we will go home; that is the
+country for me. M. Destournier is willing to go at last, and I shall see
+that he never returns to this dreary hole."
+
+"It can hardly be called a hole, when there are so many heights all
+about," laughed the girl.
+
+"It is a wretched place. And you will soon like France, and wonder how
+people are content to stay here. You see the Governor's wife had enough
+of it. She had good sense."
+
+"But, Madame, the priests teach that a wife's place is beside her
+husband."
+
+"What have I gained by staying beside mine, who is always planning how
+to civilize those wretched squaws, and make life better for them? The
+better should have been for me. And now I have lost my health, and my
+beautiful hair has fallen out and begins to turn white. Am I very much
+changed?"
+
+Rose was embarrassed. Years ago miladi hated the thoughts of growing
+old.
+
+"Illness tries one very much," she said evasively. "But you will gain it
+up when you begin to mend."
+
+"Oh, do you think so? You see I must get something to restore the wasted
+flesh. How plump you are. And I had such an admirable figure. M. Laurent
+thought me the most graceful girl he had ever seen, had so many pretty
+compliments, and that keeps one in heart, spurs one on to new efforts.
+M. Destournier is not of that kind. He is cold-blooded, and seems more
+English than French."
+
+Rose colored. The dispraise hurt her.
+
+"Fix my pillows, and put me down. I get so tired. And stir up the fire."
+
+Rose did this very gently, smoothing out wrinkles, holding the cold
+hands in hers, so warm and full of strength. The room seemed smothering
+to her, but she stirred the fire vigorously, and sent a vivid shower of
+sparks upward.
+
+"Now if you had a little broth----"
+
+"But I cannot bear to have you go away. Yes, I know I shall get stronger
+with you here."
+
+"You need some nourishment. I will not be gone long," giving a heartsome
+smile.
+
+A gallery ran along this side of the house, built for miladi's
+convenience. She stepped out on it, in the clear air and sunshine, and
+took a few turns. Poor Madame! Would she get well when she seemed so
+near dying?
+
+The broth was reviving. Rose fed her with a teaspoon, instead of giving
+her the cup to drink from, and they both laughed like children. Then she
+arranged the pillows and bathed the poor, wrinkled face and hair with
+some fragrant water, and miladi fell asleep under these ministrations.
+
+Rose moved lightly about the room, changing its aspect with deft
+touches. She was glad to do something in return. Miladi had been very
+sweet when she was ill, and there had been the pleasant years when she
+had not minded the exactions. Was there really a plan to go to France?
+Would they take her from her beloved Quebec?
+
+M. Destournier brought in a book from the Governor's store and Rose read
+aloud in the evening. That was a restless time for miladi, but the
+sweet, cheerful voice tranquillized her. M. Ralph sat in the corner of
+the wide stone fireplace, watching the changes in the lovely face, as
+she seemed to enter into the spirit of the adventures. Heroism appealed
+to her. The flush came and went in her cheek, her eyes sent out gleams
+of glory, and her bosom rose and fell.
+
+There came an instant of rapture to Ralph Destournier, that mysterious
+and almost sublime appreciation of a woman's love, a love such as this
+girl could give. He had possessed the childish affection, the innocent
+girlish fondness, but some other would win the woman's heart, the prize
+he would lay down his life for. What had been the pity and weak
+tenderness was given to the woman in the bed yonder. He knew now she had
+only touched his heart in sympathy, and a fancied duty. In a thousand
+years she would never be capable of such love as this girl, blossoming
+into womanhood, could give.
+
+"There should be some women at hand," declared a weak voice from the
+bed. "It adds an interest to the discoveries, to think, if a woman did
+not inspire it, she crowned it with her admiration. But for a party of
+men to go off alone----"
+
+"The hardships would be too great for a woman."
+
+Destournier's voice was husky with repressed emotion. This girl would
+keep step and inspire an explorer.
+
+"They would not take so many hardships then. What if there is a great
+river or ocean leading to India! A man can live but one life, and that
+should be devoted to some woman."
+
+He rose, crossed the room, and kissed his wife on the forehead. He
+learned by accident one day that she used something to keep her lips red
+with the lost bloom of youth, and they had never been sweet to him
+since.
+
+"Good-night. I hope you will sleep. Rose had better not read any more.
+We must not have all the good things in one day."
+
+He ran down the steps to where a street had been straightened and
+widened in the summer. The moonlight gave everything a weird glow, the
+stars were tinted in all colors, as one finds in the clear cold of the
+north. Only the planets and the larger ones, the myriad of small ones
+were outshone. What beauty, what strength, what wonders lay hidden in
+the wide expanse. He was tempted to plunge into the wilderness, to the
+frozen north, to the blooming south, or that impenetrable expanse of the
+west, and leave behind the weak woman, who in her selfish way loved him,
+and the girl who could create a new life for him, that he could love
+with the force of manhood suddenly aroused, that had been clean and
+wholesome. He was glad of that, though he could not lay it at the girl's
+feet. Miladi had been in this state so long, sometimes rallying, and in
+the summer they would go to France. But they would leave Rose of old
+Quebec behind.
+
+Over there at the fort a man sat poring over maps and papers, a
+solitary man now, who had wedded youth and beauty, and found only Dead
+Sea fruit. But he was going bravely on his way. That was a man's duty.
+
+In a few days there was a decided improvement in miladi. She was
+dressed, and sat up part of the time. She evinced an eager resolve to
+get well, she put on a sort of childish brightness, that was at times
+pitiful. But nothing could conceal the ravages of time. She looked older
+than her years. She was, in a curious manner, drawing on the vitality of
+the young girl, and it was generously given.
+
+Then came to Rose a great sorrow. M. Hébert, who had been such an
+inspiring influence to her, died from the effects of a fall. There was a
+general mourning in the small settlement. The Governor felt he had lost
+one of his most trusty friends. The eldest daughter, Guillemette, who
+had married one Guillaume Couillard, came down from Tadoussac, and they
+took his place on the farm. Hers had been the first wedding in Quebec.
+
+Rose felt that this must change the home for her. She had counted on
+going back to them. There were days when she grew very tired of miladi's
+whims and inanities, and longed to fly to her beloved wood.
+
+"If I should die, he will marry her," miladi thought continually. "I
+will not die. I will take her to France and marry her to some one before
+her beauty fades. She will make a sensation."
+
+Rose never dreamed she was so closely watched. After that moonlight
+battle with himself, Destournier allowed his soul no further thought of
+the present Rose, but dreamed over the frank child-charm she had
+possessed for him. He grew grave and silent, and spent much of his time
+with the Sieur.
+
+Spring was very late. It seemed as if old Quebec would never throw off
+her ermine mantle. Richelieu was now at the helm in France, and that
+country and England were at war with each other. Quebec was looking
+forward to supplies and reinforcements that had been promised.
+
+From a cold and unusually dry May, they went into summer heats. The
+Sieur de Champlain spent much of his time getting his farm at Cape
+Tourmente in order. M. Destournier was engrossed with the improvements
+of the town, and keeping the Indians at work, who were, it must be
+confessed, notoriously lazy. Miladi complained. Rose grew weary. She
+missed her dear friend M. Hébert, and she was puzzled at the coldness
+and distance of M. Destournier. But the rambles were a comfort and a
+kind of balance to her life. She brought wild flowers to miladi, and the
+first scarlet strawberries. And there was always such an enchanting
+freshness after these excursions, that the elder woman liked her to take
+them.
+
+Richelieu understood better than any one yet the importance of this
+colony to France, when the English were making such rapid strides in the
+new world. He was planning extensive improvements in colonizing, and
+fitting out ships with stores and men.
+
+The news came to Cape Tourmente that vessels had been sighted. Word was
+sent on to Quebec, and there was a general rejoicing.
+
+But it was soon turned to terror and anguish. Some savages came paddling
+furiously to the town, and though the cries were indistinguishable at
+first, they soon gathered force.
+
+"The English have burned and pillaged Cape Tourmente, and are at
+Tadoussac! Save yourselves. Man the fort. Call all to arms!"
+
+Alas! The fort was considerably out of repair. The Indians had been
+peaceable for some time and the mother country had kept them short of
+supplies. The walled settlement was protection from marauding bands, and
+the fort could have been made impregnable if the Governor had carried
+out his plans and not been hampered by the lack of all-needed
+improvements.
+
+The farmer at Cape Tourmente had been slightly wounded, and was brought
+down with the boat, on which several had escaped. The buildings had been
+burned, the cattle killed, the crops laid waste. No doubt they were now
+pillaging Tadoussac.
+
+Champlain began to prepare for defense with all the force available.
+Muskets were loaded, cannon trained down the river, the fort manned.
+Friendly Indians offered their services. All was wild alarm, the blow
+was so unexpected.
+
+Miladi, hearing the noise and confusion, explained it her way.
+
+"It is always so when the horde of traders come in," she said. She had
+been looking over old finery, and getting ready for a return to France.
+
+The little convent on the St. Charles was prepared to repel any
+surprise. But at mid-afternoon a boat hovered about in the river, and it
+was learned presently that it conveyed some captives taken by the
+English, who were sent with a letter from the commander of the fleet,
+that now appeared quite formidable, with its six well-manned vessels.
+
+The Governor at once called together the leading men of the place and
+laid before them the summons of surrender, and the first news of the war
+between France and England. It was couched in polite terms, but
+contained a well-laid plan. In all, eighteen ships had been despatched
+by His Majesty, the King of Britain. Several small stations had been
+captured, also a boat with supplies from France, and all resources were
+to be cut off. By surrendering they would save their homes and property,
+and be treated with the utmost courtesy, but it was the intention of the
+English to take the town, although they preferred to do it without
+bloodshed.
+
+It was quite a lengthy document, and Champlain read it slowly, that each
+sentence might be well considered. The hard winter, the late spring, the
+supplies at Cape Tourmente and Tadoussac being cut off, rendered them in
+no situation for a prolonged struggle. But they would not yield so
+easily to the demand of the English. They had the courage of men who had
+undergone many hardships, and the pride of their nation. Quebec had been
+the child of the Sieur de Champlain's work and love. With one voice they
+resolved to refuse, and the word was sent to Captain David Kirke.
+
+He meanwhile turned his fleet down the river, fancying the town an easy
+prey, when he espied the relief stores sent from France, a dozen or so
+vessels, bringing colonists, workmen, priests, women, and children, and
+farming implements, as well as stores, convoyed by a man-of-war. It was
+a rich prize for the Englishman, and an order for surrender was sent,
+which was refused.
+
+The battle was indeed disastrous for Quebec, though they were not to
+know it until months afterward. Most of the emigrants Captain Kirke
+despatched back to France, some of the least valuable vessels he burned,
+and sailed home with his trophies, leaving Quebec for another attempt.
+
+Meanwhile the little colony waited in ill-defined terror. Day after day
+passed and no attack was made. Then they ventured to send out some boats
+and found to their surprise the river was clear of the enemy, but every
+little settlement had been laid waste. The stock of food was growing
+low, the crops were not promising. Every consignment sent from France
+had miscarried, and since the two nations were at war there was small
+hope of supplies. What would they do in winter? Already the woods were
+scoured for nuts and edible roots, and stores were hidden away with
+trembling hands. There were many plans discussed. If they could send
+part of their people out to find a Basque fishing fleet, and thus return
+home.
+
+No heart was heavier than that of the Sieur de Champlain. To be sure
+there was his renown as a discoverer and explorer, but the city he had
+planned, that was to be the crowning point of France's possessions, was
+slowly falling to decay.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+HELD IN AN ENEMY'S GRASP
+
+
+These were sad times for old Quebec and for the little girl who was
+blossoming into a womanhood that should have been joyous and serene, she
+asked so little of life.
+
+When the news of the reverse and the loss of the stores reached them,
+they were still more greatly burthened by the influx from Tadoussac and
+the settlements around. Then, too, the wandering Indians joined in the
+clamor for food. Trade was stopped. Mont Réal took the furs and disposed
+of them in other channels. No one knew how many English vessels were
+lying outside, ready to confiscate anything valuable.
+
+Madame Destournier was in a state of ungovernable terror.
+
+"Why should we stay here and be murdered?" she would cry. "Or starve to
+death! Let us return to France, as we planned. Am I of not as much
+consideration as an Indian squaw, that you all profess so much anxiety
+for?"
+
+"It would not be prudent to cross the ocean now," her husband said. "We
+might be taken prisoners and carried to England. You are in no state to
+face hardships."
+
+"As if I did not face them continually! Oh, I should have gone at once,
+when Laurent died. And if the English take the town, where will be the
+fortune he struggled for! I wish I had never seen the place."
+
+She would go on bewailing her hard fate until utterly exhausted. There
+were days when she would not let Rose out of her sight, except when her
+husband entered the room. It was well that he had a motive of the
+highest honor, to hold himself well in hand, though there were times
+when his whole heart went out in pity for Rose. Was there another soul
+in the world that would have been so pitiful and tender?
+
+Eustache Boullé had come from Tadoussac, since so little could be done
+toward rehabilitating that, and proved himself a most worthy compatriot
+to Champlain. Rose was sorely troubled at first, but she soon found that
+miladi no longer cared for the marriage. She was too selfish to think of
+losing one who was so useful to her. The girl's vigor and vivacity were
+a daily tonic to her. Would she sap the strength out of this splendid
+creature? Ralph Destournier wondered, with a pang. Yet to interfere was
+not possible. He understood the jealous nature, that if given the
+slightest ground would precipitate an _esclandre_.
+
+Among the Indians flocking in was Savignon, who had gone to France years
+before with Champlain, and who had been in demand as an interpreter. He
+had spent a year or two up at the strait, where there was quite a
+centre, and the priests had established a station, and gone further on
+to the company's outpost. An unusually fine-looking brave, with many of
+the white man's graces, that had not sunk deep enough to be called real
+qualities. But they were glad to see him, and gave him a warm welcome.
+
+And now what was to be done? All supplies being cut off, the grain
+fields laid in ruin, the crops failing, how were they to sustain
+themselves through the winter? Various plans were suggested. One of the
+most feasible, though fraught with danger, was to lead a party of
+Algonquins against the Iroquois, and capture some of their villages. The
+tribe had proved itself deceitful and unfriendly on several occasions.
+The Algonquins were ready for this. Another was to accept the proffer of
+a number settled at Gaspé, who had been warm friends with Pontgrave, and
+who would winter about twenty of the suffering people.
+
+Ralph Destournier offered to head the expedition, as it needed a person
+of some experience to restrain the Indians, and good judgment in not
+wasting supplies, if any could be found. Savignon consented to accompany
+them, and several others who were weary of the suffering around them and
+preferred activity. They would be back before winter set in if they met
+with any success.
+
+Destournier planned that his wife should be made comfortable while he
+was gone. At first she protested, then she sank into a kind of sullen
+silence. She had seemed stronger for some weeks.
+
+Rose had gone for her daily walk late in the afternoon. She read miladi
+to sleep about this time and was sure of an hour to herself. She was
+feeling the severe drain upon her quite sensibly, and though she longed
+to throw herself on a couch of moss and study the drifting clouds in the
+glory of the parting day, when the sun had gone behind the hills and the
+wake of splendor was paling to softer colors; lavender and pale green,
+that mingled in an indescribable tint, for which there could be no name.
+There was a little coolness in the air, but the breath of the river was
+sweet and revived her. Many of the leaves had dried and fallen from the
+drought, yet the juniper and cedar were bluish-green in the coming
+twilight, with their clusters of berries frostily gray.
+
+But she walked on. There was a craving in her heart for a change, a
+larger outlook. It would not be in marrying M. Boullé, though more than
+once when she had surprised his eyes bent wistfully upon her, a pang of
+pity for him had gone to her heart. Could she spend years waiting on
+miladi, whose strength of will kept her alive. Or was it that horrible
+fear of death? If it was true as the priests taught--oh, yes, it must
+be. God could not be so cruel as to put creatures in this world to toil
+and suffer, and then drop back to dust, to nothingness. Even the Indians
+believed in another sphere, in their crude superstitious fashion, and
+there must be some better place as a reward for the pain here that was
+not one's own fault. She loved to peer beyond the skies as she thought,
+and to drift midway between them and the grand woods, the changeful sea.
+What if one floated off and never came back!
+
+There was a step beside her, and she drew a long breath, though she was
+not alarmed, for she almost felt a presence, and turned, waited.
+
+"Rose," the voice said, "I have wanted to find you alone. I have several
+things to say. I have promised to go on this expedition because I felt
+it was necessary. You will not blame me. I have made all arrangements
+for you and miladi, and I shall be back before the real cold weather
+sets in. I only pray that we may be successful."
+
+"Yes," she said under her breath, yet in vague surprise.
+
+"It is a hard burthen to lay upon you. Do not imagine I have not seen
+it. At first I thought it only the restless whim of failing health, but
+I believe she loves you as much as she can love any human being. I
+realize now that she should have gone to her own sunny France long ago.
+She is formed for pleasure and brightness, variety, and to have new
+people about her when she exhausts the old. I should not have married
+her, but it seemed the best step then. I truly believed----"
+
+No, he would not drag his weak justification before this pure, sweet
+girl, though he had almost said "I believed she loved me." And he had
+learned since that she loved no one but her own self. Laurent Giffard
+had never awakened to the truth. But he had taken the best of her youth.
+
+"Oh, you must know that I am glad to make some return for all your
+kindness in my childhood. And she was sweet and tender. I think it is
+the illness that has changed her. Oh, I can recall many delightful hours
+spent with her. I should be an ingrate if I could not minister to her
+now of my best."
+
+"You could never be an ingrate," he protested.
+
+"I hope not," fervently.
+
+"I count confidently on returning. I can't tell why, for we shall risk
+the fate of war, but I can almost see myself here again in the old
+place. Like our beloved Commandant I, too, have dreams of what Quebec
+can be made, a glorious place to hand down to posterity. Meanwhile you
+will care for her as you do now, and comfort her with your many pleasant
+arts. I am a man formed for business and active endeavor, and cannot
+minister in that manner. Perhaps Providence did not intend me for a
+husband, and I have thwarted the will of Providence."
+
+There was a humorous strain in his voice at the last sentence.
+
+"Oh, you need not fear but that I will do my best. And I, too, shall
+look for your home-coming, believe in it, pray for it."
+
+"The women will remain, and Pani will serve you to the uttermost. When
+this weary time is ended, and we are in better condition, you will have
+your reward."
+
+"I do not want any reward, it is only returning what has been given."
+
+He knew many things miladi had grudged her, most of all the home, since
+it was of his providing and intent.
+
+They wandered on in silence for some time. Both hearts were too full for
+commonplace talk, and he did not dare venture out of safe lines. He
+could not pretend to fatherly love, even that cloaked by brotherliness
+would be but a sham, he knew. He had his own honor to satisfy, as well
+as her guilelessness.
+
+Now it was quite dark.
+
+"Oh, I must go back. It has been so pleasant that I have loitered. Let
+us run down this slope."
+
+She held out her hand, and he took it. They skimmed over the ground like
+children. Then there were the steps to climb, but she was up the first.
+
+"Good-night." She waved her white hand, and he saw it in the darkness.
+
+"The saints bless and keep you."
+
+She ran over to the level and then up again toward the kitchen end.
+There was a savory smell of supper. A moose had been killed and divided
+around.
+
+"Oh, how delightful! Is there enough for two bites? One will not satisfy
+me. But I must see miladi."
+
+"No," interposed Wanamee. "I took in a cup of broth, but she was soundly
+asleep. Have some steak while it is hot. The saints be praised for a
+mouthful of decent food."
+
+Yes, it was good. Pani watched with eager, hungry eyes and lips aquiver.
+Rose felt almost conscience-smitten that she should have been satisfied
+first.
+
+"Was there much to be divided?" she asked of him.
+
+"He was a noble, big fellow. And they have gone up in the woods for
+deer."
+
+Miladi was still asleep when she entered the room. She held the lamp a
+little close with a sudden fear, but she saw the tranquil movement of
+her chest and was reassured. There was a young moon coming up, a golden
+crescent in a sky of flawless blue. It was too small to light the savage
+cliffs, but she could hear the plash of the incoming tide that swirled
+along with the current of the river. If the English came, what then?
+
+It was near ten when miladi woke.
+
+"What time is it?" she asked. "Not quite morning, for it is dark. I have
+had such a splendid sleep. Why, I feel quite well."
+
+She sat up in the bed.
+
+"Come and bathe my face, Rose. Do you know whether Madame Hébert has the
+recipe of this fragrant water? Mine is nearly gone. It is so
+refreshing."
+
+"I am quite sure she has. You have had no supper. There is some tasty
+meat broth."
+
+"I'm tired of pease and greens, and make-believe things that don't
+nourish you at all. And there was such nice fish. Why do they not get
+some? The river certainly hasn't dried up."
+
+"No, Madame," in almost a merry tone, as if it might take the edge off
+of complaining. "But there is such a scarcity of hooks. Petit Gabou is
+making a net of dried grass that he thinks will answer the purpose. And
+we have always had such a plentiful supply of fish."
+
+The broth was very nourishing. Then Rose must sit with both of miladi's
+hands in hers, so warm and soft, hers being little beside bone and
+joints. She talked of France and her youth, when she was a pretty girl,
+just out of the convent, and went to Paris. "You will like it so much. I
+can hardly wait for the summer to come. I shall not mind if Monsieur has
+so much business on hand that he cannot leave," and her tone had a
+little mocking accent. "When men get older they lose their nice ways of
+compliment and grace. They care less for their wives. Even M. de
+Champlain does not fret after his, who is no doubt enjoying herself
+finely. She was wise not to return."
+
+The slim, golden crescent had wandered away to other worlds, and the
+stars grew larger and brighter in their bed of blue. She watched them
+through the open window. A screen was set up so that no draught should
+annoy miladi. Presently she fell asleep again, and Rose stole to her own
+couch, the other side of the screen, where she could still watch the
+stars.
+
+Savignon had come in with news. The Algonquins knew of a storehouse of
+the Iroquois, who had gone on the war-path, and would hardly be back for
+a whole moon. It would be best to start at once, and they began
+preparations. Some of the Indian women volunteered, they were used to
+carrying burthens. Bags were packed up. They trusted to find most of
+their food upon the route.
+
+Miladi took the parting tranquilly. M. Ralph had spent weeks on
+exploring expeditions. If there was any danger in this, she did not heed
+it. She held up her face to be kissed, and he noted how dry and parched
+the lips were.
+
+He gave a brief good-bye to Rose, who was standing near.
+
+"Surely, he does not care for women," Miladi thought exultingly. "Even
+her fresh, young beauty is nothing to him. He has no tender, eager
+soul."
+
+Rose went down to the plateau to see the start.
+
+"You are much interested, Mam'selle?" Savignon said. "Give us the charm
+of your thoughts and prayers."
+
+"You have both, most truly." What a fine, stalwart fellow Savignon was,
+lighter than the average, and picturesque in his Indian costume, though
+he often wore the garb of civilization. French had become to him almost
+a mother tongue.
+
+Yet Rose wondered a little if it was right to rob the storehouse where
+the industrious Indians had been making preparations for the coming
+winter. Was it easier for one race to starve than another?
+
+"And wish us a safe return."
+
+The look in his eyes disconcerted her for an instant. Her own drooped.
+She was acquiring a woman's wisdom.
+
+"I do that most heartily," she made answer, turning aside; but the
+admiration lingered over her fine, yet strong figure, with its grace of
+movement. The beautiful eyes haunted him, if they were turned away.
+
+Such forays were not uncommon among the tribes. The Iroquois had planted
+more than one storehouse in the wilderness, in most secluded places. It
+saved carrying burthens, as they wandered about, or if in desperate
+weather, they set up their wigwams, and remained eating and sleeping,
+until hunger drove them elsewhere.
+
+A ship had come down from Acadia with news that several English vessels
+were hovering about. They offered to take some of the women and
+children, and M. de Champlain was thankful for this. By spring there
+must be some change in affairs. The mother country could not wholly
+forget them.
+
+Rose wondered at times that miladi remained so tranquil. She slept a
+great deal, and it was an immense relief. It seemed occasionally that
+her mind wandered, though it was mostly vague mutterings.
+
+Once she said quite clearly--"I will not have the child. You will come
+to love her better than you do me."
+
+Then she opened her eyes and fixed them on Rose, with a hard, cold
+stare.
+
+"Go away," she cried. "Go away. I will not have you here to steal his
+love from me. You are only a child, but one day you will be a woman. And
+I shall be growing old, old! A woman's youth ought to come back to her
+for a brief while."
+
+Rose's heart swelled within her. Was this why miladi had taken such
+queer spells, and sometimes been unkind to her for days? And M.
+Destournier had always stood her friend.
+
+Yet she felt infinitely sorry for miladi, and that calmed her first
+burst of indignation. She went out to the forest to walk. The withered
+leaves lay thick on the ground, they had not been as beautiful as in
+some autumns, the drought had turned them brown too soon. The white
+birches seemed like lovely ghosts haunting the darkened spaces. Children
+were digging for fallen nuts, even edible roots, and breaking off
+sassafras twigs. What would they do before spring, if relief did not
+come!
+
+Suppose she went away with the next vessel that came in. But then she
+had promised. Oh, yes, she must look after miladi, just as carefully as
+if there were depths of love between them. How did she come to know so
+much about love? Surely she had never loved any one with her whole soul.
+Neither had she craved an overwhelming affection. But now the world
+seemed large, and strange, and empty to her. She rustled the leaves
+under her feet, as if they made a sort of company in the loneliness.
+Perhaps it would not have been so bad to have taken M. Boullé's love. If
+only love did not mean nearness, some sacred rites, kisses. She felt if
+she raised her hand in permission it might still be hers. No, no, she
+could not take it, and she shivered. Why, it was nearly dark, and cold.
+She must run to warm her blood.
+
+She came in bright and glowing, her eyes in cordial shining.
+
+"Thank the Holy Mother that you have come," cried Mawha. "Miladi has
+been crying and going on and saying that you have deserted her. Wanamee
+could not comfort her. Run, quick."
+
+Miladi was sobbing as if her heart would break. Rose bent over her,
+smoothed her brow and hair, chafed the cold hands.
+
+"The way was so long and dark," she cried, "such a long, long path. Will
+I have to go all alone?" and Rose could feel the terrified shiver.
+
+"You will not have to go anywhere," began the girl, in a soothing tone.
+"I shall stay here with you."
+
+"But you were gone," complainingly.
+
+"I will not go again."
+
+"Then sit here and hold my hands. I think it was a dream. I am not going
+to die. I am really better. I walked about to-day. Is there word from
+Monsieur? You know we are going to France in the summer. Do you know
+what happens when one dies? I've seen the little Indian babies die. Do
+you suppose they really have souls?"
+
+"Every one born in the world has. The priest will tell you." Rose gained
+a little courage. "Perhaps you would like to see Father Jamay."
+
+"I went to confession a long while ago. The priest wanted my French
+books. M. Ralph said I need not give them up. I prayed to the Virgin. I
+prayed for many things that did not come. But we will go to France, M.
+Ralph promised, and he never breaks his word, so I do not need to pray
+for that. I am cold. Cover me up warm, and get something for my feet.
+Then sit here and put your arms around me. Promise me you will never go
+away again."
+
+"I promise"--in a sweet, soft tone.
+
+Then she sat on the side of the bed and placed her arm about the
+shoulders. How thin they were.
+
+"Sing something. The silence frightens me."
+
+Rose sang, sometimes like a chant, lines she could recall that had a
+musical sound. The leaning figure grew heavier, the breathing was slow
+and tranquil. Wanamee came in.
+
+"Help me put her down," Rose said, for she was weary with the strained
+position.
+
+They laid her down tenderly, without waking her.
+
+"Stay with me," pleaded Rose. "You know when I went away M. Destournier
+used to come in. I do not like to leave her alone."
+
+"It is curious," exclaimed Wanamee. "This morning she seemed so well,
+and walked about. Then she sinks down. How long she has been ill, this
+way."
+
+Rose wanted to ask a solemn question, but she did not dare. Presently
+Wanamee dozed off, but Rose watched until the eastern sky began to show
+long levels of light. There seemed an awesome stillness in the room.
+
+"Wanamee," she said faintly.
+
+The woman rose and looked at the figure on the bed, standing some
+seconds in silence.
+
+"Go out quietly, _ma fille_, and find Mawha. Send her in." Then she
+turned Rose quite around, and the girl uttered no question.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked Pani. "Mam'selle, you are white as a
+snowdrift."
+
+"I think miladi is dead," and she drew a long, strangling breath, her
+figure trembling with unknown dread.
+
+Pani bowed and crossed himself several times.
+
+Wanamee came in presently. "The poor lady is gone," she said reverently.
+"She was so afraid of dying, and it was just like a sleep. Pani, you
+must row up to the convent at once, and ask some of the fathers to come
+down. Stop first at the fort and tell the Governor."
+
+That Madame Destournier should die surprised no one, but it was
+unexpected, for all that. It appeared to accentuate the other sorrows
+and anxieties. And that M. Destournier should be away seemed doubly sad.
+Two of the priests came down with Pani, and held some services over the
+body. Her ill health was the excuse of her not having paid more
+attention to the offices of the Church, that so far had not flourished
+at all well. The convent was really too far, and the chapel service had
+waned since the departure of Madame de Champlain.
+
+When Rose gained courage to go into the room where a few tapers were
+dimly burning, she lost her fear in an instant. It was a thin and
+wrinkled face, but it had a certain placid sweetness that often hallows
+it, when pain and fear are ended. Rose pressed her lips to the cold
+forehead, and breathed a brief prayer that miladi had found entrance to
+a happier land. A new thought took possession of her. Miladi belonged
+wholly to Laurent Giffard now. The tie that bound her to M. Destournier
+was broken, and it was as if it had never been. She remembered he had
+once said he would relinquish her in that other country. She had simply
+been given to him in her sorrow, to care for a brief while. And how
+grandly he had done it. Rose was too just, perhaps with some of the
+incisive energy of youth, to cover up miladi's faults at once. If she
+had been grateful to him for his devotion she would have thought more
+tenderly of love. Yet she experienced a profound pity.
+
+There had been set aside a burial plot, one end for the white
+inhabitants. Thither the body was taken, and laid beside her true
+husband, with the rites of the Church. M. de Champlain headed the
+procession, but on the outskirts there was a curious throng.
+
+The Héberts pressed their hospitality upon Rose, but even they were in
+great straits. Then Wanamee was less superstitious than most of her
+race, and made no demur at remaining in the house, if Rose desired to
+stay. It was home to the girl, and she could almost fancy the better
+part of miladi's spirit hovered about it, released from suffering.
+
+How would M. Destournier take it? Would he regret he had not been here?
+
+Day after day they waited the return of the party. Had there been a
+battle? Sometimes Rose felt as if she must join them, the suspense
+seemed the hardest of all to endure.
+
+At last most of the Indians returned, with bags and blankets of
+supplies. There had been no battle. They had come unexpectedly upon a
+storehouse, cunningly hidden in the wood. There were no guards about. So
+they had entered, and after satisfying their hunger, packed corn and
+dried meats, onions, which would be a great treat, and nuts. They
+divided the party, and sent one relay on ahead, to travel as fast as
+possible, with the good news, and relieve the famishing people.
+
+Quebec greeted them with the wildest joy. Savignon headed this party.
+They had two days' start, and though the ground was frozen, there had
+been no deep snow to prevent the others from a tolerably comfortable
+march. They would no doubt be in soon. It seemed a large addition to
+their scanty store. A great joy pervaded the little colony.
+
+Two days passed, then a third. A party, headed by Savignon, went out to
+meet them. They found a few men, dragging and carrying weary loads.
+There had been an accident to M. Destournier. He had stumbled into an
+unseen pitfall and broken his leg. They had carried him on a litter for
+two days, then he had begged the others to leave him with an attendant,
+and hurry onward, coming back for him as soon as possible.
+
+Rose was all sympathy and anxiety. She flew to one of the half-breeds,
+who had borne the litter. Was there much injury beside the broken leg?
+
+"He was a good deal shaken up, but he knew what to do about bandaging,
+and he uttered no groans. But when he attempted to walk the next morning
+he died for a few moments, as your women sometimes do. And when he came
+to life, they made the litter. He was very brave. So we rigged up a sort
+of tent in the woods, as he insisted on being left."
+
+The Commandant ordered that a party be formed at once to rescue him.
+They could not allow him to perish there in the wilderness. He might be
+ill.
+
+"He might die," Rose said to herself. And then an intense ungovernable
+longing came over her to see him once again. Women could minister to him
+better than men. And if Wanamee and Pani would go. Pani had been so much
+with women that he had lost many of the virile Indian traits.
+
+Yes, they would go, but Wanamee did not quite approve of the journey. No
+one could tell how deep a snow would set in.
+
+"But it will be only a six days' journey, and most of it through the
+forests. Savignon will be an excellent guide. And no one must speak of
+the great sorrow that awaits him here."
+
+M. de Champlain opposed the plan. It was too severe for women. But
+curiously enough Savignon said--"The blossom of Quebec is no dainty
+flower, to be crushed by wind and storm. If she wants to go, I am on her
+side."
+
+When Rose heard this she flew out to thank him, catching one hand in
+both of hers, her eyes luminous with gladness.
+
+"Oh, I cannot truly thank you, Monsieur. I must go, even if I ran away
+and followed on behind. And I am no delicate house-plant."
+
+"Thou art a brave girl," admiringly. "Thou hast been used to woods and
+rocks, and art strong and courageous."
+
+To be called monsieur was one of Savignon's great delights. He had tired
+not a little of the roughness of savage life, and though he had caressed
+pretty Indian maidens he had never been much in love with them. And this
+girl was different from most of the white women. The courage in every
+line of her face, the exuberant bounding life that flushed her veins,
+her straight lithe figure, and the grace of every movement, appealed
+strongly to him.
+
+"Thou wilt find it hard going, Mam'selle, keeping step to the men, and
+sleeping in the woods. But three days are soon spent, and we need not
+march back so hastily. Our women have stood more than that."
+
+"You will see how much I can stand," she answered proudly. She believed
+the admiring eyes were for her courage alone.
+
+Go she must. She did not stop to question. There was only one thing
+uppermost in her mind. If he died she must see him; if he lived, she
+must wait upon him, comfort him in his sorrow, for although in a vague
+way she knew he had not come up to the highest joy in his marriage, any
+more than her dear Sieur de Champlain, he had cared very tenderly for
+miladi, and would sorrow to know her shut out of life. And it had been
+so quiet at the last, just falling asleep. Her arms had been around her,
+her voice the last sound miladi had heard. He would rejoice in his
+sorrow that all had been so tranquil.
+
+Rose and Wanamee came down in their robes of fur, with their deerskin
+frocks underneath. Rose's cap had its visor turned up and it framed in
+her beautiful face. Her hair fell in loose curls, the way she had always
+worn it, and the morning sun sent golden gleams amongst it. There was a
+small crowd to wish them God-speed.
+
+The horses that De Champlain had brought over and a few mules that had
+been at Cape Tourmente were carried off in the English raid. True, they
+would not have been of much account in the overgrown brush of the
+wilderness.
+
+"Mam'selle," Savignon said, after an hour or two, "do not hurry ahead
+so. You will tire before night."
+
+"I feel as if I could run, or fly," she made answer, and she looked so.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+A LOVER OF THE WILDERNESS
+
+
+The weather was splendid, the sky cloudless, the air scented with the
+resinous fragrance of cedar, fir, and pine. They paused for a midday
+lunch and then kept on until dark. In a clearing in an almost
+impenetrable forest they paused, built a fire, and prepared to camp.
+Savignon drew some young saplings together and filled up the interstices
+with boughs, ordering smaller ones inside that a sort of bed should be
+raised off the ground. One of the men had shot some squirrels, and their
+broiling over the coals was appetizing.
+
+"You and Wanamee will be quite safe," the guide said. "We shall wrap in
+our blankets and sleep about the fire. If you hear the cry of wolves, do
+not be alarmed."
+
+"How good you are," Rose returned, her eyes glorious with grateful
+emotions. "M. Destournier will never forget your service. It cannot be
+rewarded."
+
+"Mam'selle, a man would give his life for your pleasure. Sleep well and
+do not fear."
+
+And sleep she did, with the slumber of youth and health. Naught came to
+alarm them.
+
+Their second day's journey was uneventful, though it was not so clear
+and sunny, and again they camped for the night. Was there only one day
+more? Rose's heart beat with alternate fear and joy. Indeed, they might
+meet the cavalcade on the way.
+
+She would not admit fatigue, indeed she did not feel it. Her grand hope
+gave lightness to her step and color to her cheeks, which were like a
+delicious opening rose, and you were fain to declare they had the same
+fragrance. When she talked to Wanamee, Savignon did not listen for any
+girlish secrets, but simply the music of her voice. That day some bird
+astray in the forest gave his whistle, perhaps to his mate, and she
+answered it with the most enchanting music. He came so near they could
+hear the flutter of his wings. Cadotte started up with his gun.
+
+"You shall not kill it!" she cried. "Do you think I would lure a bird to
+such a cruel, treacherous death!"
+
+Her face was bewitching in its indignation. What spirit, what strength
+of purpose shone in it!
+
+"He will freeze before spring, Mam'selle," Cadotte returned sullenly.
+
+"Then let him die as the good God intends."
+
+"Mam'selle, I never heard a human voice so like a bird's," Savignon
+declared, in a tone of admiration. "Do you know other voices that range
+in Quebec?"
+
+She laughed, her present anger vanishing.
+
+"I used to tame them when I was a child. They would come at my call. I
+loved them so. And a tame deer knew my voice and followed me."
+
+"As anything would. Mam'selle, sing or whistle, and it will make our
+steps lighter. Among the Bostonnais they march to music not as sweet as
+thine."
+
+She was glad to give them pleasure.
+
+The last day seemed long indeed, to her. Once they mistook the path and
+had to pick their way back. Savignon's acute eyes told him another party
+had crossed it, and he went on warily.
+
+Presently, in the coming darkness, two scouts ran on ahead.
+
+"Art thou tired, Mam'selle?" asked the well-modulated voice that had
+lost the guttural Indian tone.
+
+"Not tired, but impatient. Do you suppose we have missed them? What if
+they should have started in some other direction?"
+
+"I hardly think that. I have expected to meet them. M. Destournier must
+have been more disabled than we supposed. But we shall soon know."
+
+Oh, what if he were dead! A blackness fell over everything. She caught
+Wanamee's arm for support. It was growing so dark they kept closer
+together. The dead leaves rustled under their feet, now and then in an
+opening they saw the sky in the soft, whitish-gray tints before it turns
+to blue.
+
+There was a shrill, prolonged whistle.
+
+"They are coming back with news." Savignon guessed it was not cheering.
+He answered through his fingers.
+
+The two scouts came hurrying forward.
+
+"They are gone. They must have taken some other road. The campfire is
+out, the stones are missing. What shall we do?"
+
+Rose gave a soft, appealing cry, that she vainly strove to restrain.
+
+"We had better go on. We must stop for the night. It is too dark to find
+their trail."
+
+It seemed to Rose as if she would sink to the ground with indescribable
+terror.
+
+"Oh, do you think----" She caught Savignon's arm.
+
+"They have started on and missed the trail," he replied, in an almost
+indifferent tone, but he guessed in his heart there had been some
+surprise. "We must find the old place and camp for the night. To-morrow
+we will seek out the trail."
+
+"You do not think there can have been----" Her voice faltered for very
+fear.
+
+"We had best think nothing. We should no doubt come wide of the mark.
+Let us push on," to the men.
+
+There were heavy hearts and slow steps. It seemed as if it must be
+midnight when they reached the clearing, though it was not that late.
+They built their fire. Cadotte and Savignon took a survey.
+
+"Another party has been here," Cadotte exclaimed, in a whisper. "There
+has been a struggle. They are carried off somewhere."
+
+"Do not speak of it to-night. The women are tired. And Mam'selle will
+have a thousand fears."
+
+They found the others busy with fire and supper. Rose sat apart, her
+face buried in her hands, a thousand wild fears chasing one another
+through her mind. Life would be dreary if--if what? If he were dead? Had
+he suffered long with no one to cheer? Or had he been suddenly
+despatched by some marauding party? Then they would find his poor body.
+Yes, to-morrow they would know all.
+
+She did not want any supper and crept to bed, weeping out her fears in
+Wanamee's arms.
+
+They were all astir the next morning at daybreak. It was a little
+cloudy. The three days had been unusually fine. Savignon had been
+tracing this and that clew, and presently came upon a piece of wampum,
+with a curious Huron design at one end. And a little further on he found
+a trail where things had been roughly dragged. But he came to breakfast
+with no explanation.
+
+Did the Rose of Quebec care so much for this man? He had been like a
+father to her, perhaps it was only a child's love. But now M.
+Destournier was free to choose a new wife--if he were alive. He was a
+brave man, a fine man, but if he were dead! The Hurons would show scant
+pity to a disabled man. Savignon had done and would do his best, but
+somehow he could not feel so bitterly grieved. He loved this woman--he
+knew that now.
+
+They were discussing plans when a near-by step startled them. Parting
+the undergrowth, a torn and dishevelled man appeared. It was Paul De
+Loie. He almost dropped on the ground at their feet.
+
+"I have run all night," he cried gaspingly. "The Hurons! They took us
+prisoners, and the stores. They are expecting another relay of the
+tribe, and are going up north for the winter, to join the Ottawas. But
+first they are to have a carouse and dance," and the three prisoners are
+to be tortured and put to death. He had escaped. He supposed the party
+would be back for M. Destournier and the stores. They must fly at once,
+and return if they would save their lives. And what madness possessed
+them to bring women!
+
+"Wait!" commanded Savignon. "Let us go apart, De Loie, and consider the
+matter," and taking the man by the arm, he raised him and walked him a
+little distance.
+
+"Now tell me--M. Destournier--how did he progress?"
+
+"Well, indeed. We made him a crutch. We decided to take what stores we
+could manage, and resume our journey, thinking we would be met by some
+of the party. _Ma foi_, if we had started a day earlier! There were not
+many of them, but twice too many for us. There was nothing to do, we
+could gain nothing by selling our lives, we thought, but now they will
+take them. In two days the rest of the party, thirty or forty, will join
+them. We cannot rescue the others. Vauban could have escaped, but he
+would not leave M. Destournier. And now retrace your steps at once."
+
+Savignon buried his face in his hands, in deep thought. Should he try to
+rescue these men? The Hurons were superstitious. More than once he had
+played on Indian credulity. He held some curious secrets, he had the
+wampum belt that he could produce, as if by magic. He was fond, too, of
+adventure, of power. And he imagined he saw a way to win the prize he
+coveted. He was madly, wildly in love with Rose. She was heroic. If she
+would grant his desire, the safety of three people would accrue from it.
+And surely she had not loved the Frenchman, who until a brief while ago
+had a wife. As he understood, they had been as parents to her. She was
+young, but if a man could inspire her with love--with gratitude even----
+
+He questioned De Loie very closely. The trouble with Destournier would
+be his inability to travel rapidly. They would soon be overtaken. Escape
+that way was not feasible.
+
+"I will consider. Come and share our breakfast."
+
+Rose was walking by herself, on the outskirts of the clearing, her slim
+hands clasped together, her head drooping, and even so her figure would
+have attracted a sculptor. The Indian was enchanted with it. To clasp it
+in his arms--ah, the thought set his hot blood in a flame.
+
+She turned and raised her eyes beseechingly, her beautiful, fathomless
+eyes in whose depths a man easily lost himself, the curved sweetness of
+the mouth that one might drain and drain, and never quite have his fill.
+
+"What is it, M'sieu? Is there any hope? Can nothing be done?" Her voice
+went to his heart.
+
+"What would you be willing to do, Mam'selle?"
+
+"If I were a man I would attempt his rescue, or die with him. It would
+not be so hard to die holding a friend's hand."
+
+"You love him very much?"
+
+The love Savignon meant had so little place in her thoughts that the
+question did not cause her to change color.
+
+"He was so good to me when I was little, and ill for a long while. He
+used to hold me on his knee, and let my head rest on his strong breast.
+And when I was well again we climbed rocks, and he showed me where the
+choicest wild fruit grew. And we went out in the canoe. He taught me to
+read, he had books of strange, beautiful stories. And after he married
+miladi he took me in his home as if I was a child. Ah, I could not help
+loving one so kind, unless I had been made of stone. And I wanted to
+comfort him in his sorrow."
+
+Her voice, in its pathos, the eyes luminous with tears that did not
+fall, swept through the man like a devouring flame. He must have her. He
+would risk all, he would test her very soul.
+
+"You have not said what you would give."
+
+"My life, M'sieu, if I could exchange it for his."
+
+"It does not need that. Listen, Mam'selle: When I first looked upon you,
+I was swept away with a strange emotion. I had seen lovely girls, there
+are some in our own race, with eyes of velvet, and lips that tempt
+kisses. And I knew when I helped you get your way on this expedition,
+what it was; that I loved you, that I would have kissed the ground you
+had walked on. And on our journey here I have dreamed beautiful,
+thrilling dreams of you. I slept at the door of your improvised tent
+lest some danger should come upon you unawares. Last night when I noted
+your tired step I wanted to take you in my arms and carry you. You have
+filled my soul and my body with the rapture of love. I can think of
+nothing else but the bliss of straining you to my heart, of touching
+your lips with the fire that plays about mine, like the rosy lightning
+that flashes through the heavens, engendered by the heat of the day. Oh,
+take me for your husband, and your life shall be filled with the best I
+can give. You shall not weary your small hands with work, they shall be
+kept for a husband's kisses. I will worship you as the priests do their
+Virgin."
+
+She had been transfixed at the outburst and flaming, passionate tone,
+that in its vehemence seemed to grow finer, loftier. Was that love's
+work?
+
+"But it will not save M. Destournier," she wailed.
+
+"Listen again." He stood up, manly and strong, and somehow touched her
+with a subtle influence. It is not in a woman's nature to listen to a
+tale of passionate love unmoved. "Once, among the Hurons an old witch
+woman was wild to adopt me for her son. She gave me a great many secret
+charms, many you white people would think the utmost foolishness. Some
+were curious. And my people are superstitious. I have used them more
+than once to the advantage of myself and others. I have brought about
+peace between warring tribes. I have prevented war. I will go to the
+Hurons, and try for M. Destournier's liberty. From what De Loie said,
+they mean to sacrifice the men to-morrow. There are horrid, agonizing
+tortures before death comes. If you will promise to marry me I will go
+at once and do my utmost to rescue him, them."
+
+"And if you fail?" Her very breath seemed like a blast of winter cold.
+
+"Then, Mam'selle, I can ask no reward, only a share in your sorrow. I
+will try to lighten their sufferings. That is all I can do."
+
+She crossed her arms upon her breast and rocked herself to and fro.
+
+"Oh, I cannot, I cannot," she said, with a cry of anguish. "Another man,
+our dear Madame de Champlain's brother asked this thing of me, and I
+could not. I do not want to marry."
+
+"All women do in their hearts," he said moodily.
+
+Was she not quite a woman yet? Had she just the soul of the little girl
+who had climbed trees, scaled rocks, and plunged headlong into the
+river to swim like a fish!
+
+"It is three lives," he said, with the persuasive voice of the tempter.
+
+Three lives! And among them her best friend! Something rose in her
+throat, and she thought she was dying.
+
+"And if I cannot?" in a tone of desperate anguish.
+
+"Then we must start homeward at once. When the Hurons have whet their
+appetite with their hellish pleasure, it is not easily satisfied. They
+will look about for more fuel to add to the flames. So we must decide. I
+cannot risk my own liberty for months for nothing. It will not make M.
+Destournier's death pang easier."
+
+"Oh, go away, go away!" she almost shrieked, but the sorrow in her voice
+took off the harshness. "Let me think. I do not love you! I might run
+away. I might drown myself. I might not be able to keep my promise."
+
+"I should love you so much that you would not want to break it. Ah, I
+could trust you, since you love no one else that you desire to marry."
+
+She dropped on the ground and hid her face, too much stunned even to
+cry. "Three lives" kept singing in her ears. Was she not selfish and
+cruel? O God, what could she do!
+
+"You know even the Sieur and the priests have approved of these mixed
+marriages, so there would be no voice raised against it. The children
+would belong to the Church and be reared in the ways of wisdom and
+honor. In my way I am well born. I could take you to Paris, where you
+would be well received. I have had some excellent training. Oh, it would
+be no disgrace."
+
+They were calling to him from the group. He turned away. His intense
+love for her, his little understanding of a woman's soul, his passionate
+nature, not yet adjusted to the higher civilization, could not
+understand and appreciate the cruelty.
+
+When he came back her small hands were nervously beating the dried turf.
+He could not see her face.
+
+"They have decided to go at once," he exclaimed. "De Loie says there is
+no time to lose."
+
+"I shall stay here and die," she said.
+
+"That will not save any one's life."
+
+Oh, that was the pity of it!
+
+She rose with a strained white face. She looked like some of the
+beautiful carvings he had seen abroad. Not even anguish could make her
+unlovely.
+
+"If you will go," she began hoarsely, and she seemed to strain her very
+soul to utter the words, "and bring back M. Destournier, and the others,
+I will marry you--not now, but months hence, when I can resolve upon the
+step. I shall have to learn--no, you must not touch me, nor kiss me,
+until I give you leave."
+
+"But you must let me take your hand once, and promise by the Holy Mother
+of God."
+
+His seriousness overawed her. She rose and held out her slim, white
+hand, from which the summer's brown had faded. Her lips shook as if with
+an ague, but she promised.
+
+He wanted to kiss the hand, but he in turn was overawed.
+
+She heard the voices raised in dissent around the fire. What if they
+would not let him go? She was chill and cold, and almost did not care.
+She would stay here and die. Perhaps they could take the strange,
+awesome journey together.
+
+Wanamee joined her. "Savignon has determined to go to the rescue of the
+men," she began, "but De Loie thinks it a crazy step. And we must stay
+and risk being made prisoners. What is the matter, _ma fille_? You are
+as white as the river foam in a storm."
+
+"I am tired," she made answer. "I slept poorly last night. Then they
+think there is no chance of success?"
+
+"Oh, no, no! And we ought to escape."
+
+She dropped down again, pillowing her head on a little rise of ground.
+Should she be glad, or sorry? Either way she seemed stunned.
+
+The sky cleared up presently, and the sun came out. The few men walked
+about disconsolately. The rations were apportioned, some went farther in
+the woods, to find nuts, if possible. Now that the stores had been taken
+and two days added to the journey, want might be their portion.
+
+Two of the men succeeded in finding some game. There was a small stream
+of water, but no fish were discernible in it. It froze over at night,
+but they could quench their thirst, and with some dried pennyroyal made
+a draught of tea.
+
+Rose wondered if she had ever prayed before! All she could say now was:
+"Oh, Holy Mother of God, have pity on me."
+
+The long night passed. De Loie said in the morning: "I think one of you
+had better start with the women. If we should be beset with the savages,
+they might find their way home. Here are some points I have marked out."
+
+"No," returned Rose, "let us all perish together."
+
+"_Mon Dieu!_ Do you suppose they would let you perish? You would have to
+be squaw to some brave."
+
+Rose shuddered. No, she could but die.
+
+De Loie started out on the path he had come. It was mid-afternoon. A
+light snow began to fall, and the wind moaned in the trees. Rose and
+Wanamee huddled together at the fire, their arms around each other,
+under the blanket. It was easy to love Wanamee. But then she had begun
+it as a child--Was it easy to love when one was grown?
+
+The darkness was descending when they heard a shout. Was it friend or
+foe? Another, and it came nearer. It was not the voice of an Indian.
+
+De Loie rushed in upon them. "You men go and relieve those at the
+litter. Savignon is a wizard. He has the three men. I could not believe
+it at first, and I am afraid now it is a trick. You cannot trust an
+Indian."
+
+Rose drew a long breath. Then her fate was sealed. Or, if they were
+attacked in the night, it would be some compensation to die together.
+
+They came in at last, with Destournier on an improvised hemlock litter.
+The fire blazed up brightly, making a striking picture of the eager
+faces. The men lowered the litter to the ground, and they crowded around
+it. Destournier was ghostly pale, but full of thankfulness. When there
+was a little space open he reached out his hand to Rose.
+
+"You two women have been very brave, but you should not have taken the
+journey. As for Savignon, we all owe him a debt that we can never
+repay."
+
+"It is repaid already," returned the Indian, glancing over at Rose. "To
+have rescued you----"
+
+"What arts and incantations you used! I could not have believed it
+possible to move their stony hearts."
+
+"It was not their hearts." Savignon gave a grim smile. "It was their
+fears that were worked upon. I was afraid at one time that I would not
+succeed. But I had a reward before me."
+
+"Quebec will pay you all honor. It is a grand thing to have saved three
+lives from torture and death. For there was no other escape."
+
+That night Destournier related the surprise and capture. The stores were
+a great loss. But they would not let him bemoan them.
+
+"We must get back as rapidly as we can," he said. "I do not trust the
+temper of the reinforcements, when they find they have been balked of
+their prey."
+
+The snow had only been a light fall, and the trees in their higher
+branches were marvels of beauty. It had not reached the ground in many
+places.
+
+After a frugal breakfast the cavalcade started. Destournier insisted
+upon walking at first, as he was freshened by his night's rest,
+comparatively free from anxiety. His broken leg was well bandaged, and
+he used two crutches. Rose noticed the thinness and pallor, and the
+general languid air, but she kept herself quite in the background.
+Savignon was really leader of the small party.
+
+"Wanamee," she said, in a low tone, "will you tell M. Ralph about
+miladi?--I thought to do it, but I cannot. And I am so sorry she left no
+message for him. He was always so good to her. And you can tell him I
+held her a long while in my arms that night."
+
+"You were an angel to her, _ma fille_. I used to wonder sometimes----"
+
+"I suppose it was being ill so long, and trying so hard to get well,
+that made her unreasonable. It is better to go out of life suddenly, do
+you not think so?"
+
+"I should like to know a little about the hereafter. You see our nation
+believe we go at once to another land, and do not stay in that miserable
+place they tell of. But many of the braves believe there are no women
+in the happy hunting grounds. One is swung this way and that," and
+Wanamee sighed.
+
+Rose's mind was torn and distracted by her promise. Now and then an
+awful shudder took her in a giant grasp, and she thought she would drop
+down and ask them to leave her. Savignon would stay behind, if she
+proposed that. What if he had not gone to the Hurons? Frightful stories
+of torture she had heard rushed to her mind. Old Noko had witnessed
+them. So had some of the men at the fort. Death itself was not so hard,
+but to have burning sticks thrust into one's skin, to have fingers and
+toes cut off, piecemeal--oh, she had saved him from that. Yes, she would
+marry Savignon, and then throw herself into the river, after she had
+kept her promise.
+
+The weather was growing colder. They halted for the night, and made a
+fire. They had shot nothing, but the supper was very light, indeed.
+
+"Little Rose," said Destournier, "come over beside me, since I cannot
+well come to you. I have hardly seen you, and have not asked what has
+gone on at the fort. I feel as if I had been away half a lifetime. And
+miladi----"
+
+"Wanamee will tell you, I cannot." She drew away the hand he held, and
+gently pushed the Indian woman forward, going out of the clear sound of
+her voice. Oh, would it be a great sorrow to him?
+
+Wanamee's recital of that last night set a halo about Rose in the man's
+mind. He had known for years that he had not loved miladi as a man could
+love, but he also questioned whether such a light, frivolous nature
+could have appreciated the strong, earnest affection. Her great effort
+to keep herself young had led to a meretricious childishness. She had a
+vain, narrow soul, and this had dwarfed it still more. Many a night he
+had watched over her, pained by her passionate beseeching that he would
+not let her die, her awesome terror of death. He felt God had been
+merciful not to allow her to suffer that last rending pain. He had
+really become so accustomed to the thought of her dying that it did not
+seem new or strange to him, but one of the inevitable things that one
+must endure with philosophy. He realized the sweetness and patience of
+Rose through these last months.
+
+When Wanamee came back she was snugly tucked in her blanket, and feigned
+sleep. She did not want to talk. She fancied she would like to lie
+beside miladi in the little burying ground. Young sorrow always turns to
+death as a comforter.
+
+That night an adventure befell them, though most of them were sleeping
+from exhaustion. It was the Indian's quick hearing that caught a
+suspicious sound, and then heard a stealthy rustle. He reached for his
+gun, and his eyes roved sharply around the little circle. The sound came
+from nearly opposite. The fire was low, but his sight was keen, and
+presently he espied two glaring eyes drawing nearer Wanamee and her
+charge. There was a quick shot, a shriek, almost human, and a rush
+farther in the forest.
+
+They were all awake in an instant. "An attack!" shouted two of the men.
+
+"A wolf," rejoined Savignon. He took up a brand and peered about in the
+darkness. The body was still twitching, but the head was a mangled mass.
+There were no others in sight, but they heard their cry growing fainter
+and fainter.
+
+Rose sat up in affright. How near it had been to her. Was she always to
+be in debt to this Indian?
+
+"Go to sleep again," he said, in a low tone. "We shall have no more
+alarms to-night. I am keeping watch. I would give my life to save you
+from harm."
+
+Wanamee drew the trembling, shrinking figure closer. Rose felt as if her
+heart would burst with the sorrow she could not confess.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE PASSING OF OLD QUEBEC
+
+
+They ate their last crumbs for breakfast. A fine, cutting sleet was in
+the air, but they kept quite inside of the forest, except when they were
+afraid of losing the trail. There was no stop for a midday meal, and
+they pushed on, carrying Destournier in a litter. Must they spend
+another night in the woods?
+
+Suddenly a shout reaches them, the sound of familiar French voices, and
+every heart thrilled with joy, as they answered it. Blessed relief was
+at hand.
+
+Being alarmed at the long delay, a party had been sent out to search for
+them. They halted, for indeed it seemed as if they could go no further.
+Weak and hungry, some of the men sat down and cried, for very joy.
+
+"I have hardly been worth all the trouble," Destournier said, in a
+broken voice.
+
+"It was not altogether you," replied one of the men. "And to have
+rescued some of our men from those fiendish Hurons was worth while.
+Savignon must have had some wonderful power to make them give up their
+prey."
+
+The relief party were provided with food, dried meat that had come down
+from some friendly Indians. After they had eaten, they resolved to push
+on, and started with good courage. The storm had ceased and the stars
+were pricking through the blue. The moon would rise later on. But it was
+midnight when they came in sight of the fort. The warm welcome made
+amends for all.
+
+Wanamee took Rose under her protection. She was nearly exhausted. M. de
+Champlain insisted upon caring for Destournier, and examining the leg,
+which was much swollen, but had been very well set. The story of the
+wonderful escape was told over, to interested listeners.
+
+"We owe Savignon a great debt, and are too poor to pay it," said the
+Governor sorrowfully.
+
+Poor indeed they were. It was the hardest winter the colony had known.
+The dearth of news was most trying, and the fear of the English descent
+upon them racked the brave heart of the Commandant, who saw his dream of
+a great city vanishing. Jealousy had done some cruel work, and the
+misgovernment of the mother country stifled the best efforts.
+
+Rose lay listless in bed for many days. How could she meet Savignon, who
+haunted the place hourly, to inquire, and begged to see her? One day she
+told Wanamee to send him in, and braced herself for the interview.
+
+Semi-famine had not told on him, unless it had added an air of
+refinement. That he was superior to most of his race, was evident.
+
+He was not prepared for the white wraith-like being who did not rise
+from her chair, but nodded and motioned him to a seat at a distance.
+
+"Oh, Mam'selle, you have been truly ill," he said, and there was a
+tender sort of pity in his tone. "I have been wild to see you, to hear
+you speak. Mam'selle, you must not die. I cannot give you up. I have
+been starved, I have been half-crazy with impatience. Oh, can you not
+have a little pity on me, when I love you so? And you have no one who
+has a right to protest. You will keep your promise? For I swear to you
+that I will kill any man who marries you. I cannot help if it brings
+grief upon you. It would be the sorrow of my life not to have you! Oh,
+let me touch your little white hand"--and he started from his seat with
+an eager gesture.
+
+She put both behind her. "I do not love you," she began bravely. "It
+would take time----"
+
+"I said I would wait, Rose of Quebec, wait months, for your sweetness to
+blossom for me. But I cannot see you go to another."
+
+"There is no other. There will be no other." She was sure she told the
+whole truth. "But if you insist now, I shall die before a marriage
+comes. I could slip out of life easily. Perhaps when I am strong again,
+courage may come back to me. You must go away and let me be quite by
+myself, and think how brave you were, how patient you are. Then when
+you come again----"
+
+She would be in her white winding sheet, then, and he would be afraid to
+kiss her.
+
+"But I won you fairly, Mam'selle. And I had great trembling of heart,
+for the Huron chief was obdurate. I succeeded at length. _He_ has had a
+wife, he does not need another. He might be your father. And you have
+repaid him for all care by giving him back his life, by saving him from
+torture you know little about. For if the party joining them had
+discovered the robbery of their storehouse, there would have been little
+mercy. Oh, Mam'selle, how can so sweet a being be so cold and
+unyielding?"
+
+"I have told you the secret of it. I do not love you. I do not want you
+for a husband. But I will keep my promise. Give me time to get well. It
+may not look so terrible to me then."
+
+How lovely she was in her pleading, even if it did deny. He could have
+snatched her to his heart and stifled her with kisses, yet he did not
+dare to touch so much as her little finger. What strange power held her
+aloof? But if she was once his wife----
+
+"A month," he pleaded.
+
+"Longer than that. Three months. Three whole moons. Then you may come
+again and I will answer you."
+
+His face paled with anger, his eyes were points of flame, his blood was
+hot within him.
+
+"I will not wait."
+
+"Then you may have my dead body."
+
+"But you break your promise."
+
+"I ask you to wait," she said, in a steady tone. "That is all."
+
+"And you will not seek to die, Mam'selle?"
+
+"I will be your wife then. Now go. I am too tired to argue any more."
+
+A sudden ray of hope kindled in the Indian's heart. He would see M.
+Destournier, and lay the case before him, and beg his assistance. Surely
+he could not refuse, when his life had been saved!
+
+Rose leaned back in a half-faint. Oh, surely God would take her before
+that time. But she had promised in good faith. Matters might look
+different to her when she was strong once more.
+
+Savignon meant to be armed at all points. He went up to the St. Charles
+and laid his case before one of the fathers. His fine bearing and
+intelligence won him much favor.
+
+"Men often married Indian women, who made good wives. In this case if
+the woman desired to take him for her husband, there could be no real
+objection; it was between the two parties. No over-persuasion was to be
+used. And if her friends or parents consented, it would be right enough.
+Only they must truly love each other."
+
+He knew now she did not truly love him. You might beat an Indian woman
+into obedience--he had never struck one since he had come to manhood.
+But this beautiful being, who was like a bit of flame, would be blown
+out by harshness or force, and one would have only the cold body left.
+If he could not make her love him at the end of the three months----
+
+Then he sought Destournier, and laid the tale before him. He had won
+Mademoiselle honorably. She had given her promise. At the end of the
+three months he would come for her. Now he had resolved to go to the
+islands, since it would be wretched to stay here and not see Mam'selle.
+
+"Yes, the best thing," Destournier said, but he was stunned by the
+bargain. Was his life to cost that sacrifice? There must be some way of
+preventing it.
+
+As the days went on he considered various plans. This was why Rose was
+so languid and unlike herself. Perhaps the hard winter and poor food had
+something to do with it. She had bought his life at too great a
+sacrifice. And then came the sweet, sad knowledge that he loved her,
+also.
+
+The spring was quite early. Men began to work in their gardens and mend
+the damages of the winter, but with a certain fear of what was to come.
+And one day Destournier found Rose sitting in the old gallery, where she
+had run about as a child. But she was a child no longer. The
+indescribable change had come. There were womanly lines in her figure,
+although it was thinner than of yore, and the light in her eyes deeper.
+
+He had given up the house to her and the two Indian women, with Pani for
+attendant. M. Pontgrave had been a great invalid through the winter, and
+besought the younger man's company. The Sieur often came in and they
+talked over the glowing plans and dreams of the earlier days, when they
+were to rear a city that the mother country could be proud of.
+
+He understood why Rose had shunned him, and whenever he resolved to take
+up this troublous subject his courage failed him. Saved from this
+marriage she surely must be. In a short time Savignon would return. He
+had known of two women who had cast in their lots with the better-class
+Indians at Tadoussac, and were happy enough. But they were not Rose.
+
+He came slowly over to her now. She looked up and smiled. Much keeping
+indoors of late had made her skin fair and fine, but her soft hair had
+not shed all its gold.
+
+"Rose," he began, then paused.
+
+She flushed, but made a little gesture, as if he might be seated beside
+her.
+
+"Rose," he said again, "in the winter you saved my life. I have known it
+for some time."
+
+Her breath came with a gasp. How had he learned this, unless Savignon
+had come before the time?
+
+"And you paid a great price for it."
+
+"Oh, oh!" she clasped her hands in distress. "How did you know it?"
+
+"Savignon told me before he went away. He asked my consent to your
+marriage. I could not give it then. He will soon return. I cannot give
+it now."
+
+"But it was a promise. Monsieur, your life was of more account than
+mine."
+
+"Do you think I will accept the sacrifice? I have been weak and cowardly
+not to settle this matter before, not to give you the assurance that I
+will make a brave fight for your release."
+
+"I was very sad and frightened at first, partly ill, as well, and I
+hoped not to live. But the good God did not take me. And if He meant me
+to do this thing, keep my word, I must do it. I asked Father Jamay one
+time about promises, and he said when one had vowed a vow it must be
+kept. And I have prayed for courage when the time comes. See, I am quite
+tranquil."
+
+She raised her face and he read in it a nobly spiritual expression. He
+recalled now that she had gone up to the convent quite often with
+Wanamee, and that more than once she had slipped into Madame de
+Champlain's _prie-dieu_, that her husband never would have disturbed.
+Was she finding fortitude and comfort in a devotion to religion that
+would strengthen her to meet this tremendous sacrifice? She looked like
+a saint already.
+
+She could not tell him that he knew only half, that he might still be
+the object of Savignon's vengeance, if she failed to keep her word.
+
+"Perhaps the Sieur will have something to say, if my wishes fail.
+Unless you tell me you love this Indian, and that seems monstrous to me,
+this marriage shall never take place."
+
+"It must, it must," she said, though her face was like marble, where it
+had been human before. "M'sieu, what is right must be done. I promised,
+and you were saved."
+
+"Of your own free will? Rose," he caught both hands in a pressure that
+seemed to draw her soul along with it, "answer me truly."
+
+"Of my will, yes, Monsieur." Her white throat swelled with the anguish
+she repressed.
+
+"You have left out the 'free,'" but he knew well why she could not utter
+it.
+
+"Monsieur, I think you would be noble enough to give your life for a
+friend"--she was about to say "whom you loved," but she caught her voice
+in time.
+
+Was this heroic maiden the little girl who had run wild in the old town,
+and sung songs with the birds; who had been merry and careless, but
+always a sweet human Rose; the child he had taken to his heart long ago,
+the girl he had watched over, the woman--yes, the woman he loved with a
+man's first fervent passion! She should not go out of his life, now that
+God had made a space for her to come in it. Miladi he had given up to
+Laurent Giffard, she had never belonged to him in the deep sacredness of
+love. And as he watched her, his eyes seeming to look into her soul,
+through the motes of light that illumined them, he knew it was not
+simply that she had no love for the Indian, but that she loved him. It
+seemed the sublime moment of his life, the sweetest consciousness that
+he had ever known.
+
+"You gave something greater than life. Listen," and he drew his brows
+into a resolute line. "When that man comes we will have it out between
+us. For I love you, too. I owe you a great reward that only a life's
+devotion can pay. I am much older, but I seem to have just awakened to
+the dream of bliss that sanctifies manhood. My darling, if a better man
+came, I could give you up, if I went hungering all the rest of my days.
+But you shall not go to certain wretchedness. And he must see the truth.
+That is the way a man should love."
+
+Her slender, white throat rose and fell like a heartbeat. With Savignon
+she would be loved with a fierce passion, for the man's supreme joy;
+this man would love for the woman's joy.
+
+"Monsieur, I have studied the subject, and I think it is right. I pray
+you, do not disturb my resolve. It has been made after many prayers. If
+the good Father should change His mind--but that is hardly to be thought
+of. Do not let us talk about it," and she rose.
+
+For instead of throwing herself in the river, as she had thought in her
+wildness, she could cross to France, and enter a convent, if she could
+not endure it.
+
+Ralph Destournier saw that argument was useless. When the time came, he
+would act.
+
+But May passed without bringing the lover. Quebec was beginning to take
+courage, and what with hunting and fishing, semi-starvation was at an
+end. Emigrants came back and all was stir and activity in the little
+town.
+
+There came a letter to Rose, after a long delay. Savignon had joined a
+party of explorers, who were pushing westward, and marvelled at the
+wonderful country. He had pondered much over his desires, and while his
+love was still strong, he did not want an unwilling bride. He would give
+her a longer time to consider--a year, perhaps. He had wrung a reluctant
+assent from her, he admitted, and taken an ungenerous advantage. For
+this he would do a year's penance, without sight of the face that had so
+charmed him.
+
+Was he really brave enough to do that? Rose thought so. Destournier
+believed it some new attraction to the roving blood of the wilderness.
+
+But Rose would not wholly accept her freedom. Still she was more like
+the Rose of girlhood, though she no longer climbed or ran races. The
+Sieur was whiling away the heavy hours of uncertainty by teaching
+several Indian girls, and Rose found this quite a pleasure.
+
+The servant came in with some news. Not the French vessel they hoped
+for, but an English man-of-war, with two gunboats, was approaching.
+
+If defence had been futile before, it was doubly so now. The fort was
+out of repair, the guns useless from lack of ammunition, there was no
+provision to sustain a siege. A small boat with a flag of truce rounded
+the point, and with a heavy heart Champlain displayed his on the fort.
+
+The two brothers of Captain David Kirke, who was now at Tadoussac, had
+again been sent to propose terms of surrender. The English were to take
+possession in the name of their king.
+
+It was a sad party that assembled around the large table, where so many
+plans and hopes had stirred the brave hearts of the explorers and
+builders-up of new France. Old men they were now, Pontgrave a wreck from
+rheumatism, a few dead, and Champlain, with the ruin of his ambitions
+before him. There was some vigorous opposition to the demands, but there
+was clearly no alternative but surrender. Hard as the terms were, they
+must be accepted. And on July 20, 1629, the lilies of France ceased to
+wave over Quebec, dear old Quebec, and Captain Louis Kirke took
+possession of the fort and the town, in the name of His Majesty, King
+Charles I, and the standard of England floated quite as proudly over the
+St. Lawrence.
+
+Did they dream then that this scene would be enacted over again when a
+new Quebec, proud of her improvements and defences, that were considered
+impregnable, should fight and lose one of the greatest of battles, and
+two of the bravest of men, and again lower the lilies! A greater romance
+than that of old Quebec, the dream of the Sieur de Champlain.
+
+But it seemed a sad travesty that the mother country should send succor
+too late. A French vessel, with emigrants and supplies, came in sight
+only to fall into the hands of the victorious English.
+
+Captain Emery de Caen insisted that peace had been declared two months
+before, but the Kirkes would not admit this. It was said that all
+conquests after that date were to be restored. A new hope animated the
+heart of the brave old Commandant. If it were true, the lilies might
+replace the flaunting standard.
+
+Many of the citizens preferred to remain. They had their little homes
+and gardens, and the English proved not overbearing. Then there was an
+end to present want. A hundred and fifty men gave the town a new
+impetus, and when the next fleet came, with the large war-ships, there
+was a certain aspect of gayety, quite new to the place.
+
+After some discussion, Champlain resolved to return to France, and
+thence to England, to understand the terms of peace, and if possible, to
+win New France once more.
+
+Ralph Destournier was a Frenchman at heart, though a little English
+blood ran in his veins. He had a strong desire to see France.
+
+"Will you go?" he asked of Rose.
+
+"Not until the year is ended," she said gravely. "But if you will
+go--Wanamee and Pani can care for me. I am a little girl no longer."
+
+It was true. There was no more little girl, but there was no more old
+Quebec. It had already taken on a different aspect. Officers and men in
+bright uniforms climbed the narrow, crooked streets, with gay jests, in
+what seemed their rough language; there were little taverns opened,
+where the fife and drum played an unmelodious part. Religion was free,
+for there had come to be a number of Huguenots, as well as of the new
+English church. The poor priests were at their wits' end, but they were
+well treated.
+
+Eustache Boullé was to go with the Sieur, but he never returned. He took
+a rather fond farewell of Rose. "If you would go, we might find
+something of your family," he said. "I once had a slight clew."
+
+"Is it not worth looking after?" asked Destournier, as he and Rose were
+walking the plateau, since known as the Plains of Abraham. "If you were
+proved of some notable family--there have been so many over-turns."
+
+"Would you feel prouder of me?"
+
+"No. Do you not know that you are dearer to me as the foundling of
+Quebec, and the little girl I knew and loved?"
+
+She raised luminous eyes and smiled.
+
+"Then I do not care. No place will seem like home but this."
+
+He would not go to France, but busied himself with his fields and his
+tenants. He came back to the old house, altered a little, the room where
+miladi had spent her fretful invalid years was quite remodelled. Vines
+grew up about it. The narrow steps were widened.
+
+Autumn came, and winter. The cold and somewhat careless living carried
+off many of the English. But Madame Hébert had married again, and
+Thérèse had found a husband. There was Nicolas Revert, with some growing
+children. Duchesne, a surgeon, they had been glad to welcome. Thomas
+Godefroy, Pierre Raye, and the Couillards formed quite a French colony.
+They met now and then, and kept the old spirit alive with their songs
+and stories.
+
+June had come again, and the town had begun to bloom. There were still
+parties searching for the north sea, for the route to India, for the
+great river that was said to lie beyond the lakes. The priests, too,
+were stretching out their lines, especially the Jesuits, about whom
+still lingers the flavor of heroic martyrdom. Father Breibouf coming
+back for a short stay, to get some new word from France, told the fate
+of one unfortunate party. Among them he said "was that fine Indian
+interpreter, Savignon, who you must remember went to the rescue of a
+party the last time he was in Quebec. He was a brave man, and a great
+loss to us. He had come to an excellent state of mind, and was one of
+the few Indians that give me faith in the salvation of the race."
+
+Rose's eyes were lustrous with tears as she listened to this eulogy. He
+had proved nobler than his first passion of love. She had some Masses
+said for his soul, but it pleased her better to give thanks to God for
+his redemption.
+
+"Now you belong to no one but me," Destournier said to her some weeks
+later, when she had recovered from her sorrow. "Yet I feel that it is
+selfish to take your sweet youth. I am no longer young. I shall always
+be a little lame, and never perhaps realize my dream of prosperity. But
+I love you. I loved you as a little girl, you have always, in some
+fashion, belonged to me."
+
+"I am glad to belong to you, to take your name. Do you remember that I
+have no other name but Rose? You are very good to shelter me thus. I
+think I could never have gone gladly to any one else. We are a part of
+old Quebec, we are still French," and there was a little triumph in her
+tone.
+
+It was true the English had taken possession after peace had been
+declared, and had not the right to hold the country. When France
+demanded the recession King Charles held off, and the Kirkes were
+unwilling to yield up the government, as they found great profit in the
+fur trade. But needing money sorely, and as the Queen's dowry as a
+French princess had only been half paid, he made this a condition, and
+Richelieu accepted it.
+
+So in 1632 Acadia, and all the important points in Canada, were ceded
+back to France.
+
+In the spring of the next year Champlain was again commissioned
+Governor, and he set sail from Dieppe, with three vessels freighted with
+goods, provisions, and the farming implements of that day, clothing and
+some of the new hand-looms, beside seeds of all kinds. Two hundred
+persons, many of them married couples, and farmers were to found a new
+Quebec.
+
+One May morning, just at sunrise, there was a great firing of bombards,
+and for a brief while all was consternation and fear. But persons sent
+out to explore, brought the welcome news of Champlain's return. Then
+went up a mighty shout of joy, and the lilies of France were once more
+unfurled to the breeze. There stood the stalwart old commander, whose
+life work was crowned with success. All was gratulation. He must have
+been touched by the ovation.
+
+M. and Madame Destournier were among the throng, while Wanamee carried
+the little son, who stared about with wondering eyes, and smiled as if
+he enjoyed the glad confusion.
+
+Even the Indians vied with the French, as he was triumphantly escorted
+up the cliff, with colors flying and drums beating, and once more
+received the keys of the fort. The spontaneous welcome showed how deep
+he was in the affections of the people. He had been thwarted in many of
+his plans, neglected, traduced, but this hour made amends.
+
+"Little Rose," he said, "thou art a part of old Quebec, but thy son
+begins with the new régime. Heaven bless and prosper thee and thy
+husband. I should have missed thee sorely had any untoward event
+happened."
+
+The settlement at the foot of the cliff had been burned, but the upper
+town, as it came to be called, had stretched out. The Héberts were on
+the summit of the cliff, that part of the town where the ancient
+bishops' palace stood for so long. Many of the former settlers had come
+up here.
+
+"I had hoped Madame de Champlain would return with him," Rose said. "I
+wonder if any time will ever come when I shall love myself better than
+you."
+
+He bent over and kissed her. He had never quite understood love or known
+what happiness was until now.
+
+When the Indians learned of the return of their beloved white chief,
+they planned to come in a body, and salute him. Algonquins, Ottawas,
+Montagnais, and the more friendly Hurons, came with their gifts, and
+smoked the pipe of peace.
+
+In the autumn Champlain commenced the first parochial church, called,
+appropriately, Notre Dame de Recouvrance. The Angelus was rung three
+times a day. For now the brave old soldier had grown more religious,
+there were no more exploring journeys, no more voyages across the stormy
+ocean. He had said good-bye to his wife for the last time, though now,
+perhaps, he understood her mystical devotion better.
+
+It was indeed a new Quebec. There was no more starvation, no more
+digging of roots, and searches for edible food products. Their anxious
+faces gave way to French gayety. Up and down the steep road-way, leading
+from the warehouses to the rough, tumble-down tenements by the river,
+men passed and repassed with jests and jollity, snatches of song or a
+merry good-day, for it was indeed good. There were children of mixed
+parentage, playing about, for Indian mothers were no uncommon thing. The
+fort, the church, and the dwellings high up above, gave it a picturesque
+aspect. You heard the boatmen singing their songs of old France as they
+went up and down the beautiful river. Stone houses began to appear,
+though wigwams still remained. New streets were opened, but they were
+loth to level the hills, and some of them remain to this day.
+
+Ralph and Rose Destournier had a happy life. Children grew up around
+them. A large, new house received them presently, but they kept a fond
+remembrance for the old one that seemed somehow to belong exclusively to
+Miladi and a dreamy sort of old life.
+
+A mixed population it was, shaped by the sincerity of their religion.
+There were priests in their gray and black cassocks, officers in brave
+trappings, traders, Indians, farmers, stout and strong, and the
+picturesque _coureurs de bois_, that came to be a great feature, and
+added not a little to the romance of the place. They were not all mere
+adventurers, but they loved a roving life. Settlements were made here
+and there, an important one at Three Rivers, where the Récollets
+established a mission. The summers were given over to work and business,
+thronged with traders and trappers, but they found time in the winters
+for much social life.
+
+If the Sieur missed his old friend Hébert, there were others to take an
+active interest in horticulture. Pontgrave was no more, but his grandson
+kept up the name. A few years later the earnest young René de Robault
+gave his fortune for the building of a college, and this kept the young
+men from returning to old France for an education. Convent schools were
+established, and Indian girls were trained in the amenities and
+industries of social life. Montreal spread out her borders as well, the
+Beauport road came to be a place of fine estates. All the way to the
+mouth of the great river there were trading stations. The fur company's
+business was good, there were new explorations to Lake Huron, Georgian
+Bay, Lake Michigan, up to the Fox river.
+
+Of the sons and daughters growing up in the Destournier household,
+Hélène, who should have been a devotee, was a merry madcap, who exceeded
+her mother in daring feats, a dark-eyed, laughing maid the Indian girls
+adored. She could manage a canoe, she could fly, they said, she took
+such wonderful leaps. Rose could sing like a bird and had a fondness for
+all animals. Little Barbe was a dainty, loving being, always clinging to
+her mother, and three sons were devoted to their father whose snowy
+white hair was like a crown of silver. They loved to hear the old tales,
+and fired with resentment when the lilies of France had to give way to
+the flag of England.
+
+"But they will never do it again," Robert Destournier would exclaim,
+with flashing eyes.
+
+But they did almost a century later. Robert was not there to strike a
+useless blow for his beloved land. That belongs to the story of a newer
+Quebec, and now all the romances are gathered up into history.
+
+In the autumn of 1635 the brave, beloved Champlain passed away in the
+heart of the city that had been his love, his ambition, his life-dream.
+The explorer, the crusader, the sharer of toils and battles, his story
+is one of the knightly romances of that period, and his name is
+enshrined with that of old Quebec. Other heroes were to come, other
+battles to be fought, much work for priest and civilian, but this is the
+simplest, the bravest of them all, for its mighty work was done at great
+odds.
+
+To-day you find the Citadel, the old French fort, but the wharves and
+docks run out in the river, and there are steamboats, instead of canoes.
+There is the Market Place and the City Hall, the Grande Allée St. Louis
+Place and Gate, the crowded business-point, with its ferries, the great
+Louise basin and embankment. The city runs out to St. Charles river, and
+stretches on and on until you reach the Convent of the Sacred Heart.
+There are still the upper and the lower town, and the steep ways, the
+heights that Wolfe climbed, the world-famed Plains of Abraham.
+
+Everywhere is historic ground, monuments of courage, zeal, and religion.
+The streets have old names. Here on a height so steep you wonder how
+they are content to climb it, juts out a little stone eyrie, just as it
+stood a hundred years ago. Three or four generations have lived within
+its walls, and they are as French to-day as they were then. They want
+nothing of the modern gauds of the present. Grandmothers used the clumsy
+furniture, and it is almost worth a king's ransom, it has so many
+legends woven around it.
+
+There is the Château Frontenac, that recalls romance and bravery. There
+are churches, with their stories. There are the old Jesuit barracks, out
+of which went many a heroic soul to face martyrdom, there is the Chien
+d'Or, with its stone dog gnawing a bone, and the romance of Nicolas
+Jaquin Philibert, the brave Huguenot.
+
+There are old graveyards, where rest the pioneers who prayed, and hoped,
+and starved with Champlain. All the stories can never be written, all
+the monuments that speak of glory do not tell of the sufferings. Yet
+there were happy lives, and happy loves, as well. The storms die out,
+the light and sunshine dry up the tears, and courage is given to go on.
+
+The old French days have left their impress. Champlain will always be a
+living memory, as the founder of one of the marvellous cities of the
+world. Gay little girls run about and climb the heights, they dance and
+sing, and have their festivals, and are happy in the thrice-renewed
+Quebec. Many a Rose has blossomed and faded since the days of
+Destournier.
+
+THE END
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+The "Little Girl" Series
+
+By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS
+
+
+    A Little Girl in Old New York
+
+    A Little Girl of Long Ago
+      A sequel to "A Little Girl in Old New York"
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Boston
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Philadelphia
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Washington
+
+    A Little Girl in Old New Orleans
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Detroit
+
+    A Little Girl in Old St. Louis
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Chicago
+
+    A Little Girl in Old San Francisco
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Quebec
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Baltimore
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Salem
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Pittsburg
+
+For Sale by all Booksellers or will be sent postpaid on receipt of price.
+
+A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
+52, 58 Duane Street          New York
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Girl in Old Quebec, by 
+Amanda Millie Douglas
+
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+
+Project Gutenberg's A Little Girl in Old Quebec, by Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Little Girl in Old Quebec
+
+Author: Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2007 [EBook #23779]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD QUEBEC ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, J.P.W. Fraser, Mary
+Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/cover_oq.jpg"><img src="images/cover_oq.jpg" alt=""/></a>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+<h1>A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD QUEBEC</h1>
+
+<h2>By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3>A. L. BURT COMPANY<br />
+<span class="smcap">Publishers      New York</span></h3>
+
+<h3>Copyright, 1906<br />
+<span class="smcap">By Dodd, Mead &amp; Company</span></h3>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">A Wild Rose</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">The Joy of Friendship</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">Summer Time</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">A Husband</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">Changing About</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">Finding Amusements</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">Journeying to a Far Country</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">What Rose Did Not Like</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">About Marriages</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">Miladi and M. Destournier</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">A Feast of Summer</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">A Lover in Earnest</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">From a Girl's Heart</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">A Way over Thorns</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. <span class="smcap">Held in an Enemy's Grasp</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">A Lover of the Wilderness</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. <span class="smcap">The Passing of Old Quebec</span></a><br /><br />
+
+<a href="#The_Little_Girl_Series"><span class="smcap"> The "Little Girl" Series</span></a>
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD QUEBEC</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>A WILD ROSE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Ralph Destournier went gayly along, whistling a merry French song that
+was nearly all chorus, climbing, slipping, springing, wondering in his
+heart as many a man did then what had induced Samuel de Champlain to
+dream out a city on this craggy, rocky spot. Yet its wildness had an
+impressive grandeur. Above the island of Orleans the channel narrowed,
+and there were the lovely green heights of what was to be Point Levis,
+more attractive, he thought, than these frowning cliffs. The angle
+between the St. Charles and St. Lawrence gave an impregnable site for a
+fortress, and Champlain was a born soldier with a quick eye to seize on
+the possibility of defence.</p>
+
+<p>On the space between the cliffs and the water a few wooden buildings,
+rough hewn, marked the site of the lower town. A wall had been erected,
+finished with a gallery, loopholed for musketry, and within this were
+the beginnings of a town that was to be famous for heroic deeds, for men
+of high courage, for quaintness that perpetuates old stories which are
+perfect romances yet to-day after the lapse of three centuries.</p>
+
+<p>There was a storehouse quite well fortified, there was a courtyard with
+some fine walnut trees, and a few gardens stretching out with pleasant
+greenery, while doves were flying about in wide circles, a reminder of
+home. Ralph Destournier had a spirit of adventure and Champlain was a
+great hero to him. Coming partly of Huguenot stock he had fewer chances
+at home, and he believed there was more liberty in the new world, a
+better outlook for a restless, eager mind.</p>
+
+<p>He went on climbing over the sun-baked cliffs, while here and there in a
+depression where rain could linger there were patches of verdure, trees
+that somehow maintained a footing. How unlike the level old seaport town
+where he had passed a good part of his youth, considered his
+grandfather's heir, when in the turn of fortune's wheel the sturdy old
+Huguenot had been killed in battle and his estates confiscated.</p>
+
+<p>Something stirred up above him, not any small animal either. It crackled
+the bushes and moved about with a certain agility. Could it be a deer?
+He raised his gun.</p>
+
+<p>Then a burst of song held him in amaze. It was not a bird, though it
+seemed to mock several of them. There were no especial words or rhymes,
+but the music thrilled him. He strode upward. Out of a leafy bower
+peered a face, child or woman, he could not tell at first, a crown of
+light, loose curling hair and two dark, soft merry eyes, a cherry-red
+mouth and dimpled chin.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello! How did you get up there?" he asked in his astonishment. Indians
+sometimes lurked about.</p>
+
+<p>"I climbed. You did not suppose I flew?"</p>
+
+<p>The tone was merry rather than saucy, and taking a few steps nearer, he
+saw she was quite a child. But she wore no cap and she shook the
+wind-blown hair aside with a dainty gesture. There was a fearlessness
+about her that charmed him.</p>
+
+<p>"And you live&mdash;here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not here in the woods&mdash;no. But down in the town. Down there by the
+garden, M'sieu H&eacute;bert and the General. And Maman has one. But I hate
+working in it. So I ran away. Do you know what will happen to me when I
+go back?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, what?" with a sense of amusement. "Perhaps you will get no supper!"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be whipped. And to-morrow I shall not be let out of the garden.
+When I get to be a woman I won't work in the garden. I won't even have a
+husband. They make you do just as they like. Why isn't one's way as good
+as another's?"</p>
+
+<p>A line of perplexity settled between her eyes that were soft enough to
+melt the heart of a stone, he thought, if stones really had hearts.</p>
+
+<p>"Older people are generally wiser. And mothers&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she isn't my mother," interrupted the child. "Even Catherine was
+not my mother. I was very sorry for that. She was good and tender, but
+she died. And Jean was very angry because she was not my real mother,
+and he would have nothing to do with me. So he brought me to Maman. Oh,
+it was a long while ago. Maman is good in some ways. She gives me plenty
+to eat when we have it and she does not beat me often, as she does
+Pani."</p>
+
+<p>"And who is Pani?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the little slave. His tribe was driven away after they had lost
+their battle, but some of the children were left behind and they are
+slaves. Do you suppose the Indians will ever conquer M. de Champlain?
+Then we should be slaves&mdash;or killed."</p>
+
+<p>He shuddered. Already he had heard tales of awful cruelty in the
+treatment of prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not afraid some Indians may be prowling about?" and he glanced
+furtively around.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they do not come here. They are good friends with M. de Champlain.
+And the fort is guarded. I should hide if one came."</p>
+
+<p>She began to descend and presently reached his level.</p>
+
+<p>"There are long shadows. It gets to be supper time."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled. "Are the shadows your clock hands?"</p>
+
+<p>"We have no clock. M. de Champlain carries his in his pocket. But you
+see the sun sends long shadows over to the east. It is queer. The sun
+keeps going round. What is on the other side?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would take a good deal of study to understand it all," he returned
+gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"I like to hear them talk. There are wonderful places. And where is
+India? Can any one find the passage they are looking for and sail round
+the world?"</p>
+
+<p>"They have sailed round it."</p>
+
+<p>"And have you seen Paris and the King?"</p>
+
+<p>"I fought for the dead King. And Paris&mdash;why, you cannot imagine anything
+like it."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but we are going to have new France here. And perhaps Paris."</p>
+
+<p>There were pride and gladness in her voice. He smiled inwardly, he would
+not disturb her childish dream. Would she ever see the beautiful city
+and the pageants that were almost daily occurrences?</p>
+
+<p>"When did you come here?" she asked presently.</p>
+
+<p>"A fortnight ago, when the storeship arrived."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes. Maman and I went to see it and M. H&eacute;bert sent us some curious,
+delicious dried fruits. M. de Champlain is quite sure we shall grow them
+in time and have beautiful gardens, and fine people who know many
+things. Can you read?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes"&mdash;laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could. But we have no books. Maman thinks it a waste of time,
+except for the men who must do business and write letters. Can you write
+letters?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes"&mdash;studying her with amusement.</p>
+
+<p>"Catherine could read. But she had no books. I once learned some of the
+letters. Jean could make figures."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, off with the fur-hunters. And Antoine makes ever so much money. And
+he says he and Maman will go back to France. And I suppose they will
+leave me here. Antoine has two brothers and one is at Brouage, where M.
+de Champlain was born."</p>
+
+<p>She leaped from point to point in a graceful, agile manner, ran swiftly
+down some declivity, while he held his breath, it seemed so fraught with
+danger, but she only looked back laughingly. What a daring midget she
+was!</p>
+
+<p>And when they were in sight of the palisades they saw a group of men,
+Pontgrave and Champlain among them. Destournier quickened his pace and
+touched his hat to them with a reverent grace.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you had a guide?" and Champlain held out his hand to the little
+girl while he asked the question of Destournier. She took Champlain's
+hand in both of hers and pressed it against her cheek. Pontgrave smiled
+at her as well.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier glanced up at the eminence where he had first seen the
+moving figure. How steep and unapproachable!</p>
+
+<p>"Could you find no fairer site for a new Paris?" he inquired smilingly.
+"How will you get up and down the streets when you come to that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is it not the key to the north and a natural fortress? Look you, with a
+cannon at its base and over opposite, no trading vessel could steal up,
+no hostile man-of-war invade us. There will come a time when the old
+world will divide this mighty continent between them and the struggle
+will be tremendous. It will behoove France to see that her entrances are
+well guarded. And from this point we must build. What could be a
+fairer, prouder, more invincible heritage for France? For we shall sweep
+across the continent, we shall have the whole of the fur trade in time.
+We shall build great cities," and Champlain's face glowed with the pride
+he took in the new world.</p>
+
+<p>Yet it was a small beginning, and a less intrepid soul would have been
+daunted by the many discouragements. A few dwelling houses, a moat with
+a drawbridge, and the space of land running down to the river divided
+into gardens. The Sieur de Champlain found time to sow various seeds,
+wheat and rye as well, to set out berries brought from the woods and
+native grape vines that were better fitted to withstand the rigorous
+climate. But now it was simply magnificent, glowing with the early
+autumn suns.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a good neighbor who takes a great interest in these things. You
+must inspect M&egrave;re Dubray's garden. With a dozen emigrants like her we
+should have the wilderness abloom. She rivals H&eacute;bert. We must have some
+agriculture. We cannot depend on the mother country for all our food.
+And if the Indians can raise corn and other needful supplies, why not
+we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, ha! little truant!" cried M&egrave;re Dubray, with a sharp glance at the
+child, "where hast thou been all the afternoon, while weeds have been
+growing apace?"</p>
+
+<p>"She has been playing guide to a stranger," explained Destournier, "and
+I have found her most interesting. It has been time well spent."</p>
+
+<p>M&egrave;re Dubray smiled. She always felt honored by the encomiums of M. de
+Champlain. She was proud of her garden, as well, and pleased to have
+visitors inspect it. Indeed the young man thought he had seen no neater
+gardens in sunny France.</p>
+
+<p>"M&egrave;re Dubray," he said, "convert this young man into an emigrant. I am a
+little sorry to have him begin in the autumn when the summer is so much
+more enticing. But if the worst is taken first there is hope for better
+to cheer the heart."</p>
+
+<p>Something about her brought to mind the women of old France who sturdily
+fought their way to a certain prosperity. She was rather short and
+stout, but with no loosely-hanging flesh, her hair was still coal-black,
+with a sharp sort of waviness, and her eyes had the sparkle of beads.
+Her brown skin was relieved by a warm color in the cheeks and the red,
+rather smiling lips. No one could imagine the child hers. It was nothing
+to him, yet he felt rather glad.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier was very friendly, however, and found her really
+intelligent. The little girl ran hither and thither, quite a privileged
+character. There were very few children beyond the Indians and
+half-breeds. The fur-hunters often went through a sort of ceremony with
+the Indian girls during their weeks of dickering with the traders. Some
+returned another season to renew their vows, others sought new loves.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose the child has some sort of story?" he said to Champlain as
+they sat in the evening smoking their pipes.</p>
+
+<p>"The child? The reputed mother came over with some emigrants sent by the
+King, and as a widow she married Jean Arlac. He, it seems, was much
+disappointed at not having children of his own and was not over-cordial
+to the little girl. Rather more than a year ago his wife was taken ill,
+she had never been robust. And in her last moments she confessed the
+child was not her own, but that of a friend, and before she told the
+whole story a convulsion seized her. Jean was very angry and declared
+the child was nothing to him. He brought it to M&egrave;re Dubray and then went
+off to the fur regions, from whence the tidings came that he had married
+an Indian woman and taken a post station. She is a bright little thing,
+and I think must have come of gentle people. Her only trinket is a chain
+and locket, with a sweet young face in it."</p>
+
+<p>"But there is no chance here for any sort of education. She seems
+naturally intelligent."</p>
+
+<p>"There will be soon. There is a plan to bring out some nuns, and we
+shall build a chapel. We cannot do everything at once. The mother
+country cannot be roused to the importance of this step. It is not
+simply to discover, one must hold with a secure hand. And we must make
+homes, we must people them."</p>
+
+<p>Pontgrave was to return to France. Ralph Destournier had half a mind to
+accompany him, but he was young and adventurous and desirous of seeing
+more of this strange country. At last he cast in his lot with them for
+the year at least.</p>
+
+<p>October was a gorgeous month with its changing colors, its rather sharp
+nights when the log fires were a delight, and its days of sunshine that
+brought a summer warmth at noon. At night the sky sparkled with stars.</p>
+
+<p>The buildings were calked on the outside and hung with furs within.
+Harsh winds swept down from the northwest, everything was hooded with
+snow. Now one counted stores carefully and wasted nothing, though
+Champlain's ever sympathetic heart dealt out a little from his not too
+abundant supplies to the wandering Montagnais and gave their women and
+children food and shelter. There was a continual fight to keep even
+tolerably well. Scurvy was one enemy, a low sort of fever another.</p>
+
+<p>There were many plans to make for the opening of spring. Yet Ralph
+Destournier would have found it intolerably dull but for the little girl
+whose name was Rose. He taught her to read&mdash;Champlain fortunately had
+some books in French and Latin. There were bits of old history, a volume
+of Terence, another of Virgil, and out of what he knew and read he
+reconstructed stories that charmed her. Most of all she liked to hear
+about the King. The romances of Henry of Navarre fired her
+rapidly-awakening imagination.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier took several little excursions with the intrepid explorer
+before the severest of the winter set in. What faith he had in this
+wonderful new France that was to add so much glory and prosperity to the
+old world! If its rulers could have but looked through his eyes and had
+his aims. There was Tadoussac, there was the upper St. Charles, where
+Jacques Cartier and his men had passed a winter that in spite of the
+utmost heroism had ended in the tragedy of death. To the south there was
+a sturdy band of Englishmen trying the same experiment, not merely for
+their King and country, but also some reward for themselves. Neither
+were they eager to plant the standard of religion; that was left for
+Puritans and French missionaries.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to Destournier that the scheme of colonization was hardly
+worth while. He had not Champlain's enthusiasm&mdash;there was much to do for
+France, and that land had always to be on the defensive with England.
+Would it not be so here in the years to come? And the Indians would be a
+continual menace.</p>
+
+<p>But there was a whole continent to convert, to civilize. He went back to
+the times of Charlemagne and the struggles that had brought out a
+glorious France. And no one had given up the passage to India. Lying
+westward was a great river, and what was beyond that no one knew. It was
+the province of man to find out.</p>
+
+<p>It was a dull life for a little girl in the winter. Rose almost longed
+for the garden, even if weeds did grow apace. In the old country M&egrave;re
+Dubray had spun flax and wool, here there was none to spin. She had
+learned a little work from the Indian women, but she was severely
+plain. What need of fringes and bead work and laying feathers in rows to
+be stitched on with a sort of thread made of fine, tough grass? And as
+for cooking, one had to be economical and make everything with a view to
+real sustenance, not the high art of cooking, though her peasant life
+had inducted her into this.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl made a playhouse in one corner of the cabin and stood up
+sticks for Indian children to whom she told over what had been taught
+her. They blundered just as she had done, but she had a curious patience
+with them that would have touched one's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"What nonsense!" M&egrave;re Dubray would exclaim. "It is well enough for men,
+and priests must know Latin prayers, but this is beyond anything a woman
+needs. And to be repeating it to sticks&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But I get so lonely when they are all away," and the child sighed. "The
+real Indian girls were a pleasure, but I'm afraid you could not teach
+them to read any more than these make-believes."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, winter is a dreary time. I'm not sure but I would rather be up in
+the fur country with my man. It seems they find plenty of game."</p>
+
+<p>There was not so much game here, for the Indians were ever on the alert
+and the roving bands always on the verge of starvation. But once in a
+while there was a feast of fresh meat and M&egrave;re Dubray made tasty messes
+for the hungry men.</p>
+
+<p>Rose, bundled up in furs sometimes, ran around the gallery where they
+had cleared the snow. Then there were the forge and the workshop, where
+the men were hewing immense walnut trees into slabs and posts for spring
+building. Some days the doves were let out of the cote in the sunshine
+and it was fascinating to see them circle around. They knew the little
+girl and would alight on her shoulder and eat grains out of her hand,
+coo to her and kiss her. Destournier loved to watch her, a real child of
+nature, innocent as the doves themselves. M&egrave;re Dubray had scarcely more
+idea of the seriousness of life or the demands of another existence
+beyond. She told her beads, prayed to her patron saint with small idea
+of what heaven might be like, unless it was the beautiful little hamlet
+where she was born. And as she was not sure the child had been
+christened, she thought it best to wait for the advent of a priest to
+direct her in the right way.</p>
+
+<p>She was not a little horrified by Destournier's curious familiarity with
+God and heaven, as it seemed to her. Rose understood almost intuitively
+that it terrified her, that it seemed a sacrilege, though she would not
+have known what the word meant. So she said very little about it&mdash;it was
+a beautiful land beyond the sky where people went when they died.
+Sometimes, when the wonderful beauty of sunset moved her to a strange
+ecstasy, she longed to be transported thither. And in the moving white
+drifts she saw angel forms with out-stretched arms and called to them.</p>
+
+<p>The beginning of the new year was bitter indeed. Snow piled mountain
+high, it seemed a whole world of snow. For windows they had cloth
+soaked in oil, but now the curtains of fur were dropped within and a
+barricade raised without. There were only the blazing logs to give light
+and make shadows about. They hovered around it, ate nuts, parched corn,
+and heated their smoked eels. They slept late in the morning and went to
+bed early. The lack of exercise and vegetables told on health, and
+towards spring more than one of the little band went their way to the
+land beyond and left a painful vacancy. But one week there came a
+marvellous change. The mountains of snow sank down into hills, there was
+a rush in the river, the barricades were removed from the windows and
+the fur hangings pushed aside to let in some welcome light.</p>
+
+<p>Rose ran around wild. "I can recall last spring," she said, with a burst
+of gayety. "The trees coming out in leaf, the birds singing, the
+blossoms&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And the garden," interposed Destournier.</p>
+
+<p>Rose made a wry face.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be an excellent thing for you to run about out of doors. You
+have lost your rosy cheeks."</p>
+
+<p>"But I am Rose still," she said archly.</p>
+
+<p>She ran gayly one day, she went up the stream in the canoe with
+Destournier and was full of merriment. But the next day she felt
+strangely languid. Most of the men had gone hunting. M&egrave;re Dubray was
+piling away some of the heaviest furs.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wilt roast there in the chimney corner," she said rather sharply.
+"Get thee out of doors in the fresh air again. It is silly to think one
+cannot stir without a troop of men tagging to one. Thou art too young
+for such folly."</p>
+
+<p>"My legs ache," returned the child, "and my head feels queer and goes
+round when I stir. And I am sleepy, as if there had not been any night."</p>
+
+<p>M&egrave;re Dubray glanced at her sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, thy cheeks are red and thy eyes bright. Come, stir about or I
+shall take a stick to thee. That will liven thee up."</p>
+
+<p>The child rose and made a few uncertain steps. Then she flung out her
+hands wildly, and the next instant fell in a little heap on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>The elder looked at her in amaze and shook her rather roughly by the
+arm. And now the redness was gone and the child had a strange gray look,
+with her eyes rolled up so that only a little of the pupil showed.</p>
+
+<p>"Saint Elizabeth have mercy!" she cried. "The child is truly ill. And
+she has been so well and strong. And the doctor gone up to Tadoussac!"</p>
+
+<p>She laid her on the rude couch. Rose began to mutter and then broke into
+a pitiful whine. There were some herbs that every householder gathered,
+there were secrets extorted from the squaws much more efficacious than
+those of their medicine men. The little hand was burning hot; yes, it
+was fever. There had been scurvy and dysentery, but she was a little
+non-plussed by the fever. And the Sieur would not be here until
+to-morrow; the doctor, no one knew when.</p>
+
+<p>She took out her chest of simples, a quaintly-made birchen-bark
+receptacle. They had been carefully labelled by the doctor. Yes, here
+was "fever"&mdash;here another. Which to take puzzled her.</p>
+
+<p>"I might try first one and then the other," she ruminated. "I would get
+the good of both. And they might not mix well."</p>
+
+<p>She boiled some water and poured it over the herbs. It diffused a
+bitter, but not unpleasant flavor. Then she put it out of doors to cool.</p>
+
+<p>Rose was sleeping heavily, but her eyes were half open and it startled
+M&egrave;re Dubray.</p>
+
+<p>"A child is a great responsibility," she moaned to herself. "If the
+Sieur were only here, or the doctor!" She woke her presently and
+administered the potion. But it brought on a desperate sickness.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I had better try the other." She took the hot, limp hand, the
+cheeks were burning, but great drops of perspiration stood out on the
+forehead. She twisted the soft hair in a knot and struck one of her
+highly-prized pins through it, then she thought a night-cap would be
+better. Only they would be a world too large for the child. But she
+succeeded in pinning it to the right shape, though she grudged the two
+pins. They were a great rarity in those days, and if one was lost hours
+were spent hunting it up.</p>
+
+<p>The second dose fared better. There was nothing to do but let the child
+sleep. She busied herself about the few household cares, studied the
+weather and the signs of spring. Oh, was that a bird! Surely he was
+early with his song. The river went rushing on joyously, leaping,
+foaming as if glad to be unchained. The air had softened marvellously.
+Ah, why should one be ill when spring had come!</p>
+
+<p>The kindly M&egrave;re repeated her dose. Towards night the fever seemed to
+abate, but the child was desperately restless and the worthy woman much
+troubled. Yet what was the child to her? to any one? And death was sure
+to come sometime. She would be spared much trouble. She would also lose
+much happiness. But was there any great share of it in this new world?</p>
+
+<p>Rose was no better the next day. The nausea returned and clearly she was
+out of her head. But late this afternoon the Sieur and the young guest
+returned and were so much alarmed they dispatched an Indian servitor
+with instructions to bring the doctor at once.</p>
+
+<p>"A pretty severe case," he said, with a grave shake of the head. "You
+have done the best you could, M&egrave;re Dubray, and children have wonderful
+recuperative powers. So we will try."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor, pretty little thing," thought Destournier. "Will she find
+anything worth living for?" Women had so few opportunities in those
+times. And when one was poor and unknown, and in a strange country. Yet
+he could not bear to think of her dying. There was always a hopeful
+future to living.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>THE JOY OF FRIENDSHIP</h3>
+
+
+<p>She went down to the very boundaries of the other country, this little
+Rose. One night and one day they gave her up. She lay white and silent
+and M&egrave;re Dubray brought out a white muslin dress and ironed it up, much
+troubled to know whether she had a right to Christian burial or not.</p>
+
+<p>And then she opened her eyes with their olden light and began to ask in
+a weak voice what happened to her yesterday, and found her last
+remembrance was six weeks agone.</p>
+
+<p>She could hardly raise her thin little hand, but all the air was sweet
+with growing things. The tall trees had come into rich leafage, the
+sunshine glowed upon the grass that danced as if each blade was
+fairy-born, and sparkled on the river that went hurrying by as if to
+tell a wonderful story. The great craggy upper town glinted in a
+thousand varying tints, and at evening was wreathed in trailing mists
+that seemed some strange army marching across. The thickly wooded hills
+were nodding and smiling to each other, some native fruit trees were in
+bloom, and the air was delicious with the scent of wild-grape
+fragrance.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a bad fever. And we had no priest to call upon. As if people
+here did not need one as well as in that wild place with a long name
+where they are hunting copper and maybe gold. But thanks to the saints
+and the good doctor, you have come through. Ah, we ought to have a
+chapel at least where one could go and pray."</p>
+
+<p>"It is so beautiful and sweet. One would not want to be put in the
+ground."</p>
+
+<p>She shuddered thinking of it.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! And M. Pontgrave has come in with two ships. There is plenty of
+provisions and fruits from La Belle France. See, M'sieu Ralph brought
+them in for you. Now you have only to get well."</p>
+
+<p>M&egrave;re Dubray's face was alight with joy. The child smiled faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"And the Sieur de Champlain?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he is as busy as any two men with plans for building up the town,
+and workmen, and some women for wives&mdash;two of whom are married already,
+though one couple did their courting on shipboard. Oh, you must soon get
+about. We are going to have a rare summer."</p>
+
+<p>The child raised herself up a trifle and then sank back.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear!" with a little cry.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not mind, <i>ma petite</i>. People are always so at first. To-morrow
+maybe you can sit up, and a few days after walk. And then go out."</p>
+
+<p>"The world is so lovely and sweet," she murmured. And she was glad she
+had not died.</p>
+
+<p>The next day M'sieu Ralph came in. He appeared changed some way, but the
+old smile was there. The eyes seemed to have taken on a deeper blue
+tint. She stretched out her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank the good God that you are restored, little one," he exclaimed,
+with deep fervor. "Only you are a shadow of the Rose who climbed rocks
+like a joyous kid less than a year agone. When will you pilot me again?"</p>
+
+<p>She drew a long breath like a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"And there have been so many happenings. There are new people, though no
+little girls among them, for which I am sorry. And already they are
+building houses. The Sieur de Champlain has great plans. He will have a
+fine city if they work. Why, when thou art an old lady and goest dressed
+in silks and velvets and furs, as the women of the mother country, thou
+wilt have rare stories to tell to thy grandchildren. And no doubt thou
+wilt have seen Paris as well."</p>
+
+<p>Then she smiled, but it was a pitiful attempt.</p>
+
+<p>It was true Quebec had received a wonderful hastening in the new-comers
+and in several grants the King had made concerning the fur trade. The
+dreary winter was a thing of the past.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier came in the next day and insisted the child should be
+wrapped up and carried out in the sunshine. She seemed light as a baby
+when he took her in his arms. He seated himself on a bench and held her
+closely wound up in M&egrave;re's choicest blanket she had brought from St.
+Malo, and which had been woven by her grandmother.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, how lovely that savage primeval beauty looked to the child, who felt
+more than she could understand. Every pulse seemed instinct with new
+life. The gardens with their beds of vegetables, the tall slim spikes of
+onions which everybody had been requested to plant plentifully, the
+feathery leaves of the young carrots, the beans already in white bloom,
+the sword-like leaves of the corn hardly long enough to wave as yet, and
+the river with boats and canoes&mdash;why, it had never been so brisk and
+wonderful before.</p>
+
+<p>She drew in long breaths of health-giving fragrance. There had been some
+trouble with the Indians and the Sieur de Champlain had gone to chastise
+them. There were fur-traders on the way and soon everything would be
+stirring with eager business. And when she could they would take a sail
+around and up the St. Charles, and visit the islands, for besides Pani
+the M&egrave;re had another Indian boy the Sieur had sent her, so there would
+be no gardening for the small, white Rose. And he had made a new friend
+for her, who was waiting anxiously to see her.</p>
+
+<p>Presently she went soundly asleep in the fragrant air, and he carried
+her back and laid her on the bed. M&egrave;re Dubray came and looked at her and
+shook her head. She was indeed a white Rose now. They had cut her hair
+when she had tangled it with her tossing about, and it was now a bed of
+golden rings, but the long lashes that were like a fringe on her cheeks
+were black.</p>
+
+<p>"It will take her a good while to get back all she has lost," said the
+young man. "It is little short of a miracle that she is here."</p>
+
+<p>She gained a little every day. But she felt very shaky when she walked
+about, and light in the head. And then Destournier brought her a visitor
+one afternoon, a lady the like of whom the child had not dreamed of in
+her wildest imaginings, as she had listened to tales of royalty. A tall,
+fair woman whose bright hair was a mass of puffs and short dainty curls
+held by combs that sparkled with jewels, and the silken gown that was
+strewn with brocaded roses on a soft gray ground. It had dainty ruffles
+around the bottom that barely reached her ankles, and showed the clocked
+and embroidered stockings and elegant slippers laced back and forth with
+golden cord, and a buckle that sparkled with gems like the combs. Even
+royalty condescended to wear imitation jewels, so why should not the
+lower round? Her shapely shoulders were half veiled by a gauze scarf on
+which were woven exquisite flowers.</p>
+
+<p>The child gazed with fascinated admiration. Did the Greek women
+Destournier had read about, who won every heart, look like this?</p>
+
+<p>"This is the lady I told you of, little one, who has lately come from
+France, Madame Giffard. And this is Rose&mdash;&mdash;" He paused suddenly with a
+half smile. "I believe the child has no other name."</p>
+
+<p>"Was she born here?" How soft and winning the voice was.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier flushed unconsciously.</p>
+
+<p>"She has a story and a mystery that no one has fathomed. The Sieur made
+some inquiries. A woman of the better class who came over with some
+emigrants brought her, and was supposed to be her mother. But some
+secret lay heavy on her mind, it seemed, and when she was dying she
+confessed that the child was not hers, but she had no time for
+explanations. The husband brought her here and has gone to one of the
+fur stations. His disappointment was so intense he gave up the child.
+And so&mdash;her name is neither Arlac nor Dubray. We shall have to
+rechristen her."</p>
+
+<p>"What a curious romance! If one knew what town she came from. Oh, my
+little one, will you let me be your friend? I had a little golden-haired
+girl who died when she was but four, and no children have come since to
+gladden my heart."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Giffard bent over and took the small hand, noting the taper
+fingers and slender wrist that seemed to indicate good birth. She
+pressed it to her lips. Rose looked up trustfully and smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"I like you," she said, with frank earnestness.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall come to see you often. This is such a queer place with no
+ready-made houses and really nothing but log huts or those made of rough
+slabs. I wonder now how I had the courage to come. But I could not be
+separated from my dear husband. And when he makes his fortune we shall
+go back to our dearly beloved France."</p>
+
+<p>The child smiled. The story had no embarrassment for her&mdash;Catherine had
+brought her from France and she had never called her mother until on
+shipboard. Back of it was vague and misty, though Catherine was in it
+all. But this beautiful woman with her soft voice, different from
+anything she had ever heard&mdash;why, she liked her already almost as much
+as M'sieu Ralph.</p>
+
+<p>"And you have been ill a long while?"</p>
+
+<p>"It seemed only a day when I first woke up. Then the snow was on the
+ground. I was so cold. I wanted to go to sleep on the chimney seat and
+M&egrave;re would not let me. And now everything is in bloom and the garden is
+planted and the sun shines in very gladness. I shall never like winter
+again," and she shuddered.</p>
+
+<p>"Are the winters so dreadful?" she inquired of Destournier.</p>
+
+<p>"I never knew anything like it. I can't understand why the Sieur de
+Champlain should want to found a city here when the country south is so
+much more congenial. Although this is the key to the North, as he says.
+And there is a north to the continent over there."</p>
+
+<p>"You think there are fortunes to be made?"</p>
+
+<p>"For those who come to make them. But the mother country will squeeze
+hard. We have not found the gold and silver yet. But after all, trade is
+your best pioneer. And this is an era of exploring, of fame, rather than
+money-getting. We are just coming to know there are other sides to the
+world. Ah, here is M&egrave;re Dubray."</p>
+
+<p>The child glanced from one woman to the other. She saw the same
+difference as there was between the workmen and the few of the better
+class. Was it knowledge such as M'sieu Ralph had? And the good-hearted
+home-making M&egrave;re scouted learning for women. Their business was cooking
+and keeping the house. But she decided she liked the lady the best, just
+as she liked M'sieu Ralph better than the brawny leathern- and fur-clad
+workmen. But the M&egrave;re had been very good and never scolded her now.</p>
+
+<p>She brought in some little cakes and a glass of beer brewed from roots
+and herbs. Madame Giffard thanked her and sipped it delicately. Some
+vague memory haunted the child, as if she had seen this lady before with
+the dead Catherine.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a wild, wild country. There is nothing like it in France," the
+lady said, in a tone of disparagement. "And how one is to live&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You were not in France two or three centuries ago," he returned
+good-naturedly. "Most countries go through this period. Beginnings are
+not always agreeable."</p>
+
+<p>"But I cannot admit this is a city. Yet they talk about it at home. The
+furs are certainly fine. But the Indians! You are in fear of them all
+the time. And if they should make an attack here?"</p>
+
+<p>"They will hardly dare now. Indeed one Indian tribe is practically wiped
+out. And the fortifications are to be strengthened. We manage to keep
+quite friendly, though we do not trust too far."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is horrible to live in perpetual fear," and she shuddered.</p>
+
+<p>"You must not look on that side of it. It is a hard country for women, I
+shall have to admit."</p>
+
+<p>"But I have not come to stay, thank the saints. A year maybe at the
+longest. My husband is to go back when he has&mdash;what you call
+it&mdash;established his claim&mdash;concession. We like sunny France the best.
+Only one wants a fortune to enjoy it."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true, too. But here one can do without. At least a man
+can"&mdash;laughing a little as he surveyed the dainty figure.</p>
+
+<p>"A year," repeated the child. "How long is a year?"</p>
+
+<p>M&egrave;re Dubray had been standing in the doorway, waiting to take the cup
+when my lady had finished. Now she said in an unemotional tone&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It is a summer and a winter. It was last May when Jean Arlac brought
+you here."</p>
+
+<p>The child nodded thoughtfully and there came a far-away expression in
+her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Jean Arlac went up to the fur country," she said to the guest.</p>
+
+<p>"Does he return when the furs come in?"</p>
+
+<p>She glanced at M&egrave;re Dubray, who shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"He comes back no more. He has married an Indian woman. But my husband
+will be here."</p>
+
+<p>"Does M. Gifford desire to go out himself?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is his plan, I believe. Can he get back before winter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, or by that time."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall come often to see the little one. And when they have finished
+the&mdash;the hut, the child must come often to me. I have brought some
+furnishings and pictures and a few books. There is much more in the old
+ch&acirc;teau, and my aunt is there to take care of it. But I wanted some old
+friends about me."</p>
+
+<p>At the mention of books Rose had glanced up eagerly at Destournier. Then
+there was a sudden rush without. Both Indian boys were racing and
+yelling in their broken language.</p>
+
+<p>"They are coming; they are coming! The canoes are in," and both began to
+caper about.</p>
+
+<p>M&egrave;re Dubray took down a leathern thong and laid it about them; but they
+were like eels and glided out of her reach.</p>
+
+<p>"One was bad enough, but I could manage him. The other"&mdash;and she gave
+her shoulders a shrug.</p>
+
+<p>The lady laughed. "That is like home," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"It is quite a sight. And I hope you will not be frightened, for the
+next few days. I had better escort you back, I think, for there will be
+a crowd."</p>
+
+<p>They were guests of M. de Champlain, who had quite comfortable
+quarters. Beside his governmental business he was much engrossed with a
+history of his journeys and explorations and the maps he was making. All
+the furnishings were plain, as became a hardy soldier who often slept
+out in the open. But the keeping room already showed some traces of a
+woman's love for adornment. He looked rather grim over it, but made no
+comment.</p>
+
+<p>"I will come again to-morrow." Madame Giffard pressed a kiss upon the
+white forehead. The child grasped her hand with convulsive warmth.</p>
+
+<p>An hour had changed the aspect of everything. Instead of the quiet,
+deserted, winding ways, you could hardly call them streets, everything
+seemed alive with a motley, moving throng. A long line of boats, and
+what one might call a caravan, seemed to have risen from the very earth,
+or been evolved from the wilderness. There were shouting and singing,
+white men turned to brown by exposure, Indians, half-breeds of varying
+shades, and attire that was really indescribable.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it an attack?" and Madame Giffard clung to her guide in affright.</p>
+
+<p>He laughed reassuringly.</p>
+
+<p>"It is only the awakening of Quebec after its long hibernation. They
+have been expected some days. Ah, now you will see the true business
+side and really believe the town flourishing, be able to carry a good
+report back to France."</p>
+
+<p>They looked over the land side from the eminence of the fortifications.
+Quebec did not mean to admit these roisterers within her precincts,
+which were none too well guarded. Still the cannons looked rather
+formidable from their embrasures. But as little would these lawless men
+have cared to be under the guard of the soldiery.</p>
+
+<p>They seemed to come to a pause. Indians and half-breeds threw down their
+packs. Some sat on them and gesticulated fiercely, as if on the verge of
+a quarrel. A few, who seemed the leaders, went about ordering, pointing
+to places where a few stakes had been driven. Great bundles were
+unpacked, a centre pole reared, and a tent was in progress.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it is like a magic play," and she clapped her hands in eager
+delight. "Will they live here? Oh, where is Laurent, I wonder. He ought
+to see this."</p>
+
+<p>"They will live here a month or so. Some of the earlier ones will go
+away, new ones come. The company's furs will be packed and loaded on
+vessels for France, but there are plenty of others who trade on their
+own account. There will be roistering and drinking and quarrelling and
+dickering, and then the tents will be folded and packed and the throng
+take up their march for the great north again, and months of hunting."</p>
+
+<p>It was fascinating to watch them. They were building stone fireplaces
+outside and kindling fires. Here some deft hands were skinning a moose
+or a deer and placing portions on a rude spit. And there was the Sieur
+de Champlain and a dozen or so of armed soldiers, he holding parley with
+some of the leaders.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, there is M. Giffard," she cried presently. "And look&mdash;are
+there&mdash;women?"</p>
+
+<p>"Squaws. Oh, yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Do they travel, I mean come from the fur country? What a long journey
+it must be for them."</p>
+
+<p>"They do not mind. They are nomads of the wilderness. You know the
+Indians never build towns as we do. Some of them settle for months until
+the hunting gives out, then they are off on a new trail."</p>
+
+<p>"What queer people. One would think the good missionaries would civilize
+them, teach them to be like&mdash;can they civilize them?"</p>
+
+<p>"After centuries, perhaps"&mdash;dryly.</p>
+
+<p>"Is all this country theirs?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well"&mdash;he lifted his eyebrows in a queer, humorous fashion. "The King
+of France thinks he has a right to what his explorers discover; the King
+of England&mdash;well, it was Queen Elizabeth, I believe, who laid claim to a
+portion called Virginia. She died, but the English remain. Their colony
+is largely recruited from their prisons, I have heard. Then his Spanish
+majesty has somewhat. It is a great land. But the French set out to save
+souls and convert the heathen savages into Christian men. They have made
+friends with some of the tribes. But they are not like the people of
+Europe, rather they resemble the barbarians of the north. And the
+Church, you know, has labored to convert them."</p>
+
+<p>"How much men know!" she said, with a long sigh of admiration.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was dropping down behind the distant mountains, pine- and
+fir-clad. She had never looked upon so grand a scene and was filled with
+a tremulous sort of awe. Up there the St. Charles river, here the
+majestic St. Lawrence, islands, coves, green points running out in the
+water where the reedy grass waved to and fro, tangles of vines and wild
+flowers. And here at their feet the settlement that had just sprung into
+existence.</p>
+
+<p>"You must be fatigued," he said suddenly. "Pardon my forgetfulness. I
+have been so interested myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am a little tired. It has been such a strange afternoon. And
+that poor little girl, Monsieur&mdash;does that woman care well for her? She
+has the coarseness of a peasant, and the child not being her own&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I think she is fairly good to her. We do not expect all the graces
+here in the wilderness. But I could wish&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Madame Gifford stumbled at that moment and might have gone over a ledge
+of rock, and there were many there, but he caught her in strong arms.</p>
+
+<p>"How clumsy!" she cried. "No, I am not hurt, thanks to you. I was
+looking over at that woman with something on her back that resembles a
+child."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, a papoose. That is their way of carrying them."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor mother! She must get very weary."</p>
+
+<p>They threaded their way carefully to the citadel. The guard nodded and
+they passed. An Indian woman was bringing in a basket of vegetables and
+there was a savory smell of roasting meat.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you are safe," he said. "The Sieur would have transported me to
+France or hung me on the ramparts if any evil had happened to you."</p>
+
+<p>He gave a short laugh as if he had escaped a danger, but there was a
+gleam of mirth in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"A thousand thanks, M'sieu. Though I can't think I was in any great
+danger. And another thousand for the sweet little girl. I must see a
+good deal of her."</p>
+
+<p>The room she entered was within the double fortification and its windows
+were securely barred. The walls were of heavy timbers stained just
+enough to bring out the beautiful grain. But some of the dressed
+deerskins were still hanging and there were festoons of wampum,
+curiously made bead and shell curtains interspersed with gun racks,
+great moose horns and deer heads, and antlers. Tables and chairs
+curiously made and a great couch big enough for a bed.</p>
+
+<p>But the adjoining room was the real workroom of the Sieur. Here were his
+books, he brought a few more every time he came from France; shelves of
+curiosities, a wide stone fireplace, with sundry pipes of Indian make on
+the ledges. A great table occupied the centre of the room and all about
+it were strewn papers,&mdash;maps in every state,&mdash;plans for the city, plans
+of fortifications, diagrams of the unsuccessful settlements, and the new
+project of Mont R&eacute;al. Notes on agriculture and the propagation of
+fruits, for none better than the Sieur understood that the colony must
+in some way provide its own food, that it could not depend upon
+sustenance from the mother country. For his ambition desired to make New
+France the envy of the nations who had tried colonizing. He ordered
+crops of wheat and rye and barley sown, and often worked in his own
+field when the moon shone with such glory that it inspired him. And
+though he had all the ardor of an explorer, he meant to turn the profits
+of trade to this end, but to further it settlements were necessary, and
+he bent much of his energy to the duller and more trying task of
+building colonies. Though the route to the Indies fired his ambition he
+was in real earnest to bring this vast multitude of heathens within the
+pale of the Church, and to do that he must be friendly with them as far
+as they could be trusted, but there were times when he almost lost
+faith.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>SUMMER TIME</h3>
+
+
+<p>The child sat in a dream on a rude, squarely-built settle with a coarse
+blanket on it of Indian make and some skins thrown over the back, for
+often at sundown the air grew cool and as yet women were not spinning or
+weaving as in old France. A few luxuries had been brought thither, but
+the mother government had a feeling that the colonists ought mostly to
+provide for themselves, and was often indifferent to the necessary
+demands.</p>
+
+<p>M&egrave;re Dubray went out to the kitchen and began to prepare supper. There
+was a great stone chimney with a bench at each side, and for a fireplace
+two flat stones that would be filled in with chunks of wood. When the
+blaze had burned them to coals the cooking began. Corn bread baked on
+both sides, sometimes rye or wheaten cakes, a kettle boiled, though the
+home-brewed beer was the common drink in summer, except among those who
+used the stronger potions. The teas were mostly fragrant herbs, thought
+to be good for the stomach and to keep the blood pure.</p>
+
+<p>M&egrave;re Dubray dressed half a dozen birds in a trice. It was true that in
+the summer they could live on the luxuries of the land in some
+respects. Fish and game of all kinds were abundant, and as there were
+but few ways of keeping against winter it was as well to feast while one
+could. They dried and smoked eels and some other fish, and salted them,
+but they had learned that too much of this diet induced scurvy.</p>
+
+<p>The birds were hung on an improvised spit, with a pan below to catch the
+drippings with which they were basted. Between whiles the worthy woman
+unexpectedly bolted out to the garden with a switch in her hand and laid
+it about the two Indian boys, who did not bear it with the stoicism of
+their race, as they learned the greater the noise the shorter their
+punishment.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl did not heed the screams or the shrill scolding, or even
+the singing of the birds that grew deliciously tender toward nightfall.
+She often watched the waving branches as the wind blew among them until
+it seemed as if they must be alive, bending over caressing each other
+and murmuring in low tones. If she could only know what they said. Of
+course they must be alive; she heard them cry piteously in winter when
+they were stripped of their covering. Why did God do it? Why did He send
+winter when summer was so much better, when people were merry and happy
+and could hunt and fish and wander in the woods and fight Indians? She
+had not had much of an idea of God hitherto only as a secret charm
+connected with M&egrave;re Dubray's beads, but now it was some great power
+living beyond the sky, just as the Indians believed. You could only go
+there by growing cold and stiff and being put in the ground. She shrank
+from that thought.</p>
+
+<p>Something new had come in her life now. There was a vague, confused idea
+of gods and goddesses, that she had gathered from the Latin verses that
+she no more understood than the language. And this must be one that
+descended upon her this afternoon. The soft, sweet voice still lingered
+in her ears, entrancing her. The graceful figure that was like some
+delicate swaying branch, the attire the like of which she had never even
+dreamed of. How could she indeed, when the finest things she had seen
+were the soldiers' trappings?</p>
+
+<p>And this beautiful being had kissed her. Only once she remembered being
+kissed, but Catherine's lips were so cold that for days when she thought
+of it she shuddered and connected it with that mysterious going away,
+that horrid, underground life. This was warm and sweet and strange, like
+the nectar of flowers she had held to her lips. Oh, would the lovely
+being come again? But M'sieu Ralph had said so, and what he promised
+came to pass. There was a sudden ecstasy as if she could not wait, as if
+she could fly out of the body after her charmer. Whither was she going?
+Oh, M'sieu Ralph would know. But could she wait until to-morrow?</p>
+
+<p>Into this half-delirious vision broke the strong, rather harsh voice
+that filled her for an instant with a curious hate so acute that if she
+had been large enough, strong enough, she would have thrust the woman
+out of doors.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, have you been asleep? Your eyes look wild. And your cheeks! Is it
+the fever coming back again? That chatter went through my head. And to
+be gowned as if she were going to have audience with the Queen! I don't
+know about such things. There is a King always&mdash;I suppose there must be
+a Queen."</p>
+
+<p>The child had recovered herself a little and the enraptured dream was
+slipping by.</p>
+
+<p>"And here is your supper. Such a great dish of raspberries, and some
+juice pressed out for wine. And the birds broiled to a turn. Here is a
+little wheaten cake. The Sieur sent the wheat and it is a great rarity.
+And now eat like a hungry child."</p>
+
+<p>She raised her up and put a cushion of dried hay at her back. The food
+was on a small trencher with a flat bottom, and was placed on the settle
+beside her.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, the tea first," she said, holding a birch-bark cup to her lips.</p>
+
+<p>Rose made a wry face, but drank it, nevertheless. Then she took the
+raspberry juice, which was much pleasanter.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, a great lady, no doubt. We have few of them. This is no place for
+silken hose and dainty slippers, and gowns slipping off the shoulders,
+and my lady will soon find that out. I wondered at M. Destournier. The
+saints forbid that we should import these kind of cattle to New
+France."</p>
+
+<p>"She is very sweet"&mdash;protestingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes. So is the flower sweet, and it drops off into withered leaves.
+And her eyes looked askance at M'sieu Ralph, yet she hath a husband.
+Come, eat of thy bird and bread, and to-morrow maybe thou wilt run about
+lest thy limbs stiffen up to a palsy."</p>
+
+<p>"Mistress, mistress," called Pani&mdash;"here is a man to see thee."</p>
+
+<p>She went through both rooms. The man stood without, rather rough,
+unkempt, with buckskin breeches, fringed leggings, an Indian blanket, a
+grizzled beard hanging down on his breast, and his tousled hair well
+sprinkled with white; his face wrinkled with the hardships he had passed
+through, but the gray-blue eyes twinkled.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! ha!" A coarse, but not unfriendly laugh finished the greeting as he
+caught both hands in an impetuous embrace. "Lalotte, old girl, has thy
+memory failed in two years? Or hast thou gotten another husband?"</p>
+
+<p>The woman gave a shriek of mingled surprise and delight. "The saints be
+praised, it is Antoine. And how if thou hast taken some Indian woman to
+wife? Braves do not consort with white women who cannot be made into
+slaves," she answered, with spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"Lalotte, thou wert hard to win in those early days. But now a dozen
+good kisses with more flavor in them than Burgundy wine, and I will
+prove to you I am the same old Antoine. And then&mdash;but thy supper smell
+is good to a hungry man. And a dish of shallots. It takes a man back to
+old Barbizon."</p>
+
+<p>Stout and strong as was Madame Dubray, her husband almost kissed the
+breath out of her body in his rapturous embrace.</p>
+
+<p>"But I had no word of your coming&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"How could you, pardieu! But you knew the traders were coming in. And a
+man can't send messengers hundreds of miles."</p>
+
+<p>"I looked last year&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Pouf! There are men who stay five or ten years, and have left a wife in
+France. You can't blame them for taking a new one when you are invited
+to. It is a wild, hard life, but not worse than a soldier's. And when
+you are your own master the hardships are light. But some of this good
+supper."</p>
+
+<p>"Out with you," she said to the Indian boys, who had snatched a piece of
+the broiled fish. Then she put down a plate, took up two birds that
+dripped delicious gravy, and a squirrel browned to a turn. From the
+cupboard beside the great stone chimney, so cunningly devised that no
+one would have suspected it, she brought forth a bottle of wine from the
+old world, her last choice possession, that she had dreamed of saving
+for Antoine, and now her dream had come true.</p>
+
+<p>There was much to tell on both sides, though her life had been
+comparatively uneventful. He related incidents of his wilder experiences
+far away from civilization that he had grown to enjoy in its perfect
+freedom that often lapped over into lawlessness. And he ate until
+squirrel, fish, and the cakes, both of rye and corn, had disappeared.
+The slave boys fared ill that night.</p>
+
+<p>Rose had eaten her supper more daintily. The great pile of raspberries
+was a delight; large, luscious; melting in one's mouth without the aid
+of sugar, and being picked up with the fingers. She had been startled at
+the sudden appearance of the husband she had heard talked of, but of
+course not seen. His loud voice grated on her ears, made more sensitive
+by illness, and when, a long while after, the pine torch that was
+flaring in the kitchen defined his brawny frame as he stood in the
+doorway, she wanted to scream.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh&mdash;what have you here&mdash;a ghost?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"A child who was left here more than a year ago. Jean Arlac lost his
+wife, and not knowing what to do with her&mdash;she was not his own
+child&mdash;left her here. He went out with the fur-hunters."</p>
+
+<p>"Jean Arlac!" Antoine scratched among his rough locks as if to assist
+his memory. "Yes. And on the way he picked up a likely Indian girl who
+has given him a son. And he saddled her on you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the Sieur will look after her&mdash;perhaps take her back to France,"
+she answered, indifferently.</p>
+
+<p>"The best place for her, no doubt. She looks a frail reed. And women
+need strength in this new world. A little infusion of Indian blood will
+do no harm. I wouldn't mind a son myself, but a girl&mdash;pouf!"</p>
+
+<p>The child was glad he would not want her. She turned her face to the
+wall. She had not known what loneliness was before, but now she felt it
+through all her body, like a great pain.</p>
+
+<p>On the opposite side of the room was another settle, part of which
+turned over and was upheld by drawing out two rounds of logs. M&egrave;re
+Dubray made up the wider bed now, and soon Antoine was snoring lustily.
+At first it frightened the child, though she was used to the screech of
+the owl that spent his nights in the great walnut tree inside the
+palisade.</p>
+
+<p>Was it a dream, she wondered the next morning. She slept soundly at last
+and late and found herself alone in the house. She put on her simple
+frock and went to the doorway. Ah, what a splendid glowing morning it
+was! The sunshine lay in golden masses and fairly gilded the green of
+the maize, the waving grasses, the bronze of the trees, and the river
+threw up lights and shadows like birds skimming about.</p>
+
+<p>No one was in the garden. The table had been despoiled to the last
+crumb. Even the cupboard had been ransacked and all that remained was
+some raw fish. She was not hungry and the fragrant air was reviving. It
+seemed to speed through every pulse. Why, she suddenly felt strong
+again.</p>
+
+<p>She wandered out of the enclosure and climbed the steps, sitting down
+now and then and drawing curious breaths that frightened her, they came
+so irregularly. There were workmen building additional fortifications
+around the post, there were houses going up. It was like a strange
+place. She reached the gallery presently and looked over what was
+sometime to be the city of Quebec. The long stretch was full of tents
+and tepees and throngs of men of every description, it would seem;
+Indians, swarthy Spaniards who had roamed half round the world, French
+from the jaunty trader, with a certain air of breeding, down to the
+rough, unkempt peasant, who had been lured away from his native land
+with visions of an easily-made fortune and much liberty in New France,
+and convicts who had been given a choice between death and expatriation.
+Great stacks of furs still coming in from some quarter, haranguing,
+bargaining, shouting, coming to blows, and the interference of soldiers.
+Was it so last summer when she sometimes ran out with Pani, though she
+had been forbidden to?</p>
+
+<p>It was growing very hot up here. The sun that looked so glorious through
+the long stretches of the forest and played about the St. Lawrence as if
+in a game of hide-and-seek with the boats, grew merciless. All the air
+was full of dancing stars and she was so tired trying to reach out to
+them, as if they were a stairway leading up to heaven, so that one need
+not be put in the dark, wretched ground. Oh, yes, she could find the
+way, and she half rose.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed a long journey in the darkness. Then there was a coolness on
+her brow, a soft hand passed over it, and she heard some murmuring,
+caressing words. She opened her eyes, she tried to rise.</p>
+
+<p>"Lie still, little one," said the voice that soothed and somehow made it
+easy to obey. She was fanned slowly, and all was peace.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you climb up to the gallery all alone? And yesterday you seemed so
+weak, so fragile."</p>
+
+<p>"I wanted&mdash;some one. They had all gone&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Quebec looks like a besieged camp. Laurent, that is my husband," with a
+bright color, "said I could see it from the gallery, and that it
+resembled a great show. I went out and found you. At first I thought you
+were dead. But the Indian woman, Jolette is her Christian name, but I
+should have liked Wanamee better, carried you in here and after a while
+brought you to. But I thought sure you were dead. Poor little white
+Rose! Truly named."</p>
+
+<p>"But once I had red cheeks," in a faint voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Then thou wouldst have been a red Rose."</p>
+
+<p>She sang a delicious little chanson to a red rose from a lover. The
+child sighed in great content.</p>
+
+<p>"Were they good to you down there? That woman seemed&mdash;well, hard. And
+were you left all alone?"</p>
+
+<p>Rose began to tell the story of how the husband came home, and Madame
+Giffard could see that she shrank from him. "And when she woke they had
+all gone away. There was nothing to eat."</p>
+
+<p>"Merci! How careless and unkind!" But Madame Giffard could not know the
+little slave boys had ransacked the place.</p>
+
+<p>"I was not hungry. And it was so delightful to walk about again. Though
+I trembled all over and thought I should fall down."</p>
+
+<p>"As you did. Now I have ordered you some good broth. And you must lie
+still to get rested."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is so nice to talk. You were so beautiful yesterday I was
+afraid. I never saw such fine clothes."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Giffard was in a soft gray gown to-day that had long wrinkled
+sleeves, a very short waist, and a square neck filled in with ruffles
+that stood up in a stiff fashion. She looked very quaint and pretty,
+more approachable, though the child felt rather than understood.</p>
+
+<p>"Are there no women here, and no society? Merci! but it is a strange
+place, a wilderness. And no balls or dinners or excursions, with gay
+little luncheons? There is war all the time at home, but plenty of
+pleasure, too. And what is one to do here!"</p>
+
+<p>"The Indians have some ball games. But they often fight at the end."</p>
+
+<p>The lady laughed. What a charming ripple it was, like the falls here and
+there, and there were many of them.</p>
+
+<p>"Not that kind," she said, in her soft tone that could not wound the
+child. "A great room like a palace, and lights everywhere, hundreds of
+candles, and mirrors where you see yourself at every turn. Then festoons
+of gauzy things that wave about, and flowers&mdash;not always real ones, they
+fade so soon. And the men&mdash;there are officers and counts and marquises,
+and their habiliments are&mdash;well, I can't describe them so you would
+understand, but a hundred times finer than those of the Sieur de
+Champlain. And the women&mdash;oh, if I had worn a ball dress yesterday, you
+would have been speechless."</p>
+
+<p>She laughed again gayly at the child's innocence. And just then Wanamee
+came in with the broth.</p>
+
+<p>"Madame Dubray's husband has come," nodding to the child.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yesterday, just at night."</p>
+
+<p>"He has great stores, they say. He is shrewd and means to make money.
+But there will be no quiet now for weeks. And it will hardly be safe to
+venture outside the palisades."</p>
+
+<p>Jolette had been among the first converts, a prisoner taken in one of
+the numerous Indian battles, rescued and saved from torture by the Sieur
+himself, and though she had been a wife of one of the chiefs, she had
+been beaten and treated like a slave. Champlain found her amenable to
+the influences of civilization, and in some respects really superior to
+the emigrants that had been sent over, though most of them were eagerly
+seized upon as wives for the workmen. Frenchwomen were not anxious to
+leave their native land.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Giffard fed her small <i>prot&eacute;g&eacute;e</i> in a most dainty and enticing
+manner. The little girl would have thought herself in an enchanted
+country if she had known anything about enchantment. But most of the
+stories she had heard were of Indian superstition, and so horrid she
+never wanted to recur to them. Madame Dubray was much too busy to allow
+her thoughts to run in fanciful channels, and really lacked any sort of
+imagination.</p>
+
+<p>After she had been fed she leaned back on the pillow again. Madame soon
+sang her to sleep. The child was very much exhausted and in the quietude
+of slumber looked like a bit of carving.</p>
+
+<p>"Her eyelashes are splendid," thought her watcher, "and her lips have
+pretty curves. There is something about her&mdash;she must have belonged to
+gentle people. But she will grow coarse under that woman's training."</p>
+
+<p>She sighed a little. Did she want the child, she wondered. If Laurent
+could make a fortune here in this curious land where most of the
+population seemed barbarians.</p>
+
+<p>She drew from a work-bag a purse she was knitting of silken thread, and
+worked as she watched the sleeping child. Once she rose, but the view
+from the window did not satisfy her, so she went out on the gallery. A
+French vessel was coming up into port, with its colors at half mast and
+its golden lilies shrouded with crape. Some important personage must be
+dead&mdash;was it the King?</p>
+
+<p>She heard her husband's voice calling her and turned, took a few steps
+forward. "Oh, what has happened?" she cried.</p>
+
+<p>"The King! Our heroic B&eacute;arnese! For though we must always regret his
+change of religion, yet it was best for France and his rights. And a
+wretched miscreant stabbed him in his carriage, but he has paid the
+penalty. And the new King is but a child, so a woman will rule. There is
+no knowing what policies may be overturned."</p>
+
+<p>"Our brave King!" There were tears in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"They are loading vessels to return. Ah, what a rich country, even if
+they cannot find the gold the Spaniards covet. Such an array of choice
+furs bewilders one, and to see them tossed about carelessly makes one
+almost scream with rage. Ah, my lady, you shall have in the winter what
+the Queen Mother would envy."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you mean to stay"&mdash;uncertainly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, unless there should be great changes. I have not seen the Sieur
+since the news came. He was to go to Tadoussac the first of the week,
+and I had permission to go with him. One would think to-day that Quebec
+was one of the most flourishing of towns, and it is hard to believe the
+contrary. But every soldier is on the watch. They trust no one. What
+have you been doing, <i>ma mie</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I have something to show you. Come."</p>
+
+<p>She placed her finger to her lips in token of silence and led him back
+to the room she had left. The child was still sleep.</p>
+
+<p>"What an angel," he murmured. "Is it&mdash;how did it come here? I thought
+you said the little girl was ill."</p>
+
+<p>"She was, and is. Doesn't she look like a marvellous statue? But no one
+seems to regard her beauty here."</p>
+
+<p>"She is too delicate."</p>
+
+<p>"But she was well and strong and daring, and could climb like a deer, M.
+Destournier says. She will be well again with good care. I want to keep
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"She will be a good plaything for thee when I am away. Though this may
+change many plans. The Sieur is bent on discoveries, and now he has
+orders to print his book. The maps are wonderful. What a man! He should
+be a king in this new world. France does not understand the mighty
+empire he is founding for her."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you do not mind&mdash;if I keep the child? She has crept into the empty
+niche in my heart. I must have been directed by the saints when I felt
+the desire to go out. She would have died from exhaustion in the
+broiling sun."</p>
+
+<p>"Say the good Father, rather."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet we must adore the saints, the old patriarchs. Did not the
+disciples desire to build a memento to them?"</p>
+
+<p>"They were not such men as have disgraced the holy calling by fire and
+sword and persecution. And if one can draw a free breath in this new
+land. The English with all their faults allow freedom in religion. It is
+these hated Jesuits. And I believe they are answerable for the murder of
+our heroic King."</p>
+
+<p>Wanamee summoned them to the midday repast. The plain walnut boards
+that formed the table had been polished until the beautiful grain and
+the many curvings were brought out like the shades of a painting. If the
+dishes were a motley array, a few pieces of silver and polished pewter
+with common earthenware and curious cups of carved wood as well as
+birch-bark platters, the viands were certainly appetizing.</p>
+
+<p>"One will not starve in this new country," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"But it is the winter that tries one, M. Destournier says."</p>
+
+<p>"There must be plenty of game. And France sends many things. But a
+colony must have agricultural resources. And the Indian raids are so
+destructive. We need more soldiers."</p>
+
+<p>He was off again to plunge in the thick of business. It was supposed the
+fur company and the concessions ruled most of the bargain-making, but
+there were independent trappers who had not infrequently secured skins
+that were well-nigh priceless when they reached the hands of the Paris
+furrier. And toward night, when wine and whiskey had been passed around
+rather freely, there were broils that led to more than one fatal ending.
+Indian women thronged around as well, with curious handiwork made in
+their forest fastnesses.</p>
+
+<p>The child slept a long while, she was so exhausted.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the sun is going over the mountains," she began, in vague alarm.
+"I must go home. I did not mean to run away."</p>
+
+<p>She sprang up on her feet, but swayed so that she would have fallen had
+not Madame caught her.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, nay, thou art not well enough to run away from me, little one. I
+will send word down to the cabin of M&egrave;re Dubray. She has her husband,
+whom she has not seen for two years, and will care naught for thee.
+Women are all alike when a man's love is proffered," and she gave a gay
+little laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"My head feels light and swims around as if it was on the rapid river.
+But I must go home, I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Art afraid? Well, I promise nothing shall harm thee. Lie down again. I
+will send Wanamee with the word. Will it make thee happy&mdash;content?"</p>
+
+<p>The child looked at her hostess as if she was studying her, but her
+intellect had never been roused sufficiently for that. There was a vague
+delight stealing over her as slumber does at times, a confusion of what
+might have been duty if she had understood that even, in staying away
+from what was really her home. M&egrave;re Dubray would be angry. She would
+hardly beat her, she had only slapped her once during her illness, and
+that was to make her swallow some bitter tea. And something within her
+seemed to cry out for the adjuncts of this place. She had been in the
+room before, she had even peered into the Sieur's study. He always had a
+kindly word for her, she was different from the children of the workmen,
+and looked at one with sober, wondering eyes, as if she might fathom
+many things.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not want to go back?"&mdash;persuasively.</p>
+
+<p>Was it the pretty lady who changed the aspect of everything for her?</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if I could stay here always!" she cried, with a vehemence of more
+years than had passed over her head. "It is better than the beautiful
+world where I sit on the rocks and wonder, and dream of the great beyond
+that goes over and meets the sky. There are no cruel Indians then, and I
+want to wander on and on and listen to the voices in the trees, the
+plash of the great river, and the little stream that plays against the
+stones almost like the song you sung. If one could live there always and
+did not get hungry or cold&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What a queer, visionary child! One would not look for it in these
+wilds. The ladies over yonder talk of them because it is a fashion, but
+when they ride through the parks and woods they want a train of
+admirers. And with you it is pure love. Could you love any one as you do
+nature? Was any one ever so good to you that you could fall down at
+their feet and worship them? Surely you do not love Madame Dubray?"</p>
+
+<p>"M'sieu Ralph has been very kind. But you are like a wonderful flower
+one finds now and then, and dares not gather it lest the gods of the
+woods and trees should be angry."</p>
+
+<p>"But I will gather you to my heart, little one," and she slipped down
+beside the couch, encircling the child in her arms, and pressing kisses
+on brow and legs and pallid cheeks, bringing a roseate tint to them.</p>
+
+<p>"And you must love me, you must want to stay with me. Oh, there was a
+little one once who was flesh of my flesh, on whom I lavished the
+delight and tenderness of my soul, and the great Father took her. He
+sent nothing in her place, though I prayed and prayed. And now I shall
+put you there. Surely the good God cannot be angry, for you have no
+one."</p>
+
+<p>She had followed a sudden impulse, and was not quite sure it was for the
+best. Only her mother heart cried out for love.</p>
+
+<p>The child stared, motionless, and it dampened her ardor for the moment.
+She could not fathom the eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not glad? Would you not like to live with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, oh!" It was a cry of rapture. She caught the soft white hands and
+kissed them. The joy was so new, so unexpected, she had no words for
+it.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>A HUSBAND</h3>
+
+
+<p>Lalotte Dubray had had the gala day of her life. Her peasant wedding had
+been simple enough. The cur&eacute;'s blessing after the civil ceremony, the
+dance on the green, the going home to the one room in the small thatched
+hut, the bunk-like bed along the wall, the two chests that answered for
+seats, a kitchen table, two shelves for a rude dresser, with dishes that
+had been earned by the hardest toil, but they were better off than some,
+for there was a pig grunting and squealing outside, and a little garden.</p>
+
+<p>Times had grown harder and harder. Antoine had been compelled to join
+the army and fight for he knew not what. Then he had decamped, and
+instead of being shot had been sent to New France. Lalotte was willing
+enough to go with him.</p>
+
+<p>Hard as it was, it bettered their fortunes. He had gone out once as a
+sort of servant and handy man to the company. Then he had struck out for
+himself. He was shrewd and industrious, and did not mind hard work, nor
+hardships.</p>
+
+<p>Now he was in the lightest of spirits. He had some choice furs that were
+eagerly snapped up. The Indian women had been shrewd enough to arrange
+tempting booths, where frying fish and roasted birds gave forth an
+appetizing fragrance. There were cakes of ground maize baked on hot
+stones, and though Champlain had used his best efforts to keep some
+restraint on spirituous liquors, there were many ways of evading.</p>
+
+<p>Lalotte was fairly stupefied with amazement at her husband's prosperity.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you are rich with that bag of money," she cried. "I never saw so
+much."</p>
+
+<p>He laughed jovially. "Better than standing up to be shot&mdash;he! he!
+Jacques Lallemont had the idea, and they wanted emigrants for New France
+bad enough. Why don't they send more? The English understand better.
+<i>Sacr&eacute;!</i> But it is a great country. Only Quebec stays little, when it
+should be a great place. Why can they not see?"</p>
+
+<p>Lalotte could venture no explanation of that. She seemed to be in a maze
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>Vessels were taking on cargoes of furs as soon as they were inspected.
+The river as far as Tadoussac looked thriving enough. Antoine met old
+friends, but he was more level-headed than some, and did not get tipsy.
+Lalotte held her head higher than ever.</p>
+
+<p>When it was getting rather too rough they made their way out.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the child!" she exclaimed, with a sudden twinge of conscience. "And
+those wretched slave boys. If your back is turned they are in league
+with the evil one himself. Baptism does not seem to drive it out.
+Whether the poor thing had her breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"Let that alone. It was mighty cool in Jean Arlac to foist her on thee.
+And now that we have left the crowd behind and are comfortable in the
+stomach."</p>
+
+<p>"But the cost, Antoine. I could have gotten it for half!"</p>
+
+<p>"A man may treat his wife, when he has not seen her for two years," and
+he gave a short chuckling laugh. "There has been a plan in my head,
+hatched in the long winter nights up at the bay. Why should man and wife
+be living apart when they might be together? Thou hast a hot temper,
+Lalotte, but it will serve to warm up the biting air."</p>
+
+<p>"A hot temper!" resentfully. "Much of it you have taken truly! Two years
+soldiering&mdash;months in prison, and now two years again&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He laughed good-humoredly, if it was loud enough to wake echoes.</p>
+
+<p>"The saints know how I have wished for the sound of your voice. Indian
+women there are ready enough to be a wife for six months, and then
+perhaps some brave steals in at night and pouf! out goes your candle."</p>
+
+<p>"The sin of it!"&mdash;holding up both hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Sins are not counted in this wild land. But there are no old memories,
+no talks with each other. Oh, you cannot think how the loneliness almost
+freezes up one's very vitals. And I said to myself&mdash;I will bring
+Lalotte back with me. Why should we not share the same life and live
+over together our memories of sunny France?&mdash;not always sunny, either."</p>
+
+<p>"To&mdash;take me with you"&mdash;gasping.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, why not? As if a man cannot order his wife about!" he exclaimed
+jocosely, catching her around the waist and imprinting half a dozen
+kisses with smacks that were like an explosion. "Yes&mdash;I have sighed for
+thee many a night. There are high logs for firing, there are piles of
+bearskins, thick and fleecy as those of our best sheep at home. There is
+enough to eat at most times, and with thy cookery, <i>ma mie</i>, a man would
+feast. It is a rough journey, to be sure, but then thou wilt not refuse,
+or I shall think thou hast a secret lover."</p>
+
+<p>"The Virgin herself knows I shall be glad to go with thee, Antoine," and
+the tears of joy stood in her eyes. "There is nothing in all Quebec to
+compare with thee. And heaven knows one sometimes grows hungry of a
+winter night, when food is scarce and one depends upon sleep to make it
+up. No, I should be happy anywhere with thee."</p>
+
+<p>They jogged along in a lover-like fashion, but they were not quite out
+of hearing of the din. At nightfall all dickering was stopped and guards
+placed about. But in many a tent there were drinking and gambling, and
+more than one affray.</p>
+
+<p>They came to the small unpretentious cabin. The door stood wide open,
+and the shaggy old dog was stretched on the doorstep, dozing. No soul
+was to be seen.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the child, Britta? Why, she must have been carried off. She
+could not walk any distance."</p>
+
+<p>The dog gave a wise look and flicked her ear. Lalotte searched every
+nook.</p>
+
+<p>"Where could she have gone?" in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"Let the child alone. What is she to us? Does Jean Arlac stay awake
+nights with trouble in his conscience about her? She was not his wife's
+child and so nothing to him. What more is she to us? Come, get some
+supper; I've not tasted such fried fish in an age as yours last night."</p>
+
+<p>"The fish about here has a fine flavor, that is true. Those imps of
+boys, and not a stick of wood handy. Their skins shall be well warmed;
+just wait until I get at them."</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, I will get some wood. I am hungry as a bear in the thaw, when he
+crawls out."</p>
+
+<p>But Lalotte, armed with a switch, began a survey of the garden. The work
+had been neglected, that was plain. There under a clump of bushes lay
+Pani, sleeping, with no fear of retribution on his placid face. And
+Lalotte put in some satisfactory work before he even stirred.</p>
+
+<p>But he knew nothing of his compeer, only they had been down to the river
+together. As for the child, when he returned she was gone.</p>
+
+<p>"Let the child alone, I say!" and Antoine brought his fist heavily down
+on the table. "Next thing you will be begging that we take her. Since
+the good Lord in His mercy has refrained from giving us any mouths to
+feed, we will not fly in His face for those who do not concern us. And
+the puling thing would die on the journey and have to be left behind to
+feed the wolves. Come! come! Attend to thy supper."</p>
+
+<p>The slim Indian convert was coming up the path. She was one of the
+Abenaqui tribe, and she had mostly discarded the picturesque attire.</p>
+
+<p>"The lady Madame Giffard sent me to say the girl is safe with her and
+will not be able to return to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better," growled Antoine, looking with hungry eyes on the
+fish browning before the coals.</p>
+
+<p>"Did she come and take her? I went with my husband to see the traders."</p>
+
+<p>"She has been very poorly, but is much better now. And miladi
+thought&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, it is all right. Yes, I am glad," nodding definitely, as if
+the matter was settled. She did not want to quarrel with Antoine about a
+child that was no kin to them, when he was so much like her old lover.
+He seemed to bring back the hopes of youth and a certain gayety to which
+she had long been a stranger.</p>
+
+<p>After enjoying his meal he brought out his pipe and stretched himself in
+a comfortable position, begging her to attend to him and let the slave
+boy take the fragments. He went on to describe the settlement of the
+fur merchants and trappers at Hudson Bay, but toned down much of the
+rudeness of the actual living. A few of the white women, wives of the
+leaders and the men in command, formed a little community. There was
+card-playing and the relating of adventures through the long winter
+evenings, that sometimes began soon after three. Dances, too, Indian
+entertainments, and for daylight, flying about on snowshoes, and
+skating. There was a short summer. The Indian women were expert in
+modelling garments&mdash;everything was of fur and dressed deerskins.</p>
+
+<p>Few knew how to read at that day among the seekers of fortune and
+adventurers, but they were shrewd at keeping accounts, nevertheless.
+There were certain regulations skilfully evaded by the knowing ones.</p>
+
+<p>No, it would never do to take the child. She had no real mother love for
+it, yet she often wondered whose child it might be, since it was not
+Catherine Arlac's? Strange stories about foundlings often came to light
+in old France.</p>
+
+<p>The death of the King rather disorganized matters, for no one quite knew
+what the new order of things would be. The Sieur de Champlain sorrowed
+truly, for he had ever been a staunch admirer of Henry of Navarre.
+Demont had not had his concession renewed and to an extent the fur trade
+had been thrown open. Several vessels were eagerly competing for stores
+of Indian peltries, as against those of the company. Indeed it was a
+regular carnival time. One would think old Quebec a most prosperous
+settlement, if judged only by that. But none of the motley crew were
+allowed inside the palisades. The Sieur controlled the rough community
+with rare good judgment. He had shown that he could punish as well as
+govern; fight, if need be, and then be generous to the foe. Indeed in
+the two Indian battles he had won much prestige, and had frowned on the
+torture of helpless prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Giffard besought her husband that evening to consent to her
+taking the care of little Rose, at least while they remained in Canada,
+the year and perhaps more.</p>
+
+<p>"And that may unfit her for her after life. You will make a pet and
+plaything of her, and then it would be cruel to return her to this woman
+to whom it seems she was given. She may be claimed some day."</p>
+
+<p>"And if we liked her, might we not take her home with us? There seems no
+doubt but what she came from France. Not that I could put any one quite
+in the place of my lost darling, but it will afford me much interest
+through the winter, which, by all accounts, is dreary. I can teach her
+to read&mdash;she hardly knows a French letter. M. Destournier has taken a
+great interest in her. And she needs care now, encouragement to get
+well."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us do nothing rash. The Sieur may be able to advise what is best,"
+he returned gently. He felt he would rather know more of the case before
+he took the responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>"She is so sweet, so innocent. She did not really know what love was,"
+and Madame laughed softly. "This Catherine Arlac must have been a maid,
+I think. Yes, I am sure she must have come from gentle people. She has
+every indication of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, thou canst play nurse a while and it will interest thee, and fill
+up thy lonely hours, for I have much to do and must take some journeys
+quite impossible for a woman. And then we will decide, if this woman is
+ready to part with her. <i>Ma mie</i>, thou knowest I would not refuse thee
+any wish that was possible."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true, Laurent," and she kissed him fondly.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier had been busy every moment of the day and had been closeted
+with the Sieur until late in the evening. Champlain felt now that he
+must give up an exploring expedition, on which his heart was set, and
+return to France, where large interests of the colony were at stake.
+There was much to be arranged.</p>
+
+<p>So it was not until the next morning that he found his way to the Dubray
+house, and then he was surprised at the tidings. Lalotte was almost a
+girl again in her interest in the new plans. As soon as a sufficient
+number had sold their wares to make a journey safe from marauders they
+would start for Hudson's Bay, while the weather was pleasant. Of course
+the child must be left behind. She had no real claim on them; neither
+could she stand the journey. She was now with Madame Giffard.</p>
+
+<p>Thither he hurried. Little Rose had improved wonderfully, though she was
+almost transparently thin, and her eyes seemed larger and softer in
+their mysterious darkness. Already love had done much for her.</p>
+
+<p>He told his story and the plans of the Dubrays.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I can stay here," she cried with kindling eyes, reaching out her
+small hand as if to sign her right in Madame's.</p>
+
+<p>Madame's eyes, too, were joyous as she raised them in a sort of
+gratitude to her visitor.</p>
+
+<p>"How strange it comes about," she cried. "And now, M. Destournier, will
+you learn all you can about this Catherine Arlac; where she came from in
+France, and if she was any sort of a trustworthy person? It may some day
+be of importance to the child."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, anything I can do to advance her interest you may depend on. Are
+you happy, little one?"</p>
+
+<p>"I could fly like a bird, I am so light with joy. But I would not fly
+away from here. Oh, then I shall not have to go back! I was frightened
+at M. Dubray."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't wonder. Yet these are the kind of men New France needs, who are
+not afraid of the wilderness and its trials. The real civilization
+follows on after the paths are trodden down. Did you go out yesterday?"
+to the lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Only on the gallery."</p>
+
+<p>"That was safest. Such a crowd was fit only for Indian women, and some
+of them shrank from it, I noticed. You heard the news about the King?"</p>
+
+<p>"The sad, sad news. Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And the Sieur feels he must go back to France."</p>
+
+<p>"What is Quebec to do? And if there is an Indian raid? Oh, this new land
+is full of fears."</p>
+
+<p>"And think of the strifes and battles of the old world! Ah, if peace
+could reign. Yet the bravest of men are in the forefront."</p>
+
+<p>Then he came over to the child.</p>
+
+<p>"Who brought you here yesterday?" he asked, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I was all alone. I had nothing to eat. I wanted to get out in the
+sunshine. I walked, but presently I shook so, I crawled up on the
+gallery. And then&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She looked wistfully at miladi, who took up the rest of the journey.</p>
+
+<p>"You were a brave little girl. But what if Madame had not chanced to
+come out? Why, you might have died."</p>
+
+<p>The dark eyes grew humid. "It does not hurt to die," she said slowly.
+"Only if you did not have to be put in the ground."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't talk of such things," interposed Madame, with a half shudder.
+"You are going to get well now, and run about and show me the places you
+love. And we can sail up to the islands and through the St. Charles,
+that looks so fascinating and mysterious, can we not?" smiling up at
+Destournier.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, a month will finish the trading, for the ships will want to
+start with their freight, while the weather is fine. True, the Indians
+and many of the <i>coureurs de bois</i> will loiter about until the last
+moment. There is to be a great Indian dance, I hear. They generally
+break up with one that has a good deal of savagery in it, but this early
+one is quite mild, I have understood, and gives one an opportunity to
+see them in their fine feathers and war paint."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it must be interesting. Would it be safe to go?" she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"With a bodyguard, yes. Your husband and myself, and we might call in
+the services of the Dubrays. Madame is a host in herself. And they are
+glad, it seems, to shift the care of the child on some one else,"
+lowering his voice.</p>
+
+<p>"You will not forget to inquire&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, there must be a record here. The Sieur has the name and addresses
+of all the emigrants, I think. There have not been many shiploads of
+women."</p>
+
+<p>"She has no indication of peasant parentage. There is a curious delicacy
+about her, but <i>merci!</i> what wonderful and delightful ignorance. It is
+like a fallow field. M&egrave;re Dubray seems to have sown nothing in it. Oh, I
+promise myself rare pleasure in teaching her many things."</p>
+
+<p>"She has a quick and peculiar imagination. I am glad she has fallen into
+other hands. Settling a new country is a great undertaking, especially
+when one has but a handful of people and you have to uproot other habits
+of life and thought. I wonder if one can civilize an Indian!" and he
+laughed doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"But it is to save their souls, I thought!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yet some of them worship the same God that we do, only He is called the
+Great Manitou. And they have an hereafter for the braves at least, a
+happy hunting ground. But they are cruel and implacable enemies with
+each other. And we have wars at home as well. It is a curious muddle, I
+think. You come from a Huguenot family, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"My mother did. But she went with my father. There were no family
+dissensions. Does it make so much difference if one is upright and
+honest and kindly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Kindly. If that could be put in the creed. 'Tis a big question," and he
+gave a sigh. "At least you are proving that part of the creed," and he
+crossed over to the child, chatting with her in a pleasant manner until
+he left them.</p>
+
+<p>That evening there was a serious discussion in the Sieur's study.
+Captain Chauvin was to return also, and who was most trustworthy to be
+put in command of the infant colony was an important matter. There had
+been quite an acreage of grain sown the year before, maize was
+promising, and a variety of vegetables had been cultivated. Meats and
+fish were dried and salted. They had learned how to protect themselves
+from serious inroads of the scurvy. The houses in the post were being
+much improved and made more secure against the rigors of the long
+winter.</p>
+
+<p>An officer who had spent the preceding winter at the fort was put in
+command, and the next day the garrison and the workmen were called in
+and enjoined to render him full obedience.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier and Gifford were to undertake some adventures in a northerly
+direction, following several designated routes that Champlain had
+expected to pursue. Their journeys would not be very long.</p>
+
+<p>As for Rose, she improved every day and began to chatter delightfully,
+while her adoration of Madame Giffard was really touching, and filled
+hours that would otherwise have been very tedious.</p>
+
+<p>They had brought with them a few books. Madame was an expert at
+embroidery and lace-making, but was aghast when she realized her slender
+stock of materials, and that it would be well-nigh a year before any
+could come from France.</p>
+
+<p>"But there is bead work, and the Indian women make threads out of
+grasses," explained Wanamee. "And feathers of birds are sewed around
+garments and fringes are cut. Oh, miladi will find some employment for
+her fingers."</p>
+
+<p>M&egrave;re Dubray made no objection to accompanying them to the Indian dance.
+She had been to several of them, but they were wild things that one
+could not well understand; nothing like the village dances at home. "But
+what would you? These were savages!"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could go, too," the child said wistfully. "But I could not
+climb about nor stand up as I used. When will I be able to run around
+again?"</p>
+
+<p>She was gaining every day and went out on the gallery for exercise. She
+was a very cheerful invalid; indeed miladi was so entertaining she was
+never weary when with her, and if her husband needed her, Wanamee came
+to sit with the child. Rose knew many words in the language, as well as
+that of the unfortunate Iroquois.</p>
+
+<p>All they had been able to learn about Catherine Arlac was that she had
+come from Paris to Honfleur, a widow, with a little girl. And Paris was
+such a great and puzzling place for a search.</p>
+
+<p>"But she is a sweet human rose with no thorns, and I must keep her,"
+declared miladi.</p>
+
+<p>Laurent Giffard made no demur. He was really glad for his wife to have
+an interest while he was away.</p>
+
+<p>The party threaded their way through the narrow winding paths that were
+to be so famous afterward and witness the heroic struggle, when the
+lilies of France went down for the last time, and the heritage that had
+cost so much in valiant endeavor and blood and treasure was signed away.</p>
+
+<p>There were flaming torches and swinging lanterns and throngs wending to
+the part beyond the tents. The dance was not to pass a certain radius,
+where guards were stationed. Already there was a central fire of logs,
+around which the braves sat with their knees drawn up and their chins
+resting upon them, looking as if they were asleep.</p>
+
+<p>"A fire this warm night," said miladi, in irony.</p>
+
+<p>"We could hardly see them without it," returned her husband.</p>
+
+<p>At the summons of a rude drum that made a startling noise, the braves
+rose, threw down their blankets and displayed their holiday attire of
+paint, fringes, beads, and dressed deerskins with great headdresses of
+feathers. Another ring formed round them. One brave, an old man, came
+forward, and gesticulating wildly, went through a series of antics. One
+after another fell in, and the slow tread began to increase. Then shrill
+songs, with a kind of musical rhythm, low at first, but growing louder
+and louder, the two or three circles joining in, the speed increasing
+until they went whirling around like madmen, shouting, thrusting at each
+other with their brawny arms, until all seemed like a sudden frenzy.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they will kill each other!" almost shrieked Madame.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Non, non</i>, but small loss if they did," commented Madame Dubray.</p>
+
+<p>They paused suddenly. It seemed like disentangling a chain. The
+confusion was heightened by the cries and the dancing feather
+headdresses that might have been a flock of giant birds. But presently
+they resolved into a circle again, and began to march to a slow chant.
+One young fellow seized a brand from the fire and began a wild gyration,
+pointing the end to the circle, at random, it seemed. Then another and
+another until the lights flashed about madly and there was a scent of
+burning feathers. The circle stood its ground bravely, but there were
+shrieks and mocking laughter as they danced around, sometimes making a
+lunge out at the spectators, who would draw back in affright, a signal
+for roars of mirth.</p>
+
+<p>"They will burn each other up," cried Madame. "Oh, let us go. The noise
+is more than I can bear. And if they should attack us. Do you remember
+what M. du Parc was telling us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think we have had enough of it," began M. Giffard. "They are said to
+be very treacherous. What is to hinder them from attacking the whites?"</p>
+
+<p>"The knowledge that they have not yet received any pay, and their
+remaining stock would be confiscated. They are not totally devoid of
+self-interest, and most of them have a respect for the fighting powers
+of the Sieur and his punishing capacity, as well."</p>
+
+<p>As they left the place the noise seemed to subside, though it was like
+the roar of wild animals.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I to remain here all winter with these savages? Can I not return
+with M. de Champlain?" pleaded Madame Giffard.</p>
+
+<p>"Such a time would be almost a Godsend in the winter," declared
+Destournier. "But they will be hundreds of miles away, and the near
+Indians are sometimes too friendly, when driven by hunger to seek the
+fort. Oh, you will find no cause for alarm, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"And how long will they keep this up?" she asked, as they were ascending
+the parapet from which they could still see the moving mass and the
+flashing lights, weird amid the surrounding darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"They will sit in a ring presently and smoke the pipe of peace and
+enjoyment, and drop off to sleep. And for your satisfaction, not a few
+among those were fur-hunters and traders, white men, who have given up
+the customs of civilized life and enjoy the hardships of the wilderness,
+but who will fight like tigers for their brethren when the issue comes.
+They are seldom recreant to their own blood."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not want to see it again, ever," she cried passionately. "I shall
+hardly sleep for thinking of it and some horrible things a sailor told
+on shipboard. I can believe them all true now."</p>
+
+<p>"And we have had horrible battles, cruelty to prisoners," declared her
+husband. "These poor savages have never been taught anything better, and
+are always at war with each other. But for us, who have a higher state
+of civilization, it seems incredible that we should take a delight in
+destroying our brethren."</p>
+
+<p>It was quiet and peaceful enough inside the fort. The Sieur was still
+engrossed with his papers, marking out routes and places where lakes and
+rivers might be found and where trading posts might be profitably set,
+and colonies established. It was a daring ambition to plant the lilies
+of France up northward, to take in the mighty lakes they had already
+discovered and to cross the continent and find the sure route to India.
+There were heroes in those days and afterwards.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>CHANGING ABOUT</h3>
+
+
+<p>"If you are ready for your sail and have the courage&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Laurent Giffard kissed his pretty wife as she sat with some needlework
+in her hand, telling legendary tales, that were half fairy
+embellishments, to the little Rose, who was listening eager-eyed and
+with a delicious color in her cheeks. The child lived in a sort of fairy
+land. Miladi was the queen, her gowns were gold and silver brocade, but
+what brocade was, it would have been difficult for her to describe. She
+was very happy in these days, growing strong so she could take walks
+outside the fort, though she did not venture to do much climbing. The
+old life was almost forgotten. M&egrave;re Dubray was very busy with her own
+affairs, and her husband was as exigent as any new lover. Her cookery
+appealed to him in the most important place, his stomach.</p>
+
+<p>"And to think I have done without thee these two years," he would moan.</p>
+
+<p>When she saw her, the little girl had a strange fear that at the last
+moment they would seize her and take her up to the fur country with
+them. Pani was to go; he was of some service, if you kept a sharp eye
+on him, and had a switch handy.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you," he said to Rose when he waylaid her one day, "because
+you never got me into trouble and had me beaten. I shall have to start
+with them and I will go two days' journey, so they won't suspect. Then
+at night I'll start back. I like Quebec, and you and the good gentleman
+who throws you a laugh when he passes, instead of striking you. And I'll
+hunt and fish, and be a sailor. I'll not starve. And you will not tell
+even miladi, who is so beautiful and sweet. Promise."</p>
+
+<p>Rose promised. And now they were to go down the river.</p>
+
+<p>"The courage, of course," and Madame glanced up smilingly. "We take the
+child for the present."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall soon be jealous, <i>ma mie</i>, but it is a pleasure to see a bright
+young thing about that can talk with her eyes and not chatter shrilly.
+<i>Mon dieu!</i> what voices most of the wives have, and they are
+transmitting them to their children. Yes; we will start at noon, and be
+gone two days. Destournier has some messages to deliver. Put on thy
+plainest frock, we are not in sunny France now."</p>
+
+<p>She had learned that and only dressed up now and then for her husband's
+sake, or to please the child. And she had made her some pretty frocks
+out of petticoats quite too fine for wear here.</p>
+
+<p>Rose was overjoyed. Wanamee was to accompany them. When they were ready
+they were piloted down to the wharf by Monsieur, and there was M. Ralph
+to welcome them. The river was brisk with boats and canoes and shallops.
+The sun glistened on the naked backs of Indian rowers bending with every
+stroke of the paddles to a rhythmic sort of sound, that later on grew to
+be regular songs. There were squaws handling canoes with grace and
+dexterity. One would have considered Quebec a great <i>entrep&ocirc;t</i>.</p>
+
+<p>But the river with its beautiful bank, its groves of trees that had not
+yet been despoiled, its frowning rocks glinting in the sunshine, its
+wild flowers, its swift dazzle of birds, its great flocks of geese,
+snowy white, in the little coves that uttered shrill cries and then
+huddled together, the islands that reared grassy heads a moment and were
+submerged as the current swept over them.</p>
+
+<p>"Why are they not drowned?" asked Rose. "Or can they swim like the
+little Indian boys?"</p>
+
+<p>M. Giffard laughed&mdash;he often did at her quaint questions.</p>
+
+<p>"They are like the trees; they have taken root ever so far down, and the
+tide cannot sweep them away."</p>
+
+<p>"And is Quebec rooted that way? Do the rocks hold fast? And&mdash;all the
+places, even France?"</p>
+
+<p>"They have staunch foundations. The good God has anchored them fast."</p>
+
+<p>A puzzled look wavered over her face. "Monsieur, it is said the great
+world is round. Why does not the water spill out as it turns? It would
+fall out of a pail."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, child, that once puzzled wiser heads than thine. And years must
+pass over thy head before thou canst understand."</p>
+
+<p>"When I am as big as miladi?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid I do not quite understand myself, though I learned it in
+the convent, I am quite sure. And I could not see why we did not fall
+off. Some of the good nuns still believed the world was flat," and
+miladi laughed. "Women's brains were not made for over-much study."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it far to France?"</p>
+
+<p>"Two months' or so sail."</p>
+
+<p>"On a river?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, on a great ocean. We must look at the Sieur's chart. Out of sight
+of any land for days and days."</p>
+
+<p>"I should feel afraid. And if you did not know where the land was?"</p>
+
+<p>"But the sailor can tell by his chart."</p>
+
+<p>What a wonderful world it was. She had supposed Quebec the greatest
+thing in it. And now she knew so much about France and the beautiful
+city called Paris, where the King and Queen lived, and ladies who went
+gowned just like Madame, the first time she saw her. And there was an
+England. M. Ralph had been there and seen their island empire, which
+could not compare with France. She had a vague idea France was all the
+rest of the world.</p>
+
+<p>What days they were, for the weather was unusually fine. Now and then
+they paused to explore some small isle, or to get fresh game. As for
+fish, in those days the river seemed full of them. So many small streams
+emptied into the St. Lawrence. Berries were abundant, and they feasted
+to their hearts' content. The Indians dried them in the sun for winter
+use.</p>
+
+<p>Tadoussac was almost as busy as Quebec. As the fur monopoly had been in
+part broken up, there were trappers here with packs of furs, and several
+Indian settlements. It was Champlain's idea which Giffard was to work
+up, to enlist rival traders to become sharers in the traffic, and
+enlarge the trade, instead of keeping in one channel.</p>
+
+<p>Madame and the little girl, piloted by Wanamee, visited several of the
+wigwams, and the surprise of the Indian women at seeing the white lady
+and the child was great indeed. Rose was rather afraid at first, and
+drew back.</p>
+
+<p>"They take it that you are the wife of the great father in France, that
+is the King," translated Wanamee, "because you have crossed the ocean.
+And you must not blame their curiosity. They will do you no harm."</p>
+
+<p>But they wanted to examine my lady's frock and her shoes, with their
+great buckles that nearly covered her small foot. Her sleeves came in
+for a share of wonder, and her white, delicate arms they loaded with
+curious bracelets, made of shells ground and polished until they
+resembled gems. Then, too, they must feast them with a dish of Indian
+cookery, which seemed ground maize broken by curiously arranged
+millstones, in which were put edible roots, fish, and strips of dried
+meat, that proved quite too much for miladi's delicate stomach. The
+child had grown accustomed to it, as Lalotte sometimes indulged in it,
+but she always shook her head in disdain and frowned on it.</p>
+
+<p>"Such <i>pot au feu</i> no one would eat at home," she would declare
+emphatically.</p>
+
+<p>They were loaded with gifts when they came away. Beautifully dressed
+deerskins, strips of work that were remarkable, miladi thought, and she
+wondered how they could accomplish so much with so few advantages.</p>
+
+<p>The child had been a great source of amusement to all on shipboard. Her
+utter ignorance of the outside world, her quaint frankness and innocence
+tempted Giffard to play off on her curiosity and tell wonderful tales of
+the mother country. And then Wanamee would recount Indian legends and
+strange charms and rites used by the sages of the Abenaquis in the time
+of her forefathers, before any white man had been seen in the country.</p>
+
+<p>Then their homeward route began, the pause at the Isle d'Orl&eacute;ans, the
+narrowing river, the more familiar Point Levis, the frowning rocks, the
+palisades, and the fort. All the rest was wildness, except the clearing
+that had been made and kept free that no skulking enemy should take an
+undue advantage and surprise them by a sudden onslaught.</p>
+
+<p>The Sieur de Champlain came down to meet them. Rose was leaping from
+point to point like a young deer. It was no longer a pale face, it had
+been a little changed by sun and wind.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, little one, hast thou made many discoveries?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, indeed. I would not mind going to France now. And we have
+brought back some such queer things; beautiful, too. But we did not like
+some of the cooking, miladi and I, and Quebec is dearer, for it is
+home," and her eyes shone with delight.</p>
+
+<p>"Home! Thanks, little maid, for your naming it on this wise," and he
+smiled down in the eager face as he turned to greet Madame.</p>
+
+<p>She was a little weary of the wildness and loneliness of dense woods and
+great hills and banks of the river, that roared and shrieked at times as
+if ghost-haunted. Wanamee's stories had touched the superstitious
+threads of her brain.</p>
+
+<p>M. Giffard took the Sieur's arm and drew him a trifle aside. Destournier
+offered his to the lady and assisted her up the rocky steep. Many a
+tragedy would pass there before old Quebec became new Quebec, with
+famous and heroic story.</p>
+
+<p>She leaned a little heavily on his arm. "The motion of the ship is still
+swaying my brain," she remarked, with a soft laugh. "So, if I am
+awkward, I crave your patience. Oh, see that child! She will surely
+fall."</p>
+
+<p>Rose was climbing this way and that, now hugging a young tree growing
+out of some crevice, then letting it go with a great flap, now
+snatching a handful of wild flowers, and treading the fragrance out of
+wild grapes.</p>
+
+<p>"She is sure-footed like any other wild thing. I saw her first perched
+upon that great gray rock yonder."</p>
+
+<p>"The daring little monkey! I believe they brave every danger. I wonder
+if we shall ever learn anything about her. The Sieur has so much on
+hand, and men are wont to drop the thread of a pursuit or get it tangled
+up with other things, so it would be too much of a burthen to ask him.
+And another year I shall go to Paris myself. If she does not develop too
+much waywardness, and keeps her good looks, I shall take her."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I think you may be quite sure of a companion."</p>
+
+<p>Wanamee had preceded them and thrown open the room to the slant rays of
+western sunshine. Madame sank down on a couch, exhausted. The Indian
+girl brought in some refreshments.</p>
+
+<p>"Stay and partake of some," she said, with a winsome smile. "I cannot be
+bereft of everybody."</p>
+
+<p>But the child came in presently, eager and full of news that was hardly
+news to her, after all.</p>
+
+<p>"Pani is here," she exclaimed. "Madame Dubray and her husband have gone
+with the trappers. They took Pani. He said he would run away. They kept
+him two days, and tied him at night, but he loosened the thongs and ran
+nearly all night. Then he has hidden away, for some new people have
+taken the house. And he wants to stay here. He will be my slave."</p>
+
+<p>She looked eagerly at my lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art getting to be such a venturesome midge that it may be well to
+have so devoted an attendant. Yet I remember he left thee alone and ill
+and hungry not so long ago."</p>
+
+<p>Rose laughed gayly.</p>
+
+<p>"If he had not left me I could not have taken the courage to crawl out.
+And no one else might have come. He wanted to see the ships. And Madame
+Dubray whipped him well, so that score is settled," with a sound of
+justice well-paid for in her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"We will see"&mdash;nodding and laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Then can I tell him?"</p>
+
+<p>"The elders had better do that. But there will be room enough in Quebec
+for him and us, I fancy," returned miladi.</p>
+
+<p>Rose ran away. Pani was waiting out on the gallery.</p>
+
+<p>"They will not mind," she announced. "But you must have some place to
+sleep, and"&mdash;studying him critically from the rather narrow face, the
+bony shoulders, and slim legs&mdash;"something to eat. M&egrave;re Dubray had
+plenty, except towards spring when the stores began to fail."</p>
+
+<p>"I can track rabbits and hares, and catch fish on the thin places in the
+rivers. Oh, I shall not starve. But I'm hungry."</p>
+
+<p>The wistful look in his eyes touched her.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us find Wanamee," she exclaimed, leading the way to the culinary
+department.</p>
+
+<p>Miladi had been surprised and almost shocked at the rough manner of
+living in this new France. The food, too, was primitive, lacking in the
+delicacies to which she had been used, and the manners she thought
+barbarous. But for M. Destournier and the courtesy of the Sieur she
+would have prayed to return at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a little," pleaded Laurent. "If there is a fortune to be made in
+this new world, why should we not have our share? And I can see that
+there is. Matters are quite unsettled at home, but if we go back with
+gold in our purses we shall do well enough."</p>
+
+<p>Then the child had appealed to her. And it was flattering to be the only
+lady of note and have homage paid to her.</p>
+
+<p>So the children sought Wanamee, and while Pani brought some sticks and
+soon had a bed of coals, Wanamee stirred up some cakes of rye and maize,
+and the boy prepared a fish for cooking. He was indeed hungry, and his
+eyes glistened with the delight of eating.</p>
+
+<p>"It smells so good," said Rose. "Wanamee, bring me a piece. I can always
+eat now, and a while ago I could not bear the smell of food."</p>
+
+<p>"You were so thin and white. And M&egrave;re Dubray thought every morning you
+would be dead. You wouldn't like to be put in the ground, would you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no!" shivering.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor burned. Then you go to ashes and only the bones are left."</p>
+
+<p>"That is horrid, too. Burning hurts. I have burned my fingers with
+coals."</p>
+
+<p>"But my people don't mind it. They are very brave. And you go to the
+great hunting grounds way over to the west, where the good Manitou has
+everything, and you don't have to work, and no one beats you."</p>
+
+<p>"The white people have a heaven. That is above the sky. And when the
+stars come out it is light as day on the other side, and there are
+flowers and trees, and rivers and all manner of fruit such as you never
+see here."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather hunt. When I get to be a man I shall go off and discover
+wonderful things. In some of the mountains there is gold. And out by the
+great oceans where the Hurons have encamped there are copper and silver.
+The company talked about it. Some were for going there. And there were
+fur animals, all the same."</p>
+
+<p>Rose had been considering another subject.</p>
+
+<p>"Pani," she began, with great seriousness, "you are not any one's slave
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"No"&mdash;rather hesitatingly. "The Dubrays will never come back, or if they
+should next summer, with furs, I will run away again up to the Saguenay,
+where they will not look. But there are Indian boys in plenty where the
+tribes fight and take prisoners."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall be my slave."</p>
+
+<p>The young Indian's cheek flushed.</p>
+
+<p>"The slave of a girl!" he said, with a touch of disdain.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? I should not beat you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you couldn't"&mdash;triumphantly.</p>
+
+<p>"But you might be miladi's slave," suggested Wanamee, "and then you
+could watch the little one and follow her about to see that nothing
+harmed her."</p>
+
+<p>"There shouldn't anything hurt her." He sprang up. "You see I am growing
+tall, and presently I shall be a man. But I won't be a slave always."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," said the Indian woman.</p>
+
+<p>"That was very good, excellent," pointing to the two empty birch-bark
+dishes, which he picked up and threw on the coals, a primitive way to
+escape dish washing. "I will find you a heap more. I will get fish or
+berries, and oh, I know where the bees have stored a lot of honey in a
+hollow tree."</p>
+
+<p>"You let them alone for another month," commanded Wanamee. "Honey&mdash;that
+will be a treat indeed."</p>
+
+<p>Miladi had missed the sweets of her native land, though there they had
+not been over-plentiful, since royalty must needs be served first. They
+bought maple sugar and a kind of crude syrup of the Abenaqui women, who
+were quite experts in making it. When the sun touched the trees in the
+morning when the hoarfrost had disappeared, they inserted tubes of bark,
+rolled tightly, and caught the sap in the troughs. Then they filled
+their kettles that swung over great fires, and the fragrance arising
+made the forests sweet with a peculiar spiciness. It was a grand time
+for the children, who snatched some of the liquid out of the kettle on a
+birch-bark ladle, and ran into the woods for it to cool. Pani had often
+been with them.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go down to the old house," exclaimed Rose. "Do you know who is
+there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pierre Gaudrion. He gets stone for the new walls they are laying
+against the fort. And there are five or six little ones."</p>
+
+<p>"It must be queer. Oh, let us go and see them."</p>
+
+<p>She was off like a flash, but he followed as swiftly. Here was the
+garden where she had pulled weeds with a hot hatred in her heart that
+she would have liked to tear up the whole garden and throw it over in
+the river. She glanced around furtively&mdash;what if M&egrave;re Dubray should come
+suddenly in search of Pani.</p>
+
+<p>Three little ones were tumbling about on the grass. The oldest girl was
+grinding at the rude mill, a boy was making something out of birch
+branches, interlaced with willow. A round, cheerful face glanced up from
+patching a boy's garment, and smiled. Madame Gaudrion's mother had been
+a white woman left at the Saguenay basin in a dying condition, it was
+supposed, but she had recovered and married a half-breed. One daughter
+had cast in her lot with a roving tribe. Pierre Gaudrion had seen the
+other in one of the journeys up to Tadoussac and brought her home.</p>
+
+<p>The Sieur did not discourage these marriages, for the children
+generally affiliated with the whites, and if the colony was to prosper
+there must be marriages and children.</p>
+
+<p>Rose stopped suddenly, rather embarrassed, for all her bravado.</p>
+
+<p>"I used to live here," as if apologizing.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. But M&egrave;re Dubray was not your mother."</p>
+
+<p>"No. Nor Catherine Arlac."</p>
+
+<p>The woman shook her head. "I know not many people. We live on the other
+side. And the babies come so fast I have not much time. But Pierre say
+now we must have bigger space and garden for the children to work in. So
+we are glad when M&egrave;re Dubray go up to the fur country with her man. You
+were ill, they said. But you do not look ill. Did you not want to go
+with her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no. And I live clear up there," nodding to the higher altitude.
+"M'sieu H&eacute;bert is there and Madame. And a beautiful lady, Madame
+Giffard. I did not love M&egrave;re Dubray."</p>
+
+<p>"If I have a child that will not love me, it would break my heart. What
+else are little ones for until they grow up and marry in turn?"</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;I was not her child."</p>
+
+<p>"And your mother."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know. She was dead before I could remember. Then I was brought
+from France."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly she felt the loss of her mother. She belonged to no one in the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor <i>petite</i>." She made a sudden snatch at her own baby and hugged it
+so tightly that it shrieked, at which she laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Some day a man will hug thee and thou wilt not scream," she said in
+good humor.</p>
+
+<p>Pani came from round the corner and then darted back. The boy left his
+work and came forward.</p>
+
+<p>"Who was that?" he asked. "My father said 'get an Indian boy to work in
+the garden.' I am making a chair for the little one. And I can't tell
+which are weeds. Yesterday I pulled up some onions and father was angry,
+but he could set them out again."</p>
+
+<p>Rose laughed at that, and thought it remarkable that his father did not
+beat him.</p>
+
+<p>"Pani might show you a little. He belongs to me now. We both used to
+work in the garden. M&egrave;re Dubray was always knitting and cooking."</p>
+
+<p>Pani emerged again. "Yes, let us go," and Rose led the way, but she
+would have liked to throw herself down among the babies, who seemed all
+arms and legs.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you read?" the boy said suddenly. "We have a book and I can read
+quite well. My father knows how. And I want to be a great man like the
+Sieur, and some of the soldiers. I want to know how to keep accounts,
+and to go to France some time in the big ships."</p>
+
+<p>Rose colored. "I am going to learn to read this winter, when we have to
+stay in. But it is very difficult&mdash;tiresome. I'd rather climb the rocks
+and watch the birds. I had some once that would come for grains and bits
+of corn cake. And the geese were so tame down there by the end of the
+garden."</p>
+
+<p>The rows of corn stood up finely, shaking out their silken heads,
+turning to a bronze red. Then there were potatoes. These were of the
+Dubrays' planting, as well as some of the smaller beds.</p>
+
+<p>"M'sieu H&eacute;bert gave father some of these plants. He knows a great deal,
+and he can make all kinds of medicine. It is very fine to know a great
+deal, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"But it must be hard to study so much," returned Rose, with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so. I wish I had ever so many books like the Sieur and M.
+H&eacute;bert. And you can find out places&mdash;there are so many of them in the
+world. And do you know there are English people working with all their
+might down in Virginia, and Spanish and Dutch! But some day we shall
+drive them all out and it will be New France as far as you can go. And
+the Indians&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You can't drive the Indians out," exclaimed Pani decisively. "The whole
+country is theirs. And there are so many of them. There are tribes and
+tribes all over the land. And they know how to fight."</p>
+
+<p>"They are fighting each other continually. M. H&eacute;bert says they will
+sweep each other off after a while. And they are very cruel. You will
+see the French do not fight the French."</p>
+
+<p>Alas, young Pierre Gaudrion, already Catholic and Huguenot were at war:
+one fighting for the right to live in a certain liberty of belief, the
+other thinking they did God a service by undertaking their
+extermination.</p>
+
+<p>The argument rather floored Pani, whose range of knowledge was only wide
+enough to know that many tribes were at bitter enmity with each other.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want to work in the garden? There are weeds enough to keep you
+busy," said Pierre presently.</p>
+
+<p>"No," returned Pani stoutly.</p>
+
+<p>"And Pani belongs to me," declared Rose.</p>
+
+<p>Pierre turned to look at the girl. Her beauty stirred him strangely.
+Sometimes, when his father sang the old songs of home, the same quiver
+went through every pulse.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry," he said, in a gentler tone. "Now I must go back to my
+chair."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it to be a chair?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't weave the grasses just right, though some one showed me, only I
+was thinking of other things."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's see." Pani was a little mollified.</p>
+
+<p>They went back to the boy's work.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm only making a little one for Marie. Then I shall try a larger one.
+There are two in the room."</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Rose knew them well. The place was about the same, with the great
+bunk on one side and the smaller one on the other. M&egrave;re Dubray's bright
+blankets were gone, with the pictures of the Virgin, and the high
+candlestick, that was alight on certain days. Little mattresses filled
+with dried grass were piled on top of the bunk. It looked like, and yet
+unlike. Rose was glad she did not live here.</p>
+
+<p>Pani inspected the boy's work.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you haven't it right. You must put pegs in here, then you can pull
+it up. And this is the way you go."</p>
+
+<p>Pani's deft fingers went in and out like a bit of machinery. It was
+forest lore, and he was at home in it.</p>
+
+<p>"You make it beautiful," exclaimed Pierre. "Oh, go slower, so I can
+understand."</p>
+
+<p>Pani smiled with the praise and put in a word of explanation now and
+then. The boys were fast becoming friends.</p>
+
+<p>"Maman," Pierre cried, "come and see how fine the boy does it. If he
+would come and live with us!"</p>
+
+<p>"I might come a little while and look after the garden. And I could
+catch fish and I know the best places for berries, and the grapes will
+soon be ripening. And the plums. I can shoot birds with an arrow. But I
+belong to mam'selle."</p>
+
+<p>"If she will let you come now and then," wistfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I might," with an air of condescension.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art a pretty little lady," was M&egrave;re Gaudrion's parting benison to
+the little girl, and Rose smiled. "Come again often."</p>
+
+<p>When they were out of the narrow passageway she said, "Now let us have a
+race. I am glad M&egrave;re Dubray is there no longer, are you not? But what a
+funny pile of children!"</p>
+
+<p>They had their race, and a climb, and on the gallery they found miladi
+looking for them, and they told over their adventure.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said smilingly. "I think we can find a place for Pani, and
+between us all I fancy we can keep him so well employed he will not want
+to run away."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>FINDING AMUSEMENTS</h3>
+
+
+<p>About the middle of August the Sieur de Champlain and Captain Fran&ccedil;ois
+de Pontgrave sailed from Tadoussac for France. The Giffards,
+Destournier, and several others accompanied them to the port, and were
+then to survey some of the places that had advantages for planting
+colonies. They did not return until in September. The season was
+unusually fine and warm, and there had been an abundance of everything.
+The colonists had been busy enough preparing for winter. They had
+learned ways of drying fruit, of smoking meats and fish, of caring for
+their grains. There had been no talk of Indian raids, indeed the
+villages about were friendly with the whites, and friendly with several
+of the outlying tribes. Some had gone on raids farther south.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Giffard would have found time hanging heavy on her hands but for
+the child. She began to teach her to read and to play checkers. Rose did
+not take kindly to embroidery, but some of the Indian work interested
+her. With Pani and Wanamee's assistance she made baskets and curious
+vase-like jars. Pierre Gaudrion came up now and then, and miladi
+considered him quite a prodigy in several ways.</p>
+
+<p>When they were dull and tired miladi gave Rose dancing lessons. The
+child was really fascinated with the enjoyment. Miladi would dress up in
+one of her pretty gowns to the child's great delight, and they would
+invent wonderful figures. Sometimes the two men would join them, and
+they would keep up the amusement till midnight.</p>
+
+<p>Pani was growing rapidly and he was their most devoted knight. And when
+the snows set in there were great snowballing games; sometimes between
+the Indians alone, at others, the whites would take a hand.</p>
+
+<p>It was splendid entertainment for the children to slide about on the
+snowy crust, that glistened in the sunlight as if sprinkled with gems.
+The Indian women often participated in this amusement. And miladi looked
+as bewitching in her deerskin suit, with its fringes and bright
+adornments of feather borders, and her lovely furs, as in her Paris
+attire. She often thought she would like to walk into some assembly and
+make a stir in her strange garments.</p>
+
+<p>What is the Sieur doing? Making new bargains, persuading colonists to
+join them, getting concessions to the profit of New France. Alas! Old
+France was a selfish sort of stepmother. She wanted furs, she wanted
+colonies planted, she wanted explorations, and possessions taken in
+every direction, to thwart English and Dutch, who seemed somehow to be
+prospering, but the money supplies were pared to the narrowest edge.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl would have been much interested in one step her dear
+Sieur was taking, though she did not hear of it until long afterward.
+This was his betrothment and marriage to Marie H&eacute;l&egrave;ne, the daughter of
+Nicolas Boull&eacute;, private secretary to the young King. A child of twelve,
+and the soldier and explorer who was now forty or over, but held his
+years well and the hardships had written few lines on his kindly and
+handsome face. That he was very much charmed with the child, who was
+really quite mature for her age, was true, though it is thought the
+friendship of her father and her dowry had some weight. But she adored
+her heroic lover, although she was to be returned to the convent to
+finish her education. Then the Sieur made his will and settled a part of
+the dowry on his bride, and the income of all his other property, his
+maps and books, "in case of his death in voyages on the sea and in the
+service of the King."</p>
+
+<p>If the autumn had been lovely and long beyond expectations, winter
+lingered as well. And the travellers had a hard time on their return.
+Lofty bergs floated down the Atlantic, and great floes closed in around
+the vessel, and the rigging was encased in glittering ice. Sometimes
+their hearts failed them and the small boats were made ready, but
+whither would they steer? Captain Pontgrave kept up his courage, and
+"when they brought their battered craft into the harbor of Tadoussac
+they fired a cannon shot in joyous salute," says history. Seventy-four
+days had their journey lasted.</p>
+
+<p>The country was still white with snow, although it was May. Already some
+trading vessels were bidding for furs, but the Montagnais had had a hard
+winter as well, and the Bay traders would have perished on the way.</p>
+
+<p>Champlain pushed on to Quebec, though his heart was full of fears.</p>
+
+<p>Rose was out on the gallery, that Pani was clearing from the frequent
+light falls of snow. A canoe was being rowed by some Indians and in the
+stern sat the dearly-loved Commander. "They have come! they have come!"
+shouted Rose, and she ran in to spread the joyful news. Destournier and
+Giffard were at a critical point in a game of chess, but both sprang up.
+The bell pealed out, there was a salute, and every one in the fort
+rushed out with exclamations of joy. For the sake of the little girl he
+had left, the Sieur stooped and kissed Rose.</p>
+
+<p>Du Parc was in the best of spirits, and had only a good account. There
+had been no sickness, no Indian troubles, and provisions had lasted
+well. All was joy and congratulations. Even the Indian settlements near
+by built bonfires and beat their drums, dancing about with every
+indication of delighted welcome.</p>
+
+<p>He had brought with him the young Indian Savignon, while Etienne Brul&eacute;
+had wintered with the Ottawas, perfecting himself in their language. He
+was a fine specimen of his race, as far as physique went, and his winter
+in civilization had given him quite a polish.</p>
+
+<p>There was a great feast. Miladi was in her glory ordering it, and
+Savignon paid her some compliments that quite savored of old times in
+her native land. She was fond of admiration, and here there was but
+small allowance of it.</p>
+
+<p>He was to restore the young brave to his tribe, and Destournier was to
+accompany him. He saw that with trade open to rivals there must be some
+stations. It was true no men could be spared to form a new colony, and
+the few he had induced to emigrate would do better service in the old
+settlement. In Cartier's time there had been the village of Hochelega.
+It was a great stretch of open fertile land, abounding in wild fruits
+and grapes, so he pre-empted it in the name of the King, put up a stout
+cross, and built two or three log huts, and planted some grain seeds
+that might in turn scatter themselves around. And so began Montreal. The
+river was dotted with islands; the largest, on which the wild iris, the
+fleur-de-lis, grew abundantly, he named St. H&eacute;l&egrave;ne, in remembrance of
+his little betrothed.</p>
+
+<p>They pushed on beyond the rapids and here he met the Algonquins and
+restored their young brave to them, and was glad to find Etienne Brul&eacute;
+in good health and spirits. But Savignon bade him farewell ruefully,
+declaring life in Paris was much more agreeable, and spoiled one for the
+wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>Various bands of Hurons and Algonquins came to meet the great white
+Sagamore, and he secured much trade for the coming season. But the fur
+business was being greatly scattered, and Demont's finances were at a
+rather low ebb, so there could not be the necessary branching out.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier had some schemes as well. He had come to the new world
+partly from curiosity and the desire to mend his fortunes. He saw now
+some fine openings, if he could get a concession or grant of land. His
+old family seat might be disposed of, he had not Laurent Giffard's aim
+to make a fortune here and go back to France and spend it for show.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Giffard was deeply disappointed at this prospect, and Rose was
+inconsolable.</p>
+
+<p>"Who will read to us in the long evenings and the days when the driving
+snow makes it seem like night. And oh, M'sieu, who will dance with me
+and tell me those delightful stories, and laugh at my sayings that come
+like birds' flights across my mind and go their way?"</p>
+
+<p>"You will have miladi. And there are the Gaudrion children. Pierre has a
+heart full of worship for you. And books that the Governor brought. The
+time will pass quickly."</p>
+
+<p>"To you. There will be so many things. But the long, long days. And
+miladi says there are so many pretty girls in Paris, whose dancing and
+singing are marvellous, and who would laugh at a frock of deerskin. Oh,
+you will forget me, and all the time I shall think of you. You will not
+care."</p>
+
+<p>Her beautiful eyes were suffused with tears, the brilliance of her cheek
+faded, and her bosom heaved with emotion. What a girl she would be a few
+years hence. His dear Sieur had married a child&mdash;was he really in love
+with her? But his regard was fatherly, brotherly.</p>
+
+<p>"See," he began, "we will make a bargain. When the first star comes out
+you will watch for it and say, 'M'sieu Ralph is looking at it and
+thinking of me.' And I will say&mdash;'the little Rose of Quebec is turning
+toward me,' and we will meet in heart. Will not this comfort thee?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I shall hug it to my heart. The star! the star! And when the sky is
+thick with clouds I shall remember you told me the stars were always
+there. And I will shut my eyes and see you. I see strange things at
+times."</p>
+
+<p>"So you must not be unhappy, for I shall return," and he took her
+throbbing fingers in his.</p>
+
+<p>She raised her lovely eyes. What a charming coquette she would make, if
+she were not so innocent. But the long fringe of lashes was beaded with
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>It was odd, he thought, but with all the admiration of her husband
+miladi made as great a time as the child. What should she do in this
+horrible lonely place, shut up in the fort all winter, with no company
+but an Indian woman and a child whose limited understanding took in only
+foolish pleasures. What miladi needed was companionship. Ah! if she
+could return to France. If Laurent would only consent. But now he
+thought only of fortune-making.</p>
+
+<p>"And a return at the end. He is not taking root here. I am. I like the
+boundless freedom of this new country," said Destournier.</p>
+
+<p>"You will marry. There is some demoiselle at home on whom your heart is
+set. And the old friendship will go for naught. You have been&mdash;yes, like
+a brother," and she flushed.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am not likely to marry," he returned gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;you will not return," in a desperate kind of tone. "You will be
+won by Paris."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall return. All my interests are here. And as I said&mdash;I shall leave
+my heart in this new country."</p>
+
+<p>Then she smiled, a little secure in the thought that she had no rival.</p>
+
+<p>So again the Sieur de Champlain set sail for France, and many a
+discourse he held with Ralph Destournier on the future of Quebec, that
+child of his dreams and his heart. It would be fame enough, he thought,
+to be handed down to posterity as the founder of Quebec, the explorer of
+the great inland seas that joining arms must lead across the continent.</p>
+
+<p>Miladi was very capricious, Rose found, although she did not know the
+meaning of the word. What she wanted to-day she scouted to-morrow.
+Rose's reading was enough to set one wild. Sure she was not
+French-born, or she would know by intuition. Sometimes she would say
+pettishly, "Go away, child, you disturb me," and then Rose would play
+hide-and-seek with Pani, or run down to the Gaudrions. Marie was quite
+an expert in Indian embroidery, the children were gay and frolicsome,
+and there was a new baby. Pierre was very fond of her; a studious
+fellow, with queer ideas that often worked themselves out in some useful
+fashion. They read together, stumbling over words they could not
+understand.</p>
+
+<p>"And I shall build a boat of my own and go out to those wonderful
+rapids. At one moment it feels as if you would be submerged, then you
+ride up on top with a shout. Cubenic said the Sieur stood it as bravely
+as any Indian. Why&mdash;if your boat was overturned you could swim."</p>
+
+<p>"But there's a current that sucks you in. And there's a strange woman, a
+windigo, who haunts the rapids and drags you down and eats you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe such nonsense. In one of the Sieur's books there is a
+story of some people who believed there was a spirit in everything.
+There were gods of the waters, of the trees, of the winds, and the
+Indians are much like them. I've never found any of their gods, have
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No"&mdash;rather reluctantly. "But Wanamee has. And sometimes they bring
+back dead people."</p>
+
+<p>"Then they don't always eat them," and the boy laughed.</p>
+
+<p>She had meant to tell miladi of her tryst and beg her to come out and
+see the star, but when she found her not only indifferent, but fretful,
+she refrained and was glad presently that she had this delicious secret
+to herself. But there was a great mystery. Sometimes the star was
+different. Instead of being golden, it was a pale blue, and then almost
+red. Was it that way in France, she wondered.</p>
+
+<p>She came to have a strange fondness for the stars, and to note their
+changes. Was it true that the old people M'sieu Ralph had read about,
+the Greeks, had seen their gods and goddesses taken up to the sky and
+set in the blue? There were thrones mounted with gems, there were
+figures that chased each other; to-night they were here, to-morrow night
+somewhere else. But the star that came out first was hers, and she sent
+a message across the ocean with it. And the star said in return, "I am
+thinking of you."</p>
+
+<p>He did think of her, and tried to trace out some parentage. Catherine
+Defroy had gone from St. Malo, a single woman. Then by all the accounts
+he could find she must have spent two years in Paris. Clearly she was
+not mother of the child.</p>
+
+<p>After all, what did it matter? Rose would probably spend her life in New
+France. If it was never proven that she came of gentlefolks, Laurent
+Giffard would hardly consent to his wife's mothering her. He had a good
+deal of pride of birth.</p>
+
+<p>The winter passed away and this year spring came early, unchaining the
+streams and sending them headlong to the rivers; filling the air with
+the fragrant new growth of the pines, hemlocks, and cedars, the young
+grasses, and presently all blossoming things. The beauty touched Rose
+deeply. No one understood, so she only talked of these strange things to
+the trees and the stars at night. Often she was a merry romp, climbing
+rocks, out in a canoe, which she had learned to manage perfectly, though
+sometimes Pani accompanied her, sometimes Pierre Gaudrion, who was
+growing fast and making himself very useful to Du Parc.</p>
+
+<p>As for the Sieur, he found much to engross his attention. There was a
+new trading company that had the privilege of eleven years. There was
+another volume of voyages and discoveries, the maps and illustrations
+finely engraved. Then he had laid before the secretary of the King the
+urgent need of some religious instruction. Acadia had quite a thriving
+Jesuit mission. This order was not in high favor with Champlain, who
+deprecated their narrowness. The Sieur Houel recommended the R&eacute;collets,
+and four willing missionaries were finally chosen. The company had
+fitted up a large vessel and were taking all the stores they could
+purchase or beg, and quite a number of emigrants of a better class than
+heretofore.</p>
+
+<p>They were all warmly welcomed, and found the colonists in very good
+order. The enthusiastic priest startled them by kneeling on the soil and
+devoutly consecrating it to God, and giving thanks that He had called
+them to this new and arduous field of labor. The coarse gray cassock
+girt at the waist with a bit of rope, the pointed hood, which often hung
+around their necks and betrayed the shaven crown, their general air of
+poverty and humility attracted attention, but did not so much appeal to
+the colonists or the Indians. They were fearful of the new order of
+things.</p>
+
+<p>Quebec had enlarged her borders somewhat. The one-roomed hut had spread
+out into two or three apartments. The gardens had increased. Some roads
+had been made, the workmen taking the stone quarried to add to their own
+houses. Still they received the fathers with a certain degree of
+cordiality.</p>
+
+<p>Champlain set aside ground for their convent, and they first erected an
+altar and celebrated Mass. P&egrave;re Dolbeau was the officiating priest. The
+people, most of whom came from curiosity, knelt around on the earth,
+while cannon from the ramparts announced the mystic services. The
+Giffards joined in them reverentially, but Rose was full of wonderment.
+Indeed, her joy was so great at seeing Destournier again that she could
+give thanks for nothing else.</p>
+
+<p>Then they erected a rude hut and discussed the work that lay before
+them. Le Caron would go to the Hurons, Dolbeau to the Montagnais, Jamay
+and Du Plessis would take charge of Quebec and the outlying provinces,
+and planned to build a chapel.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier had been successful with his grant. He bad been made
+seignior of a large tract outside of the town, which was destined one
+day to be a part of it. Here he settled some friendly Indians, and
+several of the new-comers, who were to till the soil under his
+directions, and raise different crops to ward off the scarcity of
+rations in the winter. He would build a house for himself and live among
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"But why not remain in the fort?" asked miladi. "What charm can you find
+with those ignorant people? Though perhaps peas and beans, radishes and
+cabbages may console one for more intellectual pursuits."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall only spend the days with them at present," he returned, with a
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>And now again came the influx of the fur-traders. It had been a good
+season and from the new settlement of Montreal to Tadoussac, vessels
+were packing away the precious freight. Champlain had gone with a body
+of soldiers to help defend a town the Iroquois had threatened to attack.
+The missions thus far had borne no fruit. Indeed the new teaching of the
+R&eacute;collets in its severity was not pleasant. The Hurons were seized with
+a panic after losing several of their leaders and the Sieur was wounded.
+All winter the people at Quebec waited anxiously for their leader, and
+parties set out to see if they could find any tidings. At last they were
+sighted, and great was the joy at finding their beloved chieftain well
+and unharmed. But he was not allowed to remain long in his pet
+settlement. There were disputes and altercations, and he was summoned to
+France.</p>
+
+<p>"Another year we shall go ourselves," announced Laurent Giffard to his
+wife. "We have enough now to make ourselves comfortable, and I doubt if
+the company can weather through. At all events I shall be glad to be
+well out of it. Art thou glad of the prospect?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is great commotion with the King and his mother, and between
+Huguenot and Catholic," she made answer slowly. "Does the Sieur
+Destournier throw up his schemes in disgust as well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I think he is wedded to the soil. The Governor trusts everything to
+him, and Du Parc, and both are capable men. But truth to tell I have
+lost faith in the colony. I hear the Virginians and the Bostonnais are
+doing much better. France cannot, or will not, spend the money, nor send
+the men to put the place on a sure foundation. The Indians grow more
+troublesome. They hate being meddled with by the priests. They take
+wives when they want them, and send them away when they are tired of
+them. They torture prisoners&mdash;some day the priests will have a taste of
+it themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"They are all horrible," she said, with a shiver.</p>
+
+<p>"And we will go back to La Belle France. I fancy I can manage a sort of
+preferment with Dubissay, who has the ear of the Queen mother at
+present. At all events I am tired of this turmoil, and thou, <i>ma mie</i>,
+art wasting thy beauty in this savage land."</p>
+
+<p>He stooped and kissed her. If he had been ready last year, she would
+have hailed the prospect with delight. Why did it not seem so attractive
+now?</p>
+
+<p>"And the child?" she asked presently, her eyes fixed on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Was the tone indifferent?</p>
+
+<p>"How much dost thou love her, <i>ma mie</i>? At first thy heart was sore for
+the loss of our own, but time heals all such wounds. Destournier left no
+stone unturned to discover her parentage, and failed. I think she has
+been some one's love child. True we could give her our name, and with a
+good dowry she could marry well. But she will want some years of convent
+training to tone her down."</p>
+
+<p>"And if we should leave her here? Though they say Miladi de Champlain
+comes over soon, and there may be a court with maids of honor."</p>
+
+<p>He laughed. "What I fancy is this, though I am no seer. Destournier is
+fond of her, fatherly now, but she is shooting up into a tall girl.
+There will not be so many years between them as the Sieur and
+Mademoiselle Boull&eacute;. And some day he will take her to wife. 'Twere a
+pity to spoil the romance. She adores him."</p>
+
+<p>Miladi bit her lip hard, and drew her brow into a sharp frown.</p>
+
+<p>"What nonsense!" she made answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Destournier is a fine fellow, and will be a rich one some day."</p>
+
+<p>"The more need that he should marry in his own station."</p>
+
+<p>"But there is talk of reproducing home titles in this new land. And
+Baron Destournier can raise his wife to his own station. If the child
+should not be amenable to training, or develop some waywardness, there
+might be sorrow, rather than joy or satisfaction in thine heart."</p>
+
+<p>"There will be time enough to consider," she returned.</p>
+
+<p>He left the room. She went out on the shady side of the gallery, and
+looked down over the town. The two under discussion a moment ago were
+climbing the steep rocks instead of taking the path where steps were
+cut. The wind blew her shining hair about, her face was filled with
+ripples of laughter. He took her arm and she would have no help, but
+sprang like a deer from point to point, then turned to throw her
+merriment at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, miladi would take her to France. What if some day he should
+follow?"</p>
+
+<p>The Governor spent a month in intense satisfaction, enlarging the
+borders of his pet garden, talking with M. H&eacute;bert, who had been watching
+the growth of some fine fruit trees imported from northern France, that
+had blossomed and were perfecting a few specimens of fruit. He thought
+sometimes it would be a joy to give up all cares and rest in cultivating
+the soil. If the summers were short everything grew abundantly. There
+were several rare plants, also, that they had acclimated.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring thy wife over and be content," advised M. H&eacute;bert, in a cordial
+tone, "and enjoy the governorship."</p>
+
+<p>M. de Champlain laughed. But presently he said: "Friend, you little know
+the delights of an explorer who brings new countries to light, who
+builds cities that may continue after him. The route to India has not
+yet been located. The fields of gold and silver have not been
+discovered. The lilies of France have not been planted over there,"
+nodding his head. "We must go before the Spaniard gets a foothold. Yet
+there are delights I must confess that even Horace longed for&mdash;a
+garden."</p>
+
+<p>But if he longed for it at times he found the restless current hurrying
+him on. Some disaffected members of the company were bringing charges
+against him, desiring to depose him from the governorship. But Cond&eacute;,
+who had again come into power, knew there was not another man who would
+work so untiringly for the good of New France, or make it bring in such
+rich returns.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>JOURNEYING TO A FAR COUNTRY</h3>
+
+
+<p>The colony passed a very fair winter. It was in the latter part of April
+that one night an alarm was given and the big bell at the fort rang out
+its call to arms.</p>
+
+<p>The messenger had trudged through the snow and was breathless.</p>
+
+<p>"An Indian attack. The Iroquois are burning the settlement, and
+murdering our people. To arms! to arms!"</p>
+
+<p>There had been no Indian raid for a long while. Destournier had tried to
+fortify the back of his plantation. There were Montagnais and Algonquins
+of the better type living there peaceably. It was not altogether
+cupidity. An Iroquois woman had been found cruelly murdered, and the
+wandering band laid it at once to the settlement. It took only a brief
+while to work themselves up to a frenzy.</p>
+
+<p>It did not take long to plan revenge. There was no chief at the head;
+indeed, in these roving bands it was every brave for himself. And now
+after a powwow, since they were not large enough in numbers to attack
+the fort, and they found some of the Indian converts were in the new
+settlement, they determined on an onslaught.</p>
+
+<p>The barricade at the back was high and strong. It was not so well
+fortified on the side toward the fort, and they pushed through a weak
+place at the end, lighted their torches, and commenced a treacherous
+assault. Roused from their slumbers, and terrified to the last degree,
+the air was soon filled with shrieks, and bursting in doors, the houses
+were set on fire. They were wary enough to guard their loop-hole for
+escape, but they found themselves outnumbered, and in turn had to fight
+for their own lives. The blazing huts lighted up the snow in a weird
+fashion; the shrieks and cries and jargon of the Iroquois added to the
+frightfulness. Yet the struggle was brief. The enemy, finding themselves
+on the losing side, began to fly, pursued by the soldiers, and indeed,
+many of the inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier roused at the first alarm, and Du Parc gave orders that were
+speedily obeyed. The citadel was in a glow of light and wild commotion.</p>
+
+<p>Giffard ran down the stone steps with his musket. Destournier barred his
+way.</p>
+
+<p>"Some of us have no wives," he said briefly. "Go back and keep guard
+until we see what the dastardly attack means."</p>
+
+<p>"There are wives and children in the settlement," was the reply, but he
+paused while Destournier ran on. When he was out of sight, Giffard
+followed.</p>
+
+<p>The soldiers pursued the flying band, but they presently plunged into
+the woods and crept on stealthily, while the pursuers returned. The gray
+morning began to dawn on the smoking ruin and the fitful blazes that the
+men were trying hard to extinguish with the snow. Destournier went from
+one to another. A few huts had not been disturbed, and crying women and
+children were crowding in them. Some bodies lay silent on the
+blood-stained snow. Destournier had taken great pride in the surprise he
+had thought to give the Governor on his return, and here lay most of his
+hopes in ruins.</p>
+
+<p>He gave orders that the wounded should be taken to the fort for
+treatment. It was a gratification to find two Iroquois dead, and when a
+soldier despatched a wounded one he made no comment. It was pitiful when
+the sun rose over the scene of destruction.</p>
+
+<p>"Still there could not have been a large body, or the carnage would have
+been more complete," he said, with some comforting assurance.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better come in for some breakfast," an officer remarked. "You
+look ghastly, and you are blood-stained."</p>
+
+<p>He glanced down at his garments. "Yes," he said, "I will take your
+advice. I want something hot to drink. And we must send some food over
+there."</p>
+
+<p>Rose came flying in as he was demolishing a savory slice of venison.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is M. Giffard?" she cried. "Miladi is so frightened. She wants
+him at once. Oh, wasn't it dreadful! Thank the saints you are safe!"</p>
+
+<p>"Giffard!" He had caught two or three glimpses of him in the m&ecirc;l&eacute;e. "He
+may be attending to the wounded. He is a brave fellow in an emergency. I
+must find him."</p>
+
+<p>He swallowed the brandy and water and rushed down to the improvised
+hospital. A dozen or more were being fed and nursed by Wanamee and two
+other Indian women. The priest, too, was kindly exhorting courage and
+patience. Giffard was not here. No one had seen him. He ran over the
+crusty, but trodden-down snow, stained here and there with blood. The
+sun had risen gorgeously, and there was a decided balminess in the air.
+He glanced at the insides of the huts. The furry skins had not been good
+conductors of flames, and the snow on the roofs had saved them. Beside
+the two dead Iroquois there was an Abenaqui woman and her child. In the
+huts that were intact, the frightened women and children had huddled.
+Some of the men were already appraising possible repairs.</p>
+
+<p>"They went this way," announced an Algonquin, in his broken French. He
+had been employed about the fort and found trusty.</p>
+
+<p>The path was marked with blood and fragments of clothing, bags of maize,
+that they had dropped in their flight&mdash;finding them a burthen. Here lay
+an Iroquois with a broken leg, who was twisting himself along. The
+Algonquin hit him a blow over the head with the stout club he carried.</p>
+
+<p>"He will not get much further," he commented, as the Indian dropped over
+motionless.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you seen M. Giffard?" Destournier asked.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Non, non</i>. The men came back."</p>
+
+<p>"He is not at the fort."</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we follow on?"</p>
+
+<p>Destournier nodded.</p>
+
+<p>They heard a step crunching over the snow and waited breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>It was Jacques Roleau they saw as he came in sight, one of the workmen
+at the fort. He gestured to them that all was right.</p>
+
+<p>"They have fled, what was left of them," he explained. "I despatched two
+wounded Iroquois that they had left behind. There are two of our men
+that they must have made prisoners, the M'sieu at the fort who has the
+pretty wife, and young Chauvin"&mdash;and he paused, as if there was more to
+say.</p>
+
+<p>"Wounded?"</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"Dead?" Destournier's breath came with a gasp.</p>
+
+<p>"Both dead, M'sieu, but strange, neither has been scalped."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us push on," exclaimed Destournier sadly.</p>
+
+<p>They followed the trail. After a short distance a body had been dragged
+evidently. Roleau led the way through a tortuous path until they came in
+sight of a small vacant spot where sometime Indians had camped, as they
+could tell by the scorched and blackened trees. A nearly nude body had
+been fastened to one and a few dead branches gathered, evidently for a
+fire.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier stood speechless. The head hung down, the face was unmarred,
+save for a few scratches, and he gave thanks for that. But his heart was
+heavy within him. The poor body had been stabbed and cut, yet it had not
+bled much, it seemed.</p>
+
+<p>He would have felt relieved if he had known the whole story. Two
+stalwart bucks had seized Giffard just beyond the settlement and hurried
+him along at such a pace that he could hardly breathe. They fastened his
+arms behind, each man grasping an elbow, and fairly galloped, until one
+of them caught his foot in a fallen tree and went down. In the fall
+Giffard's temple struck against a stone that knocked him senseless. He
+might have revived, but he was hurried along by a stout leathern thong
+slipped under the armpits, and was then dragged a dead weight. They had
+stopped for a holocaust and bound him to a tree, while they despatched
+the younger man. But there was difficulty in finding anything dry enough
+to burn, so they had amused themselves by gashing the dead body. Then
+suddenly alarmed they had plunged farther into the forest, leaving one
+of their own wounded that Roleau had finished.</p>
+
+<p>Giffard had been captured in a moment of incautiousness, but the sights
+and the wantonness had fired his blood and roused a spirit of
+retaliation.</p>
+
+<p>They had nearly stripped both bodies, and carried off the garments.</p>
+
+<p>"If you can manage, M'sieu," exclaimed their guide, "I will take the
+young fellow." He stooped, picked him up, and threw him over his
+shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"You will find him a heavy burthen," as the man staggered a little.</p>
+
+<p>"I can carry. Do not fear," nodding assurance.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier took off his fur coat and wrapped it about the poor body.
+Each took hold of the improvised litter and they commenced their
+melancholy journey. How could Madame Giffard stand it, for she really
+did love him. The man's heart ached with the sincerest pity.</p>
+
+<p>They laid down their burthens inside the settlement in one of the partly
+destroyed cabins. Du Parc came thither to meet them.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah," he exclaimed, "that fine young fellow who was going to be a great
+success. The company wanted him back in France. And his poor wife! The
+blow will kill her."</p>
+
+<p>"I wished him to remain within for her sake. He was no coward, either. I
+would give the whole settlement if it would restore him to life. The
+Governor thought it an excellent, but venturesome plan. But we must have
+colonists if ever we are to make a town that will be an honor to New
+France."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not such a complete ruin. We have lost two men, one woman, and
+three children. Five Iroquois bodies have been found and two are badly
+wounded."</p>
+
+<p>"And two more out in the woods. They had better be buried, so as to stir
+up no more strife. It could not have been a large party, or we would
+have suffered more severely."</p>
+
+<p>"The English have had many of these surprises. I think we have been
+fortunate, even if we have fewer in numbers. And it would have been
+worse if there had been growing crops."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall have the fortifications strengthened. And perhaps it would be
+well to keep guard."</p>
+
+<p>They left Roleau in charge of the bodies and turned to the fort. The
+wounded had been made comfortable.</p>
+
+<p>Rose sprang down the steps to meet Destournier.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, have you found him? Miladi is almost dead with grief and anxiety.
+She is sure they have killed M. Giffard."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor wife! How will we tell her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, then he is dead?" The child's face was blanched with terror.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he has been killed by the cruel savages. But we have brought home
+his body. Who is with her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wanamee and Madawando, who is saying charms over her. She is the
+medicine woman who brought back the Gaudrion baby when he was dead. Oh,
+can you not make her bring back M. Giffard? Miladi will surely die of
+grief. Couldn't they put some one in his place? Wouldn't the great God
+listen to the priest's prayers?" and she raised her humid, beseeching
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"My child, you loved him dearly."</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes. Then he made me feel&mdash;well, as if I could run away. He was
+never cross. Oh, I think it was because he loved Miladi so very much,
+there was no room for any one else. And that is why I love you
+so&mdash;because you have no one belonging to you."</p>
+
+<p>"We are alike in that," he made answer.</p>
+
+<p>He saw Wanamee presently.</p>
+
+<p>"She goes from one dying fit to another. Madawando brings her back. But
+if he is dead, M'sieu, why should they not let her join him?"</p>
+
+<p>Would she be happier in that great unknown land with him. What was there
+here for her?</p>
+
+<p>And some way he felt in part responsible. He had risked his life to save
+Destournier's property.</p>
+
+<p>There were sad days in the fort. The weather came off comparatively
+pleasant, and the half-ruined huts were repaired, the wounded healed,
+the losses made good, as far as possible. The dead Iroquois were put in
+a trench, but better sepulture was provided for the colonists, and the
+services over the body of M. Giffard were in a degree military. The two
+R&eacute;collet priests were kindness and devotion personified, and they said
+prayers every hour in their rude little chapel, where a candle was kept
+burning before the altar.</p>
+
+<p>They frowned severely on what they termed the mummeries of Madawando.
+Even the Indian converts, and they were few enough, lapsed into charms
+and incantations in times of trouble. They willingly had their children
+baptized, as if this was one of the charms to ward off danger. But the
+priests labored with unabated courage.</p>
+
+<p>Miladi seemed to hover a long while between the two worlds, it was
+thought, but the real spring was coming on, and all nature was reviving.
+She had never quite wanted to die, so at the lowest ebb she seemed to
+will herself back to life by some occult power.</p>
+
+<p>Rose meanwhile had run quite wild, but she had been Destournier's
+companion in his walks, in his canoe journeys; sometimes with Marie
+Gaudrion, she was in and out of the settlement, and as she understood a
+little of the several Indian languages, she was quite a favorite; but
+Destournier felt troubled about her at times. She was very fearless,
+very upright, and detected the subterfuges of the children of the
+wilderness, condemning them most severely. But they never seemed angry
+with her.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes he thought he would send her to France and begin her education
+in a convent. But could the wild little thing who skipped and danced and
+sung, climbed rocks and trees, managed a canoe, tamed birds that came
+and sang on her shoulder, endure the dull routine of convent life? She
+could read French quite fluently. She had taken an immense fancy to
+Latin, and caught the lines so easily when Destournier read them from
+musical Horace, or the stirring scenes of the Odyssey, the only two
+Latin books he owned. And her head was stuffed full of wild Indian
+tales.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder," she said one day, as she sat on the rocks, leaning against
+Destournier's knee, the soft wind playing through the silken tendrils of
+her hair&mdash;"I wonder if you should die whether I could be like miladi,
+and want the room dark and have every one go in the softest moccasins,
+and have headaches and the sound of any one's voice pierce through you
+like a knife. It would be terrible."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you think of that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I love you best of everybody. The Governor is very nice, but he
+is in France so much and you are here. Then we can climb rocks together
+and sit in the forests and hear the trees talk. I go to M. Giffard's
+grave and say over the spells Madawando taught me, to bring him back,
+but he does not come. If he could, miladi would be bright and gay again,
+and we would dance and sing, and have merry times. If you died I should
+want to die, too."</p>
+
+<p>He was touched by the child's simple devotion.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not going to die. Your Madawando told me I should live to be very
+old. There were some curious lines in my hand."</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad," she said simply.</p>
+
+<p>"But you had better not tell the good priest that you are trying to
+bring M. Giffard back to life in this Indian fashion. They think it a
+sin."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not like the priests, in their dirty gray gowns, and their heads
+looking as if they had been scalped. Only when they read in their book.
+It sounds like those great people in the wars of Troy."</p>
+
+<p>And this was a little Christian girl. Were not the priests also praying
+that the souls in purgatory might be lightened of their burden? and he
+smiled.</p>
+
+<p>But somehow miladi pressed heavily upon his conscience. M. Giffard had
+come to <i>his</i> assistance, to save his property, as well as to save human
+lives. He lost sight of the great brotherhood of mankind, of the heroism
+of a truly noble soul. Was there anything he could do to lighten her
+burthen?</p>
+
+<p>At last she expressed a desire to see him. He had looked to find her
+wasted away with grief, changed so that it would be sorrow to look upon
+her. She was pale, but, it seemed, more really beautiful than he had
+ever known her. Her gown was white, and she had a thin black scarf
+thrown around her shoulders which enhanced her fairness. There could be
+no shopping for mourning in this benighted country.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I should go to him," she said in her soft, half-languid
+voice. "But the good P&egrave;re believes there is something for me to do and
+that I must be content to remain, and thankful to live. But all is so
+changed. Sometimes I make myself believe that Laurent has gone back to
+France to settle matters. He counted so on our return. And that he will
+come again for me."</p>
+
+<p>"You would like to go to friends?"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, there are not many. Some have gone to England, some to Holland,
+not liking the new King's policy. And some are dead. I should have no
+one to make a home for me. A woman's loneliness is intense. She cannot
+turn to business, nor go out and find friends."</p>
+
+<p>That was true enough. He pitied her profoundly.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it true our Governor is bringing his new wife to Quebec?" she asked
+presently.</p>
+
+<p>"So the trading vessels have said. They are already loading up with
+furs, and trade seems brisk. Of course it brings great confusion. I have
+taken charge of M. Giffard's bales that came in last week. They had
+better be sent as usual. The Paris firm is eager for them. They are a
+fine lot. What is your pleasure?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, relieve me of all care that you can. I am so helpless. Laurent did
+everything. Women were never meant for business, he thought. I am no
+wiser than a child."</p>
+
+<p>She looked so helpless, so sweet, so dependent.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be glad to do what I can. Yes, it would be no place for a
+woman. She could not manage matters. And if you like to trust me&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I would trust you in all things. Laurent thought your judgment
+excellent. He cared so much for you. Oh, if you will take charge&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She looked up with sweet, appealing eyes. Did he not owe her some
+protection and care? He was pondering silently.</p>
+
+<p>"You have relieved me of such a burthen. I think I shall get well now.
+I hardly knew whether I wanted most to live or die."</p>
+
+<p>"Life is best, sweetest." It would be for her. He uttered the sentence
+involuntarily.</p>
+
+<p>"You make it so." Her eyes were bewitchingly downcast and a faint color
+fluttered over her face, while her pretty hands worked nervously.</p>
+
+<p>He paced the gallery afterward in the twilight, when the stars were
+slowly finding their way through the blue vault overhead, and the river
+plashed by with its monotone of music. She might desire to return to
+France; this life in the wilderness did not appeal to delicate women.
+Yet she had taken it very cheerfully, he thought.</p>
+
+<p>If she decided to stay&mdash;there was one way in which he could befriend
+her, perhaps make her happy again. Marriage was hardly considered the
+outcome of love in that period, many other considerations entered into
+it. There were betrothals where the future husband and wife saw each
+other for the first time. And they did very well. His ideas of married
+life were a sort of good-fellowship and admiration, if the woman was
+pretty; good cooking and a desire to please among the commoner ones. At
+four and twenty he had not given the matter much consideration. Madame
+Giffard was full thirty, but she looked like a girl in her lightness and
+grace. And he owed the memory of M. Giffard something. This step would
+make amends and allay a troublesome sort of conscience in the matter.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>WHAT ROSE DID NOT LIKE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Eustache Boull&eacute;, the Governor's brother-in-law, had been not a little
+surprised when his sister was helped off the vessel at Tadoussac. He
+greeted her warmly.</p>
+
+<p>"But I never believed you would come to this wild country," he
+exclaimed, with a half-mischievous smile. "I am afraid the Sieur has let
+his hopes of the future run riot in his brain. He can see great things
+with that far gaze of his."</p>
+
+<p>"But a good wife follows her husband. We have had a rather stormy and
+tiresome passage, but praised be the saints, we have at last reached our
+haven."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will see some promise in it. We on the business side do not
+look for pleasure alone."</p>
+
+<p>"It is wild, but marvellously fine. The islands with their frowning
+rocks and glowing verdure, the points, and headlands, the great gulf and
+the river are really majestic. And you&mdash;you are a man. Two years have
+made a wondrous change. I wish our mother could see you. She has
+frightful dreams of your being captured by Indians."</p>
+
+<p>He laughed at that.</p>
+
+<p>"Are the Indians very fierce here?" she asked timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"Some tribes are, the Hurons. And others are very easily managed if you
+can keep fire-water away from them."</p>
+
+<p>"Fire"&mdash;wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Rum or brandy. You will see strange sights. But you must not get
+frightened. Now tell me about our parents."</p>
+
+<p>The Sieur was quite angry when he heard some boats had been up the
+river, and bartered firearms and ammunition for peltries. It was their
+desire to keep the white man's weapons away from the savages.</p>
+
+<p>Pontgrave had left a bark for the Governor, and Eustache joined them as
+they went journeying on to Quebec. It was new and strange to the young
+wife, whose lines so far had been cast in civilized places. The wide,
+ever-changing river, the rough, unbroken country with here and there a
+clearing, where parties of hunters had encamped and left their rude
+stone fireplaces, the endless woods with high hills back of them, and
+several groups of Indians with a wigwam for shelter, that interested her
+very much. Braves were spread out on the carpet of dried leaves, playing
+some kind of game with short knives and smoking leisurely. Squaws
+gossiping and gesticulating with as much interest as their fairer
+sisters, their attire new and strange, and papooses tumbling about. They
+passed great tangles of wild grapes that scented the air, here and there
+an island shimmering with the bloom of blueberries.</p>
+
+<p>Then the great cliff of Quebec came in sight. Latterly it had taken on
+an aspect of decay that caused the Governor to frown. The courtyard was
+littered with rubbish from a building that had actually fallen down, and
+a new one was being erected. And though some of the houses were quite
+comfortable within, the exterior was very unattractive, from the
+different materials, like patches put on to add warmth in winter.</p>
+
+<p>The cannon rang out a salute, and the lilies of France floated in the
+brilliant sunshine. Officers and men had formed a sort of cordon, and
+from the gallery several ladies looked down and waved handkerchiefs. The
+H&eacute;berts, with their son and daughter, a few other women, a little above
+the peasant rank, had joined them and Madame Giffard, who still essayed
+a r&ocirc;le of delicacy.</p>
+
+<p>The Sieur took formal possession again in the name of the new Governor
+General, the Duke of Montmorency. Then they repaired to the little
+chapel, where the priest held a service of thanksgiving for their safe
+arrival.</p>
+
+<p>The R&eacute;collets had chosen a site on the St. Charles river, some distance
+from the post, and had begun the erection of a church and convent, for
+headquarters. Madame Champlain was pleased to hear this and held quite a
+lengthy talk with P&egrave;re Jamay, who was glad to find the new wife took a
+fervent interest in religion, for even among the French women he had not
+awakened the influence he had hoped for, in his enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>Eustache began a tour of observation. Perched on a rock with a great
+hemlock tree back of her, he saw a small human being that he was quite
+sure was not an Indian girl. She was talking to something, and raised
+her small forefinger to emphasize her words. What incantation was she
+using?</p>
+
+<p>As he came nearer he saw it was a flock of pigeons. She had been feeding
+them berries and grains of rye. They arched their glossy necks and cooed
+in answer. He watched in amaze, drawing nearer. What sprite of the
+forest was this?</p>
+
+<p>Did she feel the influence that invaded her solitude? She glanced up
+with wide startled eyes at the intruder, and looked at first as if she
+would fly.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not be afraid, I will not harm you," said a clear, reassuring voice.
+"Are you charming the wild things of the forest? Your incantation was in
+French&mdash;do they understand the language?"</p>
+
+<p>"They understand me."</p>
+
+<p>There was a curious dignity in her reply.</p>
+
+<p>"You are French, Mam'selle?"</p>
+
+<p>"I came from France a long while ago, so long that I do not remember."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it in another life? Are you human, or some forest nymph? For you
+are not out of childhood."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not understand."</p>
+
+<p>"But you must belong to some one&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No," she said proudly. "I have never really belonged to any one. M'sieu
+Destournier is my good friend, and miladi took me when the Dubrays went
+to the fur country. But she has been ill, and she does not like me as
+she used."</p>
+
+<p>"But you must have a home&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I live at the post, mostly with Wanamee. Some days my lady sends for
+me. But I like out-of-doors, and the birds, and the blue sky, and the
+voice of the falling waters that are always going on, and the great gray
+rocks, where I find mossy little caves with red bloom like tiny
+papooses, and the tall grasses that shake their heads so wisely, as if
+they knew secrets they would never tell. And the birds&mdash;even some of the
+little lizards with their bright black eyes. They are dainty, not like
+the snakes that go twisting along."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not afraid of them?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not molest them," calmly.</p>
+
+<p>"You should have been down at the post. The Governor's wife has come."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I saw her. And I did not like her. But the Sieur was always kind
+to me. He used to show me journeys on the maps, and the great lakes he
+has seen. He has been all over the world, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no. But I think he would like to. Why do you not like Madame de
+Champlain?"</p>
+
+<p>She studied him with a thoughtful gaze.</p>
+
+<p>"M'sieu Ralph told me when he went to France he was betrothed to a
+pretty little French girl, and that some day he would bring her here to
+be his wife. I was glad of the little girl. I like Marie Gaudrion, but
+she has to care for the babies and&mdash;she does not understand why I love
+the woods and the rocks. And I thought this other little <i>girl</i>&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She was so na&iuml;ve that he smiled, but it was not the smile to hurt one.</p>
+
+<p>"She was a little girl then. But every one grows. Some day you will be a
+woman."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I will not. I shall stay this way," and she patted the ground
+decisively with her small foot, the moccasin being little more than a
+sandal, and showed the high arch and shapely ankle that dimpled with the
+motion.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid you cannot. But I think you will like Madame when you know
+her. I am her brother, though I have not seen her for over two years."</p>
+
+<p>She studied him attentively. The birds began to grow restless and
+circled about her as if to warn off the intruder. Then she suddenly
+listened. There was a familiar step climbing the rock.</p>
+
+<p>M'sieu Destournier parted the hemlock branches.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I should find you here. Why did you run away? Ah, M. Boull&eacute;,"
+but the older man frowned a little.</p>
+
+<p>"She left the company because my sister was grown up and not the little
+girl she imagined. Is she a product of the forest? Her very ignorance is
+charming."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not ignorant!" she returned. "I can read a page in Latin, and that
+miladi cannot do."</p>
+
+<p>"She is a curious child," explained Destournier, "but a sweet and noble
+nature, and innocent is the better word for it. The birds all know her,
+and she has a tame doe that follows her about, except that it will not
+venture inside the palisade. I'm not sure but she could charm a wolf."</p>
+
+<p>"The Loup Garou," laughed the younger man. "I think nothing would dare
+harm her. But I should like my sister to see her. Oh, I am sure you will
+like her, even if she is a woman grown."</p>
+
+<p>"Come," said Destournier, holding out his hand.</p>
+
+<p>The pigeons had circled wider and wider, and were now purplish shadows
+against the serene blue. Rose sprang up and clasped Destournier's hand.
+But she was silent as they took their way down.</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever bewitched my august brother-in-law about this place I cannot
+see. Except that the new fort will sweep the river and render the town
+impregnable from that side. It will be the key of the North. But
+Montreal will be a finer town at much less cost."</p>
+
+<p>Rose was fain to refuse at the last moment, but M'sieu Ralph persuaded.
+The few women of any note were gathered in the room miladi had first
+occupied. Rose looked curiously at the daughter of M. H&eacute;bert&mdash;she was so
+much taller than she used to be, and her hair was put up on her head
+with a big comb.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art a sweet child," said Madame de Champlain. "And whose daughter
+may she be?"</p>
+
+<p>It was an awkward question. Destournier flushed unconsciously.</p>
+
+<p>"She is the Rose of Quebec," he made answer, with a smile. "Her parents
+were dead before she came here."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I remember hearing the Governor speak of her, and learned that
+there were so few real citizens in Quebec who were to grow up with the
+town as their birthright. It is but a dreary-looking place, yet the wild
+river, the great gulf, the magnificent forests give one a sense of
+grandeur, yet loneliness. And my husband says it is the same hundreds of
+miles to the westward; that there are lakes like oceans in themselves.
+And such furs! All Paris is wild with the beauty of them. Yet they lie
+around here as if of no value."</p>
+
+<p>"You would find that the traders appraise them pretty well," and he
+raised his brows a trifle, while a rather amused expression played about
+his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there always such a turmoil of trade?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no. The traders scatter before mid-autumn. The cold weather sets in
+and the snow and ice are our companions. The small streams freeze up.
+But the Sieur has written of all these things in his book."</p>
+
+<p>He looked inquiringly at her for a touch of enthusiasm, but her sweet
+face was placid.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur my husband desired that I should be educated in his religion
+in the convent. We do not take up worldly matters, that is not
+considered becoming to girls and women. We think more of the souls that
+may be saved from perdition. The men go ahead to discover, the priests
+come to teach these ignorant savages that they have souls that must be
+returned to God, or suffer eternally."</p>
+
+<p>There spoke the devotee. Destournier wondered a little how the Sieur had
+come to choose a d&eacute;vote for a wife. For he was a born explorer, with a
+body and a will of such strength that present defeat only spurred him
+on. But where was there a woman to match him, to add to his courage and
+resolve! Perhaps men did not need such women. Destournier was not an
+enthusiast in religious matters. He had been here long enough to
+understand the hold their almost childish superstitions had on the
+Indians, their dull and brutish lack of any high motive, their brutal
+and barbarous customs. They were ready to be baptized a dozen times over
+just as they would use any of their own charms, or for the gain of some
+trifle.</p>
+
+<p>Madame seemed to study the frank face of the little girl. How beautiful
+her eyes were; her eager, intelligent, spirited face; the fine skin that
+was neither light nor dark, and withstood sun and wind alike, and lost
+none of its attractive tints. But she was so different from the little
+girls sent to the nuns for training. They never looked up at you with
+these wide-open eyes that seemed to question you, to weigh you.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no convent here where you can be taught?" addressing herself
+to the child.</p>
+
+<p>"The fathers are building one. But it is only for the men. The women
+cook and learn to dress deerskins until they are like velvet. They must
+make the clothing, for not a great deal comes from France. And it would
+only do for ladies like you and Madame Giffard."</p>
+
+<p>"But there must be some education, some training, some prayers," and the
+lady looked rather helpless.</p>
+
+<p>She was very sweet and beautiful in her soft silken dress of gray, that
+was flowered in the same color, and trimmed with fur and velvet. From
+her belt depended a chain of carved ivory beads and a crucifix, from
+another chain a small oval looking-glass in a silver frame. Her flaring
+collar of lace and the stomacher were worked in pearls. Many Parisians
+had them sewn with jewels.</p>
+
+<p>"I can read French very well," said Rose, after a pause. "And some
+Latin."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the prayers, and some of the old hymns&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, it isn't prayers exactly&mdash;except to their gods. There are so many
+gods. Jove was the great one."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my child, this is heresy. There is but one God and the Holy Virgin,
+and the saints to whom you can make invocation."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then I think you have a number of gods. Do you pray to them all?
+And what do you pray for?"</p>
+
+<p>"For the wicked world to be converted to God, for them to love Him, and
+serve Him."</p>
+
+<p>"And how do they serve Him?" inquired the child. "If He is the great God
+Father Jamay teaches He can do everything, have everything. It is all
+His. Then why does He not keep people well, so they can work, and not
+blight the crops with fierce storms. Sometimes great fields of maize are
+swept down. And the little children die; the Indians kill each other,
+and at times the white men who serve them."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, child, you do not understand. There must be convents in this new
+world for the training of girls. They must be taught to pray that God's
+will may be done, not their own."</p>
+
+<p>"How would I know it was God's will?" asked the irreverent child,
+decisively, yet with a certain sweetness.</p>
+
+<p>"The good Father would tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"How would he know?"</p>
+
+<p>"He lives a holy life in communion with God."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the convent like?" suddenly changing her thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a large house full of little ones, the sisters' cells, the
+novices' cells&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There are some at the post. They put criminals in them. They are filthy
+and dark," with a kind of protesting vehemence.</p>
+
+<p>"These are clean, because they are whitewashed, and you scrub the floor
+twice a week. There is a little pallet on which you sleep, a
+<i>prie-dieu</i>&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?" interrupted the child.</p>
+
+<p>"A little altar, with a stone step on which you kneel. And a crucifix at
+the top, a book of prayer and invocation. Many of the sisters pray an
+hour at midnight. All pray an hour in the morning, then breakfast and
+the chapel for another hour, with prayers and singing. After that the
+classes. The little girls are taught the catechism and manners, if they
+are to go out in the world, sewing and embroidery. At noon prayers again
+and a little lunch, then work out of doors for an hour, and running
+about for exercise, catechising again, singing, supper and a chapel
+hour, and then to bed. But the nuns spend the evening in prayer, so do
+the devout."</p>
+
+<p>"Madame, I shall never go in a convent, if the Fathers build one for
+girls. I like the big out-of-doors. And if God made the world He made it
+for some purpose, that people should go out and enjoy it. I like the
+wilderness, the great blue sky, the sun and the stars at night, the
+trees and the river, and the birds and the deer and the beautiful wild
+geese, as they sail in great flocks. If I was shut up in a cell I should
+beat my head against the stones until it was a jelly, and then I should
+be dead."</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Champlain looked at the child in amaze. In her decorous life
+she had known nothing like it.</p>
+
+<p>"And I wish there were no women. I do not like women any more. Men are
+better because they live out of doors and do not pray so much. Except
+the priests. And they are dirty."</p>
+
+<p>Then she turned away and went out on the gallery, with a curiously
+swelling heart. Oh, why was not Marie Gaudrion different? What made
+people so unlike. If there was some one&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Ha, little maid, where are you running to so fast?" exclaimed a
+laughing voice. "Have you seen my sister yet?"</p>
+
+<p>Eustache Boull&eacute; caught her arm, but she shook him off, and stood up
+squarely, facing him. What vigor and resolution there was in her small
+bewitching face.</p>
+
+<p>"Hi, hi! thou art a plucky little <i>fille</i>, ready for a quarrel by the
+looks of thy flashing eyes. What have I done to thee, that thou shouldst
+shake me off as a viper?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing! I am not to be handled roughly. I am going my way, and I think
+it will not interfere with thine."</p>
+
+<p>A pleasant smile crossed his face which made him really attractive, and
+half disarmed her fierceness.</p>
+
+<p>"My way is set in no special lines until I return to Tadoussac. Hast
+thou seen my sister?"</p>
+
+<p>She nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Every one loves her. She is as good as she is beautiful. And she will
+charm thee," in a triumphant tone, gathering that the interview had not
+already done this.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not to be charmed in that fashion. Yes, she is beautiful, but she
+would like me to be put in a convent. And I would throw myself in the
+river first."</p>
+
+<p>"There are no convents, little one. And but few people to put into them.
+In a new country it is best that they marry and have families. When
+there are too many women then convents play a useful part."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me pass," she cried disdainfully, but not trying to push aside.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me where you go!"</p>
+
+<p>"To M&egrave;re Gaudrion's to see that soft-headed Marie. I wish she had some
+ideas, but she is good and cheerful, and does as she is told."</p>
+
+<p>"You are not very complimentary to your friend."</p>
+
+<p>"But if I said she had a bad temper, and told what was not true, and
+slapped her little brothers and sisters, that would be a falsehood. And
+if I said she understood the song of the birds and the sough of the wind
+among the trees, and the running, tumbling little streams that are
+always saying 'oh! let me get to the gulf as soon as possible, for I
+want to see what a great ocean is like,' it would not be true either. I
+like Marie," calmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art a curious little casuist. I am glad you like her. It shows
+that you are human. There are strange creatures in the woods and wilds
+of this new world."</p>
+
+<p>"There is the Loup Garou, but I have not seen him. He gets changed from
+a man to a fierce dog, and if you kill the dog, the man dies. There is
+the Windigo, and the old medicine woman can call strange things out of a
+sick person who has been bewitched, and then he gets well. But M.
+Destournier laughs at these stories."</p>
+
+<p>The young man had been backing slowly toward the steps and she had
+followed without taking note.</p>
+
+<p>Now he said&mdash;"Let me help you down."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not lame, M'sieu, neither am I blind."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you take me to see Marie Gaudrion?"</p>
+
+<p>"You would laugh at her, I see it in your eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"Are my eyes such telltales?"</p>
+
+<p>He had not the placid fairness of his sister, and his chestnut hair
+curled about his temples. His cheeks were red enough for a girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Why should you want to see her?"</p>
+
+<p>"I want to see all there is in Quebec. I want to know how the colony
+progresses. I may put it in a book."</p>
+
+<p>"Like the Governor. But you could not make maps out of people," with an
+air of triumph.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not so sure. See here."</p>
+
+<p>He drew from his pocket a roll and held one of the leaves before her
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that is old Temekwisa sitting out by the hut. And, M'sieu, he looks
+half drunken, as he nearly always is. And that is Jacques Barbeau
+breaking stone. Why, it is wonderful. And who else have you?"</p>
+
+<p>There were several Indians in a powwow around the fire, there was a
+woman with a papoose on her back, and a few partly done.</p>
+
+<p>"And the Sieur&mdash;and your sister?" eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"I have tried dozens of times and cannot please myself. The Indians have
+about the same salient points, and that lack of expression when they are
+tranquil. They are easy to do. And I can sometimes catch the fierce
+anger. At home I would have a teacher. Here I have to go by myself, try,
+and tear up. Then I am busy with many other things."</p>
+
+<p>Her resentment had mostly subsided. His gift, if it could be called
+that, fascinated her. She had reproduced wonderful pictures in her
+brain, but to do them with her hand would be marvellous, like the Sieur
+writing his books.</p>
+
+<p>They had reached the garden of the Gaudrions. Pierre was employed
+regularly now and was studying the plans of the new fort. Marie was
+seated on the grass, cutting leather fringe for garments and leggings.
+You could use up otherwise useless bits that way. The M&egrave;re was farther
+down pulling weeds from the carrot bed, and directing the labors of two
+children, at whom she shook a switch now and then. Marie had a baby on
+each side of her, tumbling about in the grass.</p>
+
+<p>She looked up and nodded, while a heavy sort of smile settled about her
+lips, the upper one protruding a little, on account of two prominent
+teeth. Eustache had seen the peasant type at home, the low forehead, the
+deep-set eyes, the short nose, flattened at the base, the wide mouth and
+rather broad, unmeaning countenance, the type of women who bear burthens
+without complaining and do not resent when they are beaten. Marie had an
+abundance of blue-black hair, a clear skin, and a soft color in her
+cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>Boull&eacute; glanced from one to the other, the lithe figure, the spirited
+face, the eyes that could flash and soften and sparkle with mirth almost
+in a minute, it seemed. What a distance lay between them.</p>
+
+<p>"Marie, this is"&mdash;then Rose paused and flushed, and glanced at her
+unbidden companion.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Eustache Boull&eacute; and my sister is the wife of the Governor de
+Champlain. And though I have been up and down the river I have never
+really visited Quebec before."</p>
+
+<p>Marie nodded and went on cutting fringe.</p>
+
+<p>"And he has done pictures&mdash;Temekwisa, that you would know in a minute.
+He did them with a pencil. Show them to her," she ordered, in a pretty
+peremptory manner, as with a graceful gesture of the hand she invited
+him to be seated on the grass, deftly rolling one baby over, who stared
+an instant, and then fell to sucking his fist.</p>
+
+<p>Marie's heavy face lighted up with a kind of cheerful surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you not go up and see them come in? And after the service of
+thanks, almost everybody went to see our dear Sieur's wife. She is
+beautiful in the face and wears a silken gown, and a little cap so fine
+you can see her hair through it. And she has small hands that look like
+snow, but not many rings, like Madame Giffard."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Ma m&egrave;re</i> went to the prayers, but we could not both go. I saw the line
+of boats and heard the salute. And your sister will live here with the
+Governor?"</p>
+
+<p>Eustache wanted to laugh, but commanded his countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, though 'tis a dreary place to live in after gay France. I long to
+go back."</p>
+
+<p>"They are to build a new fort. My father will work on it, and my
+brother, Pierre. And he wonders that you do not come oftener, Rose."</p>
+
+<p>"There has not been a moonlight in a long while. I cannot come in the
+dark. And now he wants his own way in all the plans and I like mine. He
+has grown so big he is not amusing any more."</p>
+
+<p>"But he likes you just as well," the girl said na&iuml;vely.</p>
+
+<p>Eustache glanced. Rose did not change color at this frank admission.</p>
+
+<p>Then the gun boomed out to announce the day's work for the government
+was over.</p>
+
+<p>Rose sprang up. "It will soon be supper time," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Stay and have it with us. There are some cold roasted pigeons, with
+spiced gravy turned over them. You shall have a whole one."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very good, Marie, but there are so many men about who have been
+drinking too much, that M. Destournier would read me a long lecture."</p>
+
+<p>"But Pierre would walk up with thee."</p>
+
+<p>Eustache had gathered up his pictures. They had only been an excuse to
+prolong his interview with Rose.</p>
+
+<p>"I will see that no harm comes to your friend. Adieu, Mam'selle," and he
+bowed politely, at which Marie only stared.</p>
+
+<p>"We are very good friends, are we not?" as he was parting with the
+pretty child.</p>
+
+<p>"But I might not like you to-morrow," archly.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>ABOUT MARRIAGES</h3>
+
+
+<p>The new fort was begun on the summit of the cliff, almost two hundred
+feet above the water, and the guns would command it up and down. A good
+deal of stone was used. New houses were being reared in a much better
+fashion, the crevices thickly plastered with mortar, the chimneys of
+stone, with generous fireplaces. Destournier had repaired his small
+settlement and added some ground to the cultivated area.</p>
+
+<p>"The only way to colonize," declared the Sieur. "If we could rouse the
+Indians into taking more interest. Civilization does not seem to attract
+them, though the women make good wives, and they are a scarce commodity.
+The English and the Dutch are wiser in this respect than we. When
+children are born on the soil and marry with their neighbors, one may be
+sure of good citizens."</p>
+
+<p>The church, too, was progressing, and was called Notre Dame des Anges.
+Madame de Champlain was intensely religious, and used her best efforts
+to further the plans. She took a great interest in the Indian children,
+and when she found many of the women were not really married to the
+laborers around the fort, insisted that P&egrave;re Jamay should perform the
+ceremony. The women were quite delighted with this, considering it a
+great mark of respect.</p>
+
+<p>She began to study the Algonquin language, which was the most prevalent.
+She had brought three serving women from France, but they were not
+heroic enough to be enamored of the hardships. There was so little
+companionship for her that but for her religion she would have had a
+lonely time. The H&eacute;berts were plain people and hardly felt themselves on
+a par with the wife of their Governor, though Champlain himself, with
+more democratic tastes, used often to drop in to consult the farmer and
+take a meal.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Giffard was not really religious. She was fond of pleasure and
+games of cards, and really hated any self-denial, or long prayers,
+though she went to Mass now and then. But between her and the earnest,
+devoted H&eacute;l&egrave;ne there was no sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>The new house was ready by October. H&eacute;l&egrave;ne would fain have had it made
+less comfortable, but this the Governor would not permit. It would be
+hung with furs when the bitter weather came in.</p>
+
+<p>No one paid much attention to Rose, who came and went, and wandered
+about at her own sweet will. Eustache Boull&eacute; was fairly fascinated with
+her, and followed her like a shadow when he was not in attendance on his
+sister. He persuaded her to sit for a picture, but it was quite
+impossible to catch her elusive beauty. She would turn her head, change
+the curve of her pretty lips, allow her eyes to rove about and then let
+the lids drop decorously in a fashion he called a nun's face; but it was
+adorable.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not be a nun," she would declare vehemently.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Mam'selle, thou art the kind to dance on a man's heart and make him
+most happy and most wretched. No nun's coif for that sunny, tangled mop
+of thine."</p>
+
+<p>He would fain have lingered through the winter, but a peremptory message
+came for him.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be here another summer and thou wilt be older, and understand
+better what life is like."</p>
+
+<p>"It is good enough and pleasant enough now," she answered perversely.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder&mdash;if thou wilt miss me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, silly! The splendid canoeing and the races we run, and I may
+be big enough next summer to go to Lachine. I would like to rush through
+the rapids that Antoine the sailor tells about, where you feel as if you
+were going down to the centre of the world."</p>
+
+<p>"No woman would dare. It would not be safe," he objected.</p>
+
+<p>"Men are not always lost, only a few clumsy ones. And I can swim with
+the best of them."</p>
+
+<p>"M. Destournier will not let you go."</p>
+
+<p>"He is not my father. I belong just to myself, and I will do as I
+like."</p>
+
+<p>She stamped her foot on the ground, but she laughed as well. He was not
+nineteen yet, but a man would be able to manage her.</p>
+
+<p>She did miss him when he was gone. And it seemed as if Marie grew more
+stupid and cared less for her. And that lout of a Jules Personeau would
+sit by her on the grass, or help her pick berries or grapes and open
+them skilfully, take out the seeds or the pits of plums, and place them
+on the flat rocks to dry. He never seemed to talk. And Rose knew that M.
+Destournier scolded because he was not breaking stone.</p>
+
+<p>He was building a new house himself, and helping the Sieur plan out the
+path from the fort up above to the settlement down below. They did not
+dream that one day it would be the upper and the lower town, and that on
+the plain would be fought one of the historic battles of the world,
+where two of the bravest of men would give up their lives, and the
+lilies of France go down for the last time. Quebec was beginning to look
+quite a town.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier's house commanded his settlement, which was more strongly
+fortified with a higher palisade, over which curious thorn vines were
+growing for protection. He had a fine wheat field, and some tobacco. Of
+Indian corn a great waving regiment planted only two rows thick so as to
+give no chance for skulking marauders.</p>
+
+<p>The house of M. Giffard was falling into decay. Miladi had sent to
+France early in the season for many new stuffs and trinkets, and the
+settlement of some affairs, instead of turning all over to Destournier.
+The goods had come at an exorbitant price, but there had been a great
+tangle in money matters, and at his death his concessions had passed
+into other hands.</p>
+
+<p>"They always manage to rob a woman," he thought grimly.</p>
+
+<p>"I supposed you were to leave things in my hands," he said, a little
+upbraidingly, to her.</p>
+
+<p>"I make you so much trouble. And you have so much to do for the Governor
+and your settlement, and I am so weak and helpless. I have never been
+strong since that dreadful night. I miss all the care and love. Oh, if
+you were a woman you would know how heart-breaking it was. I wish I were
+dead! I wish I were dead!"</p>
+
+<p>"And you do not care to go back to France?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not torment me with that question. I should die on the voyage. And
+to be there without friends would be horrible. I have no taste for a
+convent."</p>
+
+<p>A great many times the vague plan had entered his mind as a sort of
+duty. Now he would put it into execution.</p>
+
+<p>"Become my wife," he said. He leaned over and took her slim hands in his
+and glanced earnestly into her eyes, and saw there were fine wrinkles
+setting about them. What did it matter? She needed protection and care,
+and there was no woman here that he could love as the romances
+described. He was too busy a man, too practical.</p>
+
+<p>She let her head drop on his broad breast. She had dreamed of this and
+used many little arts, but had never been sure of their effect. There
+were the years between, but she needed his strength and devotion more
+than a younger woman.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, ought I be so happy again?" she murmured. "There is so much that is
+strong and generous to you that a woman could rest content in giving her
+whole life to you, her best love."</p>
+
+<p>He wished she had not said that. He would have been content that her
+best love should lie softly in the grave, like an atmosphere around the
+sleeping body of Laurent Giffard, whom he had admired very much, and who
+had loved his wife with the fervor of youth. He drew a long breath of
+pity for the man. It seemed as if he was taking something away from him.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it true?" she asked, in a long silence.</p>
+
+<p>"That I shall care for you, yes. That you will be my wife." Then he
+kissed her tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so happy. Oh, you cannot think how sad I have been for months,
+with no one to care for me," and her voice was exquisitely pathetic.</p>
+
+<p>"I have cared for you all this while," he said. "You were like a sister
+to whom I owed a duty."</p>
+
+<p>"Duty is not quite love," in her soft murmurous tone, touching his cheek
+caressingly.</p>
+
+<p>He wondered a little what love was like, if this tranquil half pity was
+all. Madame de Champlain was like a child to her husband, the women
+emigrants thus far had not been of a high order, and the marriages had
+been mostly for the sake of a helpmeet and possible children. The
+Governor had really encouraged the mixed marriages, where the Indian
+women were of the better sort. A few of them were taking kindly to
+religion, and had many really useful arts in the way of making garments
+out of dressed deerskins. He chose rather some of those who had been
+taken prisoners and had no real affiliation with the tribes. They felt
+honored by marrying a white man, and now P&egrave;re Jamay performed a legal
+and religious ceremony, so that no man could put away his wife.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what do you think!" and Rose sprang eagerly to Destournier,
+catching him by the arm with both hands and giving a swing, as he was
+pacing the gallery, deep in his new plans. "It is so full of amusement
+for me. And I can't understand how she can do it. Jules Personeau is
+such a stupid! And that great shock of hair that keeps tumbling into his
+eyes. It is such a queer color, almost as if much sitting in the sun was
+turning it red."</p>
+
+<p>"What about Jules? He is very absent-minded nowadays, and does not
+attend to his work. The summer will soon be gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it isn't so much about Jules. Marie Gaudrion is going to marry
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, then I think it is half about Jules," laughing down into the eager
+face. "A girl can't be married alone."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I suppose you would have to go and live with some one," in a
+puzzled tone. "But Jules has such rough, dirty hands. He caught me a few
+days ago and patted my cheek, and I slapped him. I will not have rough
+hands touch me! And Marie laughs. She is only thirteen, but she says she
+is a woman. I don't want to be a woman. I won't have a husband, and be
+taken off to a hut, and cook, and work in the garden. M'sieu, I should
+fly to the woods and hide."</p>
+
+<p>"And the poor fellow would get no dinner." He laughed at her vehemence.
+"I suppose Jules is in love and we must excuse his absent-mindedness.
+Will it be soon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, Jules is getting his house ready. Barbe is to help her mother
+and care for the babies. I like Marie some," nodding indecisively, "but
+I wish there was a girl who liked to run and play, and climb trees, and
+talk to the birds, and oh, do a hundred things, all different from the
+other."</p>
+
+<p>She gave a little hop and a laugh of exquisite freedom. She was full of
+restless grace, as the birds themselves; her blooming cheeks and shining
+eyes, the way she carried her head, the face breaking into dimples with
+every motion, the mouth tempting in its rosy sweetness. He bent and
+kissed her. She held him a moment by the shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I like you, I like you," she cried. "You are above them all, you
+have something,"&mdash;her pretty brow knit,&mdash;"yet you are better than the
+Sieur even, the best of them all. If you will wait a long while I might
+marry you, but no other, no other," shaking her curls.</p>
+
+<p>He laughed, yet it was not from her na&iuml;ve confession. She did not
+realize what she was saying.</p>
+
+<p>"How old am I?" insistently.</p>
+
+<p>"About ten, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"Ten. And ten more would be twenty. Is that old?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no."</p>
+
+<p>"And Madame de Champlain was twelve when she was married in France.
+Well, I suppose that is right. And&mdash;two years more! No, M'sieu, I shall
+wait until I am twenty. Maybe I shall not want to climb trees then, nor
+scramble over rocks, nor chase the squirrels, and pelt them with nuts."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wilt be a decorous little lady then."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a long way off."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. And Wanamee is calling thee."</p>
+
+<p>"The priest says we must call her Jolette, that is her Christian name.
+Must I have another name? Well, I will not. Good-night," and away she
+ran.</p>
+
+<p>He fell into rumination again. What would she say to his marriage? He
+had a misgiving she would take it rather hardly. She had not been so
+rapturously in love with miladi of late, but since the death of her
+husband, the rather noisy glee of the child had annoyed her. She would
+be better now. Of course they would keep the child, she had no other
+friends, nor home.</p>
+
+<p>Marie Gaudrion's marriage was quite a mystery to Rose. That any one
+could love such an uncouth fellow as Jules, that a girl could leave the
+comfortable home and pretty garden, for now the fruit trees had grown
+and were full of fragrant bloom in the early season, and the ripening
+fruit later on, and go to that dismal little place under the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>"You see it will be much warmer," Jules had said. It was built against
+the rock. "This will shield us from the north wind and the heavy snows,
+and another year we will take a place further down in the allotment. I
+will lay in a store of things, and we will be as happy as the squirrels
+in their hollow tree."</p>
+
+<p>Marie and her mother cleared it up a bit. The floor was of rough planks
+filled in with mortar, and skins were laid down for carpet. There was
+but one window looking toward the south, and the door was on that side
+also. Then a few steps and a sort of plateau. Inside there was a box
+bunk, where the household goods were piled away inside. A few shelves
+with dishes, a table, and several stools completed the furnishing.</p>
+
+<p>So on Sunday they went up to the unfinished chapel on the St. Charles,
+where a Mass was said, and the young couple were united. It was a lovely
+day, and they rowed down in the canoes to the Gaudrions, where a feast
+was given and healths drank to the newly-wedded couple, in which they
+were wished much happiness and many children. The table was spread
+luxuriously; the M&egrave;re had been two days cooking. Roasts and broils, game
+and fish, and many of the early fruits in preserve and just ripened.
+Sunday was a day for gorging in this primitive land, while summer
+lasted. No one need starve then.</p>
+
+<p>Afterward the young couple were escorted home.</p>
+
+<p>Rose sat out in the moonlight thinking of the strangeness of it all. How
+could Marie like it? M&egrave;re Gaudrion had said, "Jules will make a good
+husband, if he is clumsy and not handsome. He will never beat Marie, and
+now he will settle to work again, and make a good living, since courting
+days are over."</p>
+
+<p>The child wondered what courting days were. Several strange ideas came
+into her mind. It was as if it grew suddenly and there were things in
+the world she would like to know about. Perhaps M. Ralph could tell her.
+Miladi said she was tiresome when she asked questions, and there was
+always a headache. Would her head ache when she was grown up? And she
+stood in curious awe of Madame de Champlain, who would only talk of the
+saints and martyrs, and repeat prayers. She was very attractive to the
+children, and gathered them about her, letting them gaze in her little
+mirror she carried at her belt, as was the fashion in France. They liked
+the touch of her soft hand on their heads, they were sometimes allowed
+to press their tawny cheeks against it. Then she would try to instruct
+them in the Catechism. They learned the sentences by rote, in an eager
+sort of way, but she could see the real understanding was lacking.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems an almost hopeless task," she said one day to P&egrave;re Jamay. "And
+though the little girls in the convent seemed obtuse, they did
+understand what devotion was. These children would worship me. When I
+talk of the blessed Virgin they are fain to press their faces to the hem
+of my gown, taking it to mean that I am our dear Lady of Sorrows.
+Neither do they comprehend penance, they suppose they have offended me
+personally."</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis a curious race that God has allowed to sink to the lowest ebb,
+that His laborers should work the harder in the vineyard. I do not
+despair. There will come a glorious day when every soul shall bow the
+knee to our blessed Lord. The men seem incapable of any true discernment
+of holy things. But we must not weary in well-doing. Think what a
+glorious thing it would be to convert this nation to the true faith."</p>
+
+<p>The lady sighed. Many a day she went to her <i>prie-dieu</i> not seven times,
+but twice that, to pray for their conversion.</p>
+
+<p>"We must win the children. They will grow up with some knowledge and
+cast aside their superstitions. We must be filled with holy zeal and
+never weary doing our Master's will."</p>
+
+<p>She had tried to win Rose, as well as some of the more intelligent
+half-breeds. But prayers were wearisome to the child. And why should you
+ask the same thing over and over again? Even M. Destournier, she had
+noticed, did not like to be importuned, and why then the great God, who
+had all the world to care for, and sent to His creatures what He thought
+best.</p>
+
+<p>The child looked out on the wide vault so full of stars, and her heart
+was thrilled with the great mystery. What was the beautiful world beyond
+that was called heaven? What did they know who had never seen it? The
+splendor of the great white moon&mdash;moving majestically through the
+blue&mdash;touched her with a sort of ecstasy. Was it another world? And how
+tenderly it seemed to touch the tree tops, silvering the branches and
+deepening the shadows until they were haunts of darkness. Did not other
+gods dwell there, as those old people in the islands on the other side
+of the world dreamed? Over the river hung trailing clouds of misty
+sheen, there was a musical lapping of the waves, the curious vibration
+of countless insects&mdash;now the shrill cry of some night bird, then such
+softness again that the world seemed asleep.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Ma fille, ma fille</i>," and the half-inquiring accent of Wanamee's voice
+fell on her ear.</p>
+
+<p>"I am here. It is so beautiful. Wanamee, did you ever feel that you must
+float away to some other world and learn things that seem to hover all
+about you, and yet you cannot grasp?"</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot, child, until you are admitted to the company of the saints.
+And this life is very comfortable, to some at least. Thou hast no
+trouble, little one. But it is time for the bed."</p>
+
+<p>"Why can I not sleep out here? The Indians sleep under the tree. So has
+M'sieu Ralph, and the Governor. Oh, I should like to and have just that
+great blue sky and the stars over me."</p>
+
+<p>"They would not show under the tree branches. And there are wolves and
+strollers that it would not be safe to see at this time of the year,
+when there are so many drunken traders. So come in, child."</p>
+
+<p>She rose slowly. A little room in the end of the Giffard house was
+devoted to her and Wanamee. Two small pallets raised a little above the
+floor, a stand with a crucifix, that the Governor's wife insisted was
+necessary, a box, in which winter bedding was stored, and that served
+for a seat, completed the simple furniture.</p>
+
+<p>Rose knelt before the stand. There were two or three Latin prayers she
+often said aloud, but to-night her lips did not move. This figure on the
+cross filled her with a kind of horror just now.</p>
+
+<p>"Mam'selle," said the waiting Wanamee.</p>
+
+<p>The child rose. "You must pray for yourself to-night," she said in a
+soft voice, throwing her pliant body on the pallet. "I do not understand
+anything about God any more. I do not see why He should send His Son to
+die for the thousands of people who do not care for Him. The great
+Manitou of the Indians did not do it."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Ma fille</i>, ask the priest. But then is it necessary to ask God when we
+have only to believe?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid I don't even believe," was the hesitating reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely thou art wicked. There will be penance for thee."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not do penance either. You are cruel if you torture dumb
+animals, and it is said they have not the keen feeling of humans. I am
+not sure. But where one thinks of the pain or punishment he is bearing
+it is more bitter. And what right has another to inflict it upon you?"</p>
+
+<p>Wanamee was silent. She would ask the good priest. But ah, could she
+have her darling punished?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>MILADI AND M. DESTOURNIER</h3>
+
+
+<p>"But what are you to do with this nice house? Why, the Governor's is
+hardly better. Will you live here and not at the post? And how pretty
+the furnishings are?"</p>
+
+<p>Rose's face was wreathed in smiles, and the dimples played hide-and-seek
+in a most entrancing manner.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am to live here. And you, and Wanamee, and Nugava, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She clapped her hands and jumped up and down, she pirouetted around with
+grace and lightness that would have enchanted the King of La Belle
+France. Where did she get this wonderful harmony of movement. His eyes
+followed her in admiration. She paused. "And what part is to be given to
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"This. And Wanamee will have the room between, to be within call."</p>
+
+<p>His cheek flushed. How was he to get his secret told?</p>
+
+<p>"And this will be yours, M'sieu. I know it on account of the books. And
+I can come in here and you shall teach me to read some of the new
+things. I have been very naughty and lazy, have I not. But in the
+winter one cannot roam about. Oh, how delightful it will be!"</p>
+
+<p>She looked up out of such clear, happy eyes. How could he destroy her
+delight&mdash;he knew it would.</p>
+
+<p>"There will be some one else here," he began.</p>
+
+<p>"Not P&egrave;re Jamay. He is with Madame a good deal. I do not like his sour
+face when he frowns upon me. And&mdash;oh, you will not have me sent to
+France and put in a convent. I would kill myself first."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no. It is not the priest. I am not over in love with him myself. It
+is some one sweet and pretty, and that you love&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That I love"&mdash;wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>He took both her hands in his.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose," with tender gravity, "I am going to marry Madame Giffard."</p>
+
+<p>She stiffened up and looked straight at him, the glow on her cheek
+fading to marble paleness.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Petite</i>, you did love her dearly. You will love her again for my sake.
+No, you shall not go away in this angry mood. Do you not wish me to be
+happy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miladi belongs to her husband, who is dead. When she goes to heaven he
+will be there, and you two&mdash;well, one must give up. Do you not remember
+that Osaka murdered his wife because she went away from him and married
+another brave?"</p>
+
+<p>He was amused at her passion.</p>
+
+<p>"I will give her up then. It is only for this life. And she needs some
+one to care for her. Why are you so opposed to it, when you used to
+love her? She will be like a mother to you."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not want any mother," proudly. "And she does not love me now. Oh,
+one can feel it just like a blast of unfriendly wind. And when she has
+you she will not care for any one else."</p>
+
+<p>"But I can care for you both. You know you belong to me. And sometime,
+when new people cross the ocean, some brave, fine young fellow will love
+you and want to marry you."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not marry him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my little girl, be reasonable. We shall all be happy here together.
+And you will grow up to womanhood and learn many things that will please
+you and be of great service. And will go to France some day&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I will not go anywhere with her. Unclasp my hands. I do not belong to
+you any more, to no one, I am&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She burst into a passion of weeping. In spite of her struggles he
+clasped her to his heart and kissed the throbbing temples, that seemed
+as if they would burst.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Rose, my little one, whom I love as a child, and always shall love,
+listen to me and be comforted."</p>
+
+<p>"She will not let you love me. She will want me to be sent to France and
+be put in a convent. Father Jamay said that was what I needed. Oh, you
+will see!"</p>
+
+<p>The sobs seemed to rend her small body. He could feel the beating of her
+heart and all his soul was moved with pity, although he knew her grief
+was unreasonable.</p>
+
+<p>"And you are willing to make me very unhappy, to spoil all my pleasure
+in the new home. Oh, my child, I hardly thought that of you."</p>
+
+<p>She made another struggle and freed herself. She stood erect, it seemed
+as if she had grown inches. "You may be happy with her," she said, with
+a dignity that would have been amusing if it had not been sad, and then
+she dashed out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>He sat down and leaned his elbow on the table, his head on his hand. He
+had gathered from several things miladi had suggested, that she was
+rather indifferent to the child, but he did not surmise that Rose had
+felt and understood it. No one had a better right than he, since in all
+probability her parentage would remain unknown. He would not relinquish
+her. She should be a daughter to him. He realized that he had a curious
+love for the child, that she had attracted him from the first. In the
+years to come her beauty and winsomeness would captivate a husband, with
+the dowry he could give her.</p>
+
+<p>For several days he saw very little of her. He was busy and miladi was
+exigent. Rose wandered about, sometimes to the settlement, watching the
+busy women dressing skins, making garments, cutting fringes, and
+embroidering wampum for the braves. The tawny children played about, the
+small papooses, strapped in their cases of bark, blinked and
+occasionally uttered wearisome cries. Or she rowed about in her canoe,
+often with Pani, for the river current was rather treacherous. Then she
+scudded through the woods like a deer, winding in and out of the stately
+columns that were here silver-gray, there white; beech and birch, dark
+hemlocks, that not having space to branch out, grew up tall with a head
+almost like a palm. Insects hummed and shrilled, or whirred like a tiny
+orchestra. Now and then a bird flung out a strain of melody, squirrels
+ran about, and the doe came and put its nose in her hand. She had tied a
+strip of skin, colored red, about its neck, that no one might shoot it.
+The rich, deep moss cushioned the ground. Occasionally an acorn fell.
+She would sit here in dreamy content by the hours, often just enjoying,
+sometimes puzzling her brains over all the mysteries that in the years
+to come education would solve. So few could read, indeed books were only
+for the few.</p>
+
+<p>Then she ran up and down the rocks, hid in the nooks, came out again in
+dryad fashion. She had been wont to laugh and make echoes ring about,
+but now her heart, in spite of all she could do, was not light enough
+for that. Wanamee was sore troubled by her reticence, for she was too
+proud to make any complaint. Indeed, she did not know what to complain
+of. In her childish heart everything was vague, she could not reason,
+she could only feel that something had been snatched out of her life and
+set in another's. She would henceforth be lonely.</p>
+
+<p>"Miladi wants to see you," said Wanamee one morning. "She wonders why
+you do not run in as you used. And she has something joyful to tell
+you."</p>
+
+<p>Rose shut her lips tightly together and stamped on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, <i>ma petite</i>, you have guessed then! Or, perhaps M'sieu told you.
+Miladi is to marry him, and they are to go to the nice new house he is
+building. They are to take you and me and Pani. And he will have the two
+Montagnais, who have been his good servants. We shall get out of this
+old, tumble-down post station, and be near the H&eacute;berts. Then M'sieu is
+getting such a nice big wheat field and garden."</p>
+
+<p>Rose was drawing long breaths. She would not cry or utter a complaint.
+Wanamee approached her, holding out both hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not touch me," she entreated, in a passionate tone. "Do not say
+anything more. When I am a little tranquil I will go and see her. I know
+what she wants me to say&mdash;that I am glad. There is something just here
+that keeps me from being glad," and she pressed her hands tightly over
+her heart. "I do not know what it is."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely you are not jealous of miladi? They are grown-up people. And
+M'sieu told her yesterday&mdash;I heard them talking&mdash;that you were to be a
+child to them, that they would both love you. Miladi has been irritable,
+and not so gay as she used, but she is better now, and will soon be her
+olden self. She was very nice and cheerful this morning, and laughed
+with the joy of other days. Oh, child, do not disturb it by any
+tempers."</p>
+
+<p>Wanamee's eyes were soft and entreating.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you need not fear," the child exclaimed, proudly. "Now I will go."</p>
+
+<p>She tapped at miladi's door, and a very sweet voice said&mdash;"Come, little
+stranger."</p>
+
+<p>She opened it. Miladi was sitting by the small casement window, in one
+of her pretty silken gowns, long laid by. There was a dainty rose flush
+on her cheek, but the hand she held out was much thinner than of yore,
+when in the place of knuckles there were dimples.</p>
+
+<p>"Where have you been all these days when I have not seen you, little
+maid? Come here and kiss me, and wish me joy, as they do in old France.
+For I am going to take your favorite as a husband, and you are to be our
+little daughter."</p>
+
+<p>Rose lifted up her face. The kiss was on her forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, kiss me," and she touched the small shoulder with something like a
+shake, as she offered her cheek.</p>
+
+<p>It was a cold little kiss from lips that hardly moved. Miladi laughed
+with a pretty, amused ripple.</p>
+
+<p>"In good sooth," she said merrily, "some lover will teach you to kiss
+presently. Thou art growing very pretty, Rose, and when some of the
+gallants come over from Paris, they will esteem the foundling of Quebec
+the heroine of romance."</p>
+
+<p>The child did not flush under the compliment, or the sting, but glanced
+down on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, thou hast not wished me joy."</p>
+
+<p>"Madame, as I have not been to France I do not know how they wish joy."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you formal little child!" laughing gayly. "Do you not know what it
+is to be happy? Why, you used to be as merry as the birds in singing
+time."</p>
+
+<p>"I can still be merry with the birds."</p>
+
+<p>"But you must be merry for M. Destournier. He wishes you to be happy,
+and has asked me to be a mother to you. Why, I fell in love with you
+long ago, when you were so ill. And surely you have not forgotten when I
+found you on the gallery, in a dead faint. You were grateful for
+everything then."</p>
+
+<p>Had she loved miladi so much? Why did she not love her now? Why was her
+heart so cold? like lead in her bosom.</p>
+
+<p>"I am grateful for everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Then say you are glad I am going to marry M. Ralph, who loves me
+dearly."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall be glad you are to marry him. But I am sorry for M.
+Giffard, in his lonely grave."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, horrors, child! Do you think I ought to be buried in the same
+grave? There, run away. You give me the shivers."</p>
+
+<p>Rose made a formal little courtesy, and walked slowly out of the room,
+with a swelling heart.</p>
+
+<p>Miladi told of the scene to her lover daintily, and with some
+embellishments, adding&mdash;"She is a jealous little thing. You will be
+between two fires."</p>
+
+<p>"The fires will not scorch, I think," smiling. "She will soon outgrow
+the childish whim."</p>
+
+<p>In his secret heart there was a feeling of joy that he had touched such
+depths in the little girl's soul. Miladi was rather annoyed that he had
+not agreed to send her to some convent in France, as she hoped. But in a
+year or two she might choose it for herself.</p>
+
+<p>They went up to the chapel to be married. The Governor gave the bride
+away. She was gowned just as Rose had seen her that first time, only she
+was covered with a fine deerskin cloak, that she laid aside as they
+walked up the aisle, rather scandalizing the two R&eacute;collet fathers. She
+looked quite like a girl, and it was evident she was very happy.</p>
+
+<p>Then they had a feast in the new house, and it was the first occasion of
+real note there had been in Quebec. Rose was very quiet and reserved
+among the grown folks, though M. de Champlain found time to chat with
+her, and tell her that now she had found real parents.</p>
+
+<p>After this there was a busy season preparing for the winter, as usual,
+drying and preserving fruits, taking up root vegetables and storing
+them, gathering nuts, and getting in grains of all kinds. Now they kept
+pigs alive until about midwinter, and tried to have fresh game quite
+often. The scurvy was practically banished.</p>
+
+<p>As for Rose, the marriage made not so much difference. She was let very
+much alone, and rambled about as she listed, until the snows came.
+Occasionally she visited Marie, but everything was in a huddle in the
+small place, and the chimney often smoked when the wind was east. But
+Marie seemed strangely content and happy. Or she went to the Gaudrions,
+which she really liked, even if the babies did tumble over her.</p>
+
+<p>She went sometimes to the classes the Governor's wife was teaching, and
+translated to the Indian children many things it was difficult for them
+to understand.</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Champlain would say&mdash;"Child, thou ought to be in the service
+of the good God and His Virgin Mother. He has given thee many
+attractions, but they are to be trained for His work, not for thy own
+pleasure. We are not to live a life of ease, but to deny ourselves for
+the sake of the souls of those around us."</p>
+
+<p>"I think oftentimes, Madame, they have no souls," returned the daring
+girl. "They seem never able to distinguish between the true God and
+their many gods. And if they are ill they use charms. Their religion, I
+observe, makes them very happy."</p>
+
+<p>"There are many false things that please the carnal soul. That is what
+we are to fight against. Oh, child, I am afraid the evil one desires
+thee strongly. Thou shouldst go to confession, as we do at home, and
+accept the penances the good priests put upon thee."</p>
+
+<p>Confession had not made much headway with these children of the new
+world. Father Jamay, to his great disgust, found they would tell almost
+anything, thinking to please him with a multitude of sins, and they went
+off to forget their penance. So it was not strongly insisted upon.</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Champlain was a d&eacute;vote. In her secret heart she longed for the
+old convent life. Still she was deeply interested in the plans of the
+R&eacute;collet fathers, who were establishing missions among the Hurons and
+the Nipissings, and learning the languages. She gave generously of her
+allowance, and denied herself many things; would, indeed, have given up
+more had her husband allowed it.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Pontgrave came in to spend the winter, brave and cheerful,
+though he had lost his only son. While the men exchanged plans for the
+future, and smoked in comfort, Madame was often kneeling on a flat stone
+she had ordered sent to her little convent-like niche, praying for the
+salvation of the new world to be laid at the foot of God's throne, and
+to be a glory to old France. But the court of old France was revelling
+in pleasure and demanding furs for profit.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier occasionally joined the conclave. His heart and soul were in
+this new land and her advancement, but his wife demanded his company
+most of his evenings. She sat in her high-backed chair wrapped in furs
+listening to his reading aloud or appearing to, though she often drowsed
+off. But there was another who drank in every word, if she did not quite
+understand. The wide stone chimney gave out its glowing fire of great
+logs, sometimes hemlock branches that diffused a grateful fragrance
+around the room. On a sort of settle, soft with folds of furs, Rose
+would stretch out gracefully, or curl up like a kitten, and with
+wide-open eyes turn her glance from the fascinating fire to the reader's
+face, repeating in her brain the sentences she could catch. Sometimes it
+was poetry, and then she fairly revelled in delight.</p>
+
+<p>After a few weeks she seemed to accept the fact of the marriage with
+equanimity, but she grew silent and reserved. She understood there was a
+secret animosity between herself and miladi, even if they were outwardly
+agreeable. She had gathered many pretty and refined ways from Madame de
+Champlain, or else they were part of the unknown birthright. She had
+turned quite industrious as well, the winter day seemed dreary when one
+had no employment. She read a good deal too, she could understand the
+French, and occasionally amused herself translating.</p>
+
+<p>When the spring opened the Governor and several others went to the new
+trading post and town, Mont R&eacute;al. There really seemed more advantages
+here than at Quebec. There was a long stretch of arable land, plenty of
+fruit trees, if they were wild; a good port, and more ease in catching
+the traders as they came along. There, too, stray Indians often brought
+in a few choice furs, which they traded for various trifles, exchanging
+these again for rum.</p>
+
+<p>Rose drew a long breath of delight when the spring fairly opened, and
+she could fly to her olden haunts. Oh, how dear they were! Though now
+she often smuggled one of M. Ralph's books and amused herself reading
+aloud until the woods rang with the melodious sounds.</p>
+
+<p>Miladi liked a sail now and then on the river, when it was tranquil. She
+did not seem to grow stronger, though she would not admit that she was
+ill. She watched Rose with a curious half-dread. She was growing tall,
+but her figure kept its lithe symmetry. Out in the woods she sometimes
+danced like a wild creature. Miladi had been so fond of dancing in M.
+Giffard's time, but now it put her out of breath and brought a pain to
+her side. She really envied the bright young creature in the grace and
+rosiness of perfect health.</p>
+
+<p>This summer a band of Jesuits came to the colony. They received a rather
+frigid welcome from the colonists, but the R&eacute;collets, convinced that
+they were making very slow advance in so large a field, opened their
+convent to them, and assisted them in getting headquarters of their own.
+And the church in Quebec began to take shape, it was such a journey to
+the convent services at the St. Charles river.</p>
+
+<p>There followed a long, cold winter. Miladi was housed snug and warm, but
+she grew thinner, so that her rings would not stay on her slim fingers.
+There had been troubles with the Indians and at times M. Destournier was
+obliged to be away, and this fretted her sorely.</p>
+
+<p>There was a great conclave at Three Rivers, to make a new treaty of
+peace with several of the tribes. A solemn smoking of pipes, passing of
+wampum, feasts and dances. And then, as usual, the influx of traders.</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Champlain desired to return to France with her husband, who
+was to sail in August. The rough life was not at all to her taste.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said miladi, eagerly, when she heard this, "let us go, too. I am
+tired of these long, cold winters. I was not made for this kind of life.
+If M. Giffard had lived a year longer he would have had a competency;
+and then we should have returned home. Surely you have made money."</p>
+
+<p>"But mine is not where I can take it at a month's notice. I have been
+building on my plantation, weeding out some incompetent and drunken
+tenants, and putting in others. Pontgrave is going. Du Pare is much at
+the new settlement at Beaupr&eacute;. It would not be possible for me to go,
+but you might."</p>
+
+<p>"Go alone?" in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"It would not be alone. Madame de Champlain would be glad of your
+company."</p>
+
+<p>"A woman who has no other thought but continual prayers, and anxieties
+for the souls of the whole world."</p>
+
+<p>"Another year&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I want to go now"&mdash;impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>She was like a fretful child. He looked in vain now for the charms she
+had once possessed.</p>
+
+<p>"I could not possibly. It would be at a great loss. And I am not
+enamored of the broils and disputes. How do I know but some charge may
+be trumped up against me? The fur company seize upon any pretext. And
+even a brief absence might ruin some of my best plans. Marguerite, I am
+more of a Canadian than a Frenchman. The Sieur has promised to interest
+some new emigrants. I see great possibilities ahead of us."</p>
+
+<p>"So you have talked always. I am homesick for La Belle France. I want no
+more of Canada, of Quebec, that has grown hateful to me."</p>
+
+<p>Her voice was high and tremulous, and there burned a red spot on each
+cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"Then let me send you. You should stay a year to recuperate, and I may
+come for you."</p>
+
+<p>"I will take Rose."</p>
+
+<p>"If she wishes. But I will not have her put in a convent."</p>
+
+<p>"She is like a wild deer. Do you mean to marry her to some half-breed?
+There seems no one else. The men who come on business leave wives
+behind. There is no one to marry."</p>
+
+<p>"You found some one," he returned good-naturedly, smoothing her fair
+hair.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you find another?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is but a child. There need to be no hurry."</p>
+
+<p>"She has outgrown childhood. To be sure, there is Pierre Gaudrion, who
+hangs about awkwardly, now and then."</p>
+
+<p>"She will never marry Pierre Gaudrion. She is of too fine stuff."</p>
+
+<p>"A foundling! Who knows aught about her? Most Frenchmen like a well-born
+mother for their children."</p>
+
+<p>"She is in no haste for a husband. But do not let us dispute about her.
+You excite yourself too much. Think seriously of this project. The Sieur
+will see you safely housed when once you are there."</p>
+
+<p>He turned and went out. She fell into a violent fit of weeping. She
+could coax anything out of Laurent, poor Laurent, who might have been
+alive to-day but for the friendship he thought he owed M. Destournier.
+And they might now be in Paris, where there were all sorts of gay
+goings-on. This life was too stupid for a woman, too cold, too lonely.
+And a wife should be a husband's first thought. Ralph was cold and
+cruel, and had grown stern, almost morose.</p>
+
+<p>He walked over to the plantation. By one of the log huts Rose stood
+talking to an Indian woman. Yes, she was no longer a child. She was tall
+and shapely, full of vigor, glowing with health, radiant in coloring,
+yes, beautiful. There was much of the olden time about her in the smiles
+and dimples and eagerness, though she was grave in miladi's presence.</p>
+
+<p>Yet neither was she a woman. The virginal lines had not wholly filled
+out, but there was a promise of affluence that neither my lady nor the
+Madame possessed. For the lovely H&eacute;l&egrave;ne had d&eacute;vote written in every line
+of her face, a rapt expression, that seemed to lift her above the
+ordinary world. The souls of those she came in contact with were the
+great thing. And though the Sieur was a good Catholic, he was also of
+the present world, and its advancement, and had always been inspired
+with the love of an explorer, and of a full, free life. He could never
+have been a priest. He had the right view of colonization, too. Homes
+were to be made. Men and women were to be attached to the soil to make
+it yield up the bountiful provision hidden in its mighty breast.</p>
+
+<p>And miladi! There had been so few women in his life that he knew nothing
+of contrast, or analysis. Some of the men took Indian wives for a year
+or so: that had never appealed to him. He had been charmed by Madame
+Giffard from the very first meeting with her, but she was another man's
+wife, and she loved her husband. The pretty coquetries were a part of
+the civilized world over in France and meant only a graceful desire to
+please. Then in her sorrow he pitied her profoundly, and felt that he
+owed her the highest and most sacred duty.</p>
+
+<p>But as he studied Rose now, and thought of a suggested lover in Pierre
+Gaudrion, his whole soul rose in revolt. And the other thought of
+sending her away was equally distasteful. Why, she was the light and
+sweetness of the settlement. In a different fashion, she captured the
+hearts of the Indian women, and taught them the love of home-making,
+roused in some of them intelligence. How did she come by it? There was
+Wanamee.</p>
+
+<p>He did not dream that he had awakened a desire for knowledge in the
+girl's breast and brain. But she had gone beyond him in the lore of the
+sea and the sky, and the romance of the trees, that to him were
+promising materials for houses and boats. They were her friends. She
+could translate the soft murmur that ran through their leaves, or the
+sweet, wild whistle of the wind that blew in from the river or down from
+the high hills,&mdash;from the ice and snow of the fur country. And sometimes
+he had seen her run races with the foaming river, where it whirled and
+eddied and fretted against a spur of the mighty rocks. All her life,
+from the day he found her on the rocks, seemed to pass before him in one
+great flash. He exulted that she belonged to no one, that he had the
+best right to her. He could not have told why. Heaven had denied him a
+child of his very own, and he had learned that miladi considered babies
+a wearisome burthen, fit only for peasants and Indian women.</p>
+
+<p>Did the saintly and beautiful H&eacute;l&egrave;ne think so as well? he wondered. He
+had learned a good deal about womankind since his marriage, but he made
+a grand mistake, he had learned only about one woman; and she was not
+the noblest of her kind.</p>
+
+<p>Rose turned suddenly and saw him in that half-waiting attitude. There
+was little introspection, or analysis, in those days; people simply
+lived, felt without understanding. She had outgrown her first feeling of
+aversion. In a vague fashion she realized that miladi needed protection
+and care that no one but M. Destournier could give her. She was sorry
+she could not ramble about, that she never brightened up, and sung and
+danced any more. And this was why she, Rose, did not want to grow old
+and give up the delights of vivid, enchanting exercise.</p>
+
+<p>Why miladi was captious and changeful, never of the same mind twice, she
+could not understand. What suited her to-day bored her to-morrow. She
+gave up trying to please, though she was generally ready and gracious.
+But she remarked it was the same way with M. Ralph, and he bore the
+captiousness with so sweet a temper that she felt moved to emulate him.
+In the depths of her heart there was a great pity, and it was sweet to
+him, though neither ever adverted to it.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>A FEAST OF SUMMER</h3>
+
+
+<p>As if his eyes had summoned her, she turned toward him. Out here in
+God's wide, beautiful world they could be the same friends, and not fret
+any one. It might have been dangerous if he had not been so upright a
+man, with no subtle reasonings, and she less simple-hearted.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been helping Evening Star arrange her house. She is anxious to
+be like a Frenchwoman, and has put off many Indian ways since she became
+a convert."</p>
+
+<p>"But you do not give her her Christian name," and he smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Maria Assunta! It isn't half as pretty. She has such lovely deep eyes,
+and such velvety skin that her Indian name suits her best. What does it
+matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it helps them to break away from Indian superstitions. I do see
+some improvement in the women, but the men&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She laughed lightly. "The women were better in the beginning. They were
+used to work. And all the braves care for is hunting and drinking bouts.
+If I were a priest, I should consider them hardly worth the trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"A fine priest you would make. They consider you half a heretic."</p>
+
+<p>"I go to chapel, M'sieu, when one can get there. I know a great many
+prayers, but they are much alike. I would like all the world to be
+upright and good, but I do not want to stay in a stifling little box
+until my breath is almost gone, and my knees stiff, saying a thing over
+and over. M'sieu, I can feel the Great Presence out on the beautiful
+rocks, as I look down on the river and watch the colors come and go,
+amber and rose, and greens of so many tints; and the music that is
+always so different. Then I think God does not mean us to shut it all
+out and be melancholy."</p>
+
+<p>"You were ever a wild little thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I can be grave, M'sieu, and silent, when there is need, for others. But
+I cannot give up all of my own life. I say to my heart&mdash;'Be still, it is
+only for a little while'&mdash;then comes the dance of freedom."</p>
+
+<p>She laughed, with a ripple of music.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder," he began, after a pause, watching her lithe step and the
+proud way she carried her head&mdash;"I wonder if you would like to cross the
+ocean, to go to France?"</p>
+
+<p>"With the beautiful Madame? It is said she is to sail as soon as the
+boats are loaded."</p>
+
+<p>"Miladi might go with her. I could not be spared. And you&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He saw the sudden, great throb that moved her breast up to her very
+shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"I should not want to go," in a quiet tone.</p>
+
+<p>"But if I found at the last hour that I could go?"</p>
+
+<p>She drew a long breath. "M'sieu, I have no desire to see France. I hear
+you and the Governor talk about it, and the great court where the King
+spends his time in foolishness, and the Queen Mother plots wicked
+schemes. And they throw people in prison for religion's sake. Did I hear
+a story of some people who were burned at the stake? Why, that is as
+cruel as the untaught Indians. And to cross the big, fearful ocean. Last
+summer we sailed up to the great gulf, you know, and you could see where
+the ocean and sky met. No, I like this old, rocky place the best."</p>
+
+<p>"But if miladi wanted you to go very much?"</p>
+
+<p>"She will not want me very much, in her heart," and she glanced up so
+straightforwardly that he flushed. "No, you will leave me here and I
+will be very religious. I will go to the chapel every Sunday and pray. I
+will have a <i>prie-dieu</i> in one corner, and kneel many times a day,
+praying that you will come back safely. I shall have something real to
+pray for then. And&mdash;miladi will be very happy."</p>
+
+<p>There was a fervor, touching in its earnestness, that penetrated his
+soul.</p>
+
+<p>"You will not miss me much," he ventured.</p>
+
+<p>The quick tears sprang to her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I should miss you," and her voice had a little tremble in it.
+"But you would return. Oh, yes, I know the good God would send you back.
+See how many times he has sent the Sieur de Champlain back!"</p>
+
+<p>She raised her face to his, and though the tears still beaded her long
+lashes, the lips smiled adorably. He could have kissed her, but his fine
+respect told him that endearment was sacred to another man now.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think I shall go. Some one must be here to see that things do
+not go to wreck."</p>
+
+<p>She wondered if miladi would go without him. They walked on silently. He
+was thinking of the other man. The Sieur hoped to persuade some
+better-class emigrants on his next voyage.</p>
+
+<p>Whether miladi would have gone or not could not be known. She was taken
+quite ill. The doctor came down from Tadoussac, and said she would not
+be strong enough to stand such a long voyage.</p>
+
+<p>Wanamee was her indefatigable nurse when her husband was away, as he was
+compelled to be in the daytime. On a few occasions she insisted that
+Rose should read from some old volumes of poems. She used to watch, with
+strange, longing eyes. Ah, if she could be young again, and strong. Did
+M'sieu Ralph often think of the years between, and that some time in the
+future she would be an old woman! He appeared to grow more vigorous and
+younger.</p>
+
+<p>There were busy times in the little town. The traders seemed to be
+rougher every year. They were not much inside the palisade, but they set
+up booths and tents on the shore edge, and there was much drinking and
+chaffering.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou must not go outside of the palisade," said Destournier to Rose.
+"There are many rude, drunken men about."</p>
+
+<p>She did not demur. In truth she spent many hours comforting the Indian
+women for the loss of their angel lady, whom they had truly worshipped,
+and whom, in their vague ignorant fashion, they had confused with the
+Virgin. But she had wearied of the wildness and the lack of the society
+of the nuns that she loved so dearly. Two of her maids would return with
+her, the other had married.</p>
+
+<p>And though she had not made very warm friends with Madame Destournier,
+she would have liked her companionship on the long voyage. And miladi
+was really sorry to have the break, since there were so few women, even
+if she did tire of her religion.</p>
+
+<p>"If we do not meet again here," Madame H&eacute;l&egrave;ne said, in her
+sweetly-modulated voice, that savored of the convent, "it is to be hoped
+we shall reach the home where we shall rest with the saints, when the
+Divine has had His will with us. Farewell, my sister, and may the Holy
+Virgin come to your assistance in the darkest hours."</p>
+
+<p>Then she knelt and prayed. Miladi shuddered. Was she going to die? Oh,
+no, she could not.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel came down from Tadoussac. All the river was afloat, as usual,
+at this season. A young man sprang off and pressed his sister's hand
+warmly.</p>
+
+<p>The H&eacute;berts, with their son and daughter, the married maid and her
+husband and several others, who had stood a little in awe of the
+Governor's lady, were there to wish her <i>bon voyage</i>. Her husband
+assisted her, with the tenderest care. Was he happy with her, when she
+was only half his age? M. Destournier wondered.</p>
+
+<p>When they started, a salute was fired. He was leaving his new fort but
+half completed.</p>
+
+<p>"Who was that pretty young girl who kept so close to the H&eacute;berts?"
+Eustache Boull&eacute; asked his sister. "There, talking to that group of
+Indian women."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that is M. Destournier's ward. Surely, you saw her when you first
+came here, though she was but a child then. A foundling, it seems. Good
+Father Jamay was quite urgent that she should be sent home, and spend
+some years in a convent."</p>
+
+<p>"And she refused? She looks like it. Oh, yes, I remember the child."</p>
+
+<p>"Beauty is a great snare where there is a wayward will," sighed the
+devoted H&eacute;l&egrave;ne. "It is no country for young girls of the better class.
+Though no one knows to what class she really belongs."</p>
+
+<p>Eustache fell into a dream. What a bright attractive child she had
+been. How could he have forgotten her? He was two-and-twenty now, and
+his man's heart had been stirred by her beauty.</p>
+
+<p>If Rose was not so much of a d&eacute;vote she began to make herself useful to
+many of the Indian converts who missed their dear lady. To keep their
+houses tidy, to learn a little about the useful side of gardening, and
+how their crops must be tended, to insure the best results. The children
+could be set to do much of this.</p>
+
+<p>Quebec fell back to its natural state. There was no more carousing along
+the river, no drunken men wrangling in the booths, no affrays. Rose
+could ramble about as she liked, and she felt like a prisoner set free.
+Madame Destournier was better, and each day took a sail upon the river,
+which seemed to strengthen her greatly. Presently they would spend a
+fortnight at the new settlement, Mont R&eacute;al. Many things were left in the
+hands of M. Destournier, and his own affairs had greatly increased.</p>
+
+<p>One afternoon Rose had espied a branch of purple plums, that no one had
+touched, on a great tree that had had space and sun, but fruited only on
+the southern side. No stick or stone could dislodge them. How tempting
+they looked, in their rich, melting sheen.</p>
+
+<p>"I must have some," she said, eyeing the size of the trunk, the smooth
+bark, and the distance before there was any limb. Then she considered.
+Finding a crotched stick, a limb that had been broken off in some high
+wind, she caught it in the lowest branch and gently pulled it down until
+she grasped it with her hand.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, it was tough. She swung to it. Then she felt her way up cautiously,
+like a cat, and when she swung near enough, caught one arm around the
+tree trunk. It was a hard scramble, but she stood upon it triumphantly.
+It bore her weight, yet she must go higher, for she could not reach the
+temptingly-laden limb. Now and then a branch swayed&mdash;if she had her
+stick up here that she had dropped so disdainfully when she had captured
+the limb.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a good thing to be sure you will not want what you fling away,"
+she said to herself, sententiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Aha!" She had caught the limb and drew it in carefully. There she sat,
+queen of a solitary feast. Were ever plums so luscious! Some of the
+ripest fell to the ground and smashed, making cones of golden red, with
+a tiny cap of purple at the top.</p>
+
+<p>In the old Latin book she still dipped into occasionally there were
+descriptions of orchards laden with fruit that made the air around
+fragrant. She could imagine herself there.</p>
+
+<p>In that country there were gods everywhere, by the streams, where one
+named Pan played on pipes. What were pipes that could emit music? The
+nooks hid them. The zephyrs repeated their songs and laments.</p>
+
+<p>There was a swift dazzle and a bird lighted on the branch above her, and
+poured out such a melodious warble that she was entranced. A bird from
+some other tree answered. Ah! what delight to eat her fill to measures
+of sweetest music, and she suddenly joined in.</p>
+
+<p>The young fellow who had been following a beaten path paused in amaze.
+Was it a human voice? It broke off into a clear, beautiful whistle that,
+striking against a ledge of rock, rebounded in an echo. He crept along
+on the soft grass, where the underbrush had some time been fired. The
+tree was swaying to and fro, and a shower of fruit came to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>He drew nearer and then he espied the dryad. From one point he could see
+a girl, sitting in superb unconcern. Was it the one he had been
+searching for diligently the last hour? How had she been able to perch
+herself up there?</p>
+
+<p>Presently she had taken her fill of the fruit, of swinging daintily to
+and fro, of watching the sun-beams play hide-and-seek among the distant
+fir trees, that held black nooks in their shade, of studying with
+intense ecstasy the wonderful colors gathering around the setting sun,
+for which she had no name, but that always seemed as if set to some
+wondrous music. Every pulse stirred within her, making life itself
+sweet.</p>
+
+<p>She stepped down on the lower limb. It would be rather rough to slide
+down the tree trunk, but she had not minded it in her childhood. The
+other way she had often tried as well. She held on to the limb above,
+and walked out on hers, until it began to sway so that she could hardly
+balance herself. Then she gave one spring, and almost came down in the
+young man's arms.</p>
+
+<p>She righted herself in a moment, and stared at him. There was something
+familiar in the soft eyes, in the general contour of the face.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not remember me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me think," she said, with a calmness that amused him. "Yes, it
+comes to me. I saw you on the boat that conveyed Madame de Champlain.
+You are her brother."</p>
+
+<p>"Eustache Boull&eacute;, at your service," and he bowed gracefully. "But I did
+not know you, Mam'selle. You were such a child four years ago. Even then
+you made an impression upon me."</p>
+
+<p>She was so little used to compliments that it did not stir her in the
+slightest. She was wondering, and at length she said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"How did you find me?"</p>
+
+<p>"By hard searching, Mam'selle. I saw your foster-mother&mdash;I believe she
+is that&mdash;and she gave me a graphic description of your wanderings. I
+paused here because the beauty of the place attracted me. And I heard a
+voice I knew must be human, emulating the birds, so I drew nearer. Will
+you forgive me when I confess I rifled your store? What plums these are!
+I did not know that Canada could produce anything so utterly delicious.
+We have some wild sour ones that get dried and made eatable in the
+winter, when other things are scarce. And the Indians make a
+queer-tasting drink out of them."</p>
+
+<p>"I found this tree quite by accident. I never saw it before, and if you
+will look, there are only two branches that have any fruit. The other
+side of the tree is barren. And that high branch will give the birds a
+feast. I do not think I could venture up there," laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"I wondered how you ventured at all. And how you dared come down that
+way."</p>
+
+<p>His eyes expressed the utmost admiration.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," she answered carelessly, "that was an old trick of mine, my
+childhood's delight. I used to try how far I could walk out before the
+limb would give me warning."</p>
+
+<p>"But if it had broken?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I should have jumped, all the same. You did not go with your
+sister and M. de Champlain."</p>
+
+<p>"I had half a mind to, then I reconsidered."</p>
+
+<p>She met his gaze calmly, as if she was wondering a little what had
+prevented him.</p>
+
+<p>"And I came to Quebec. It begins to grow. But we want something beside
+Indians. M. Destournier has settled quite a plantation of them, and my
+sister has believed in their conversion. But when one knows them
+well&mdash;he has not so much faith in them. They are apt to revert to the
+original belief, crude superstitions."</p>
+
+<p>"It is hard to believe," the girl said slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"That depends. Some beliefs are very pleasant and appeal to the heart."</p>
+
+<p>"But is it of real service to God that one rolls in a bed of thorns, or
+walks barefoot over sharp stones, or kneels all night on a hard, cold
+floor? There are so many beautiful things in the world, and God has made
+them&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"As a snare, the priest will tell you. Mam'selle, thou hast not been
+made for a devotee. It would be a great loss to one man if thou shouldst
+bury all these charms in a convent."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know any man who would grieve," she made answer indifferently.</p>
+
+<p>"But you might," and a peculiar smile settled about his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to take home as many of these plums as I can carry. Madame
+Destournier is not well, and has a great longing for different things. I
+found some splendid berries yesterday which she ate with a relish.
+Sickness gives one many desires. I am glad I am always well. At least I
+was never ill but once, and that was long ago."</p>
+
+<p>She sprang up and began to look about her. "If I could find some large
+leaves&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I will fill my pockets."</p>
+
+<p>She looked helplessly at her own garments, and then colored vividly,
+thinking if this young man were not here she would gather a lapful. Why
+should she have this strange consciousness?</p>
+
+<p>Nothing of service met her gaze, and she drew her brow into a little
+frown. It gave her a curious piquancy, and interested him. She had
+spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know! What a dullard I was. Those great flaring dockweeds do not
+grow about here. But something else will answer."</p>
+
+<p>She ran over to an old birch tree and tore off great pieces of bark,
+then gathering some half-dried grasses, began to fashion a sort of pail,
+bending up the edges to make the bottom. She was so quick and deft, it
+was a pleasure to watch her. Then she filled it with the choicest of the
+fruit. There was still some left.</p>
+
+<p>"We might have another feast," he suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"I have feasted sufficiently. Let us make another basket. It can be
+smaller than this."</p>
+
+<p>It was very pleasant to dally there in the woods. He was unnecessarily
+awkward, that the slim fingers might touch his, and her little laugh was
+charming.</p>
+
+<p>"Allow me to carry the larger one," and he reached for it.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no. You are weighted in the pockets. And these are choice. I will
+have no one take part in them."</p>
+
+<p>She drew herself aside and began to march with a graceful, vigorous
+step, her head proudly poised on the arching neck that, bared to summer
+suns and wind, yet was always white. The delicious little hollow, where
+the collar bones met, was formed to lay kisses in, and be filled with
+warm, throbbing lips. Yes, he was right in coming back to Quebec, she
+was more enchanting than the glimpse of her had been.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you look at me so?" she cried, with a kind of quick repulsion
+she did not understand, but it angered her.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the homage we pay to beauty, Mam'selle."</p>
+
+<p>"Your sister is beautiful," she said, with an abruptness that was almost
+anger.</p>
+
+<p>"So thought the Sieur de Champlain, and I believe she was not offended
+at it."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not like that," she declared decisively. "She was fair as a lily,
+and Father Jamay said she had the face of a saint."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not so partial to saints myself. And my brother-in-law would have
+been better satisfied, I do believe, if she had been less saintly."</p>
+
+<p>She looked a trifle puzzled.</p>
+
+<p>"It is long since you left France," she commented irrelevantly.</p>
+
+<p>"I was not seventeen. It is six years ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to go back?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometime, Mam'selle. Would you like to go?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," she said decidedly.</p>
+
+<p>"But why not?" amused.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I like Quebec."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a wretched wilderness of a place."</p>
+
+<p>"Madame Destournier talks about France. Why, if Paris is all gayety and
+pleasure, are people put in dungeons, and then to death? And there seem
+so many rulers. They are not always good to the Sieur, either."</p>
+
+<p>"They do not understand. But these are too weighty matters for a young
+head."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do they not want a great, beautiful town here! All they care about
+is the furs, and the rough men and Indians spoil the summer. I like to
+hear the Sieur tell what might be, houses and castles, and streets,
+instead of these crooked, winding paths, and&mdash;there are fine shops,
+where you buy beautiful things," glancing vaguely at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Why should you not like to go thither then, if you can dream of these
+delights?"</p>
+
+<p>"I want the Sieur to have his way, and do some of the things he has set
+his heart upon. Miladi would like it too. But I am well enough
+satisfied."</p>
+
+<p>She tossed her head in her superb strength. He had not known many women,
+and they were older. There was something in her fresh sweetness that
+touched him to the soul.</p>
+
+<p>"This way, M'sieu." He was plunging ahead, keeping pace with some
+tumultuous thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah&mdash;&mdash;!"</p>
+
+<p>"And see&mdash;you have been careless. You are sowing plums along the way.
+This is no place for them to take root."</p>
+
+<p>She gave a little laugh as well, though she had begun in a sharp tone.</p>
+
+<p>He had pressed the side of his slight receptacle and made a yawning
+crack in it.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now you must gather that great leaf and patch it. Here are some
+pine needles. I sew with them sometimes. You do not need a thread."</p>
+
+<p>Was she laughing at him?</p>
+
+<p>He managed to repair the damages, and picked up the plums he had not
+trodden upon, that were yielding their wine-like fragrance to the air.</p>
+
+<p>"Which way do you go, M'sieu?" she asked, with unconscious hauteur.</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;to M. Destournier's. I called on miladi, and she sent me to find
+you in some wood, she hardly knew where. And I have brought you safely
+back."</p>
+
+<p>"M'sieu, I have come back many a time in safety without you."</p>
+
+<p>Her voice had a suggestion of dismissal in it.</p>
+
+<p>"I must present my spoils to Madame. No, I believe they are yours, you
+were the discoverer, you made the purple shower that I only helped
+gather."</p>
+
+<p>She skipped up the steps lightly. How dainty her moccasined feet were!
+The short skirt showed the small ankles and the swell of the beautiful
+leg. Her figure was not a whit behind his sister's convent-trained one,
+but she was fearless as a deer.</p>
+
+<p>Miladi sat out on the gallery in her chair, that could be moved about
+with ease by a small lever at the side. Looking down at the youthful
+figures, the thought beset her that haunts all women, that here was
+material for a very fortunate match. He was much superior to Pierre
+Gaudrion.</p>
+
+<p>"The trophies of the hunt," Boull&eacute; exclaimed gayly. "The huntress and
+the most delicious harvest. I have seen nothing like it."</p>
+
+<p>"I found some plums, a tree quite by itself, and only two branches of
+fruit. We must send some of the best pits to M. H&eacute;bert. And I shall
+plant a row in the Sieur's garden."</p>
+
+<p>She brought out a dish and took them carefully from the birch-bark
+receptacle. The exquisite bloom had not been disturbed.</p>
+
+<p>"I will get a dish for yours," she said to the young man.</p>
+
+<p>"Mine were the gleanings," he laughed.</p>
+
+<p>Miladi's eyes glowed at the sight of the feast. Rose had not emptied all
+of hers out, and now she laid three beauties in the corner of the
+cupboard, looking around until she espied a pan. Wooden platters were
+mostly used, even the Indian women were handy in fashioning them.</p>
+
+<p>The young man had taken a seat and a plum, and was regaling his hostess
+with the adventure.</p>
+
+<p>"Curious that I should find the place so easily," and he smiled most
+beguilingly. "Sometimes one seems led in just the right way."</p>
+
+<p>For several reasons he preferred not to say he had heard the singing.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," and now she gave a soft, answering smile, as if there might be a
+mysterious understanding between them. Miladi was often ennuied, now
+that she was never really well, and the sight and voice of a young man
+cheered her inexplicably.</p>
+
+<p>"Every one knows her. She is the most fearless thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I remember her when she was very little. How tall she has grown. A very
+pretty girl."</p>
+
+<p>"Youth always has a prettiness. It is the roundness and coloring. I
+often long to go back and have it all over again. I should remain in
+France. I do not see what there is in this bleak country to charm one."</p>
+
+<p>"There was some talk of your going with my sister, was there not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. But I was too ill. And M. Destournier thought he could not leave.
+He has many interests here."</p>
+
+<p>Rose re-entered the room.</p>
+
+<p>"I never tasted such delicious plums," the elder commented, in a pleased
+tone. "I want some saved as long as they will keep."</p>
+
+<p>"There is a quantity of them. I should have had to make another journey
+but for M. Boull&eacute;," and she dropped a charming little courtesy.</p>
+
+<p>"We might see if we could not find another tree."</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt it."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you stay some time?" asked miladi.</p>
+
+<p>"They can do without me a while. Business is mostly over."</p>
+
+<p>She raised her eyes, and they said she was pleased with the plan. Rose
+busied herself about the room, then suddenly disappeared. She had seen
+M. Destournier coming up the crooked pathway, and with a parcel in her
+hand, went out to meet him.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought of you. Miladi was delighted with hers. Some seagull must
+have brought the pit across the ocean. It is so much finer than any we
+have around here."</p>
+
+<p>He broke it open, but the golden purple juice ran over his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the wine of sunshine. Here is to thy health, Rose of Quebec."</p>
+
+<p>"M. Boull&eacute; is in there," nodding. "He came out in the wood and found me
+up the tree," and she laughed gayly.</p>
+
+<p>"Found thee&mdash;&mdash;" Something sharp went to the heart of the man, and he
+looked down into the fearless eyes, with their gay, unsuspecting
+innocence.</p>
+
+<p>"As if I could be lost in dear old Quebec!"</p>
+
+<p>"Is it dear to thee?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I have never known any other place, any other home."</p>
+
+<p>There were many knowledges beside that of childhood. And among them one
+might be all-engrossing.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3>A LOVER IN EARNEST</h3>
+
+
+<p>Eustache Boull&eacute; seemed in no hurry to return to Tadoussac. He was
+wonderfully interested in the new fort, in the different improvements,
+in miladi, who, somehow, seemed to improve and render herself very
+agreeable. She had a queer feeling about him. If one could be young
+again&mdash;ah, that would be back in France. She had a happy time with
+Laurent. She had exulted in winning her second husband, but somehow the
+real flavor and zest of love had not been there.</p>
+
+<p>When Eustache was with Rose she experienced a keen, hungering jealousy,
+and it was then she wanted to be young. The girl was strangely obtuse.
+She never colored when he came, or evinced any half-bashful joy, she
+left him with miladi, and went off with the utmost unconcern. She was
+much in the settlement, showing the Indian women nice ways of keeping
+their homes and children tidy, so that when the beautiful wife of the
+Governor returned they would have great improvement to show her. True,
+they went out canoeing, and the sweet breath of the river washing the
+sedgy grass on the small islands, gave a faint tang of salt, or where it
+dashed and fretted against the rocks made iridescent spray. There were
+so many beautiful places. And though she had seen the falls more than
+once, she went again to please him, after making several excuses. Pani
+was her bodyguard. He was still small, and lithe as an eel, and the
+mixture of races showed in him. Wanamee was sometimes peremptorily
+ordered to accompany him.</p>
+
+<p>The wooing of looks and smiles had little effect on her. Sometimes he
+reached for her hand, but it cunningly evaded him. She seemed so
+sufficient for herself that the matter was reduced to good-comrade-ship.
+Yet there were times when he was wild to kiss the rosy, dimpling mouth,
+to press the soft cheek, to hold the pliant figure in his arms.</p>
+
+<p>It was but right that he should ask M. Destournier for his
+foster-daughter.</p>
+
+<p>To lose her! Ah, how could he give her up?</p>
+
+<p>"Would you come to Quebec?"</p>
+
+<p>"My interests are at Tadoussac. And there are the fisheries at the
+islands growing more profitable. But I might come often if she grew
+homesick, and pined for this rough, rocky place."</p>
+
+<p>"It will be as she pleases," the man said, with a heavy heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I must tell you that I think Madame favors my suit."</p>
+
+<p>M. Destournier merely bowed.</p>
+
+<p>The husband and wife had never touched upon the subject. She could not
+decide. The girl was very useful to her since she had fallen into
+invalid ways. M. Destournier had to be journeying about a good deal. She
+could read so delightfully when the nights were long, tiresome, and
+sleepless. Even Wanamee could not arrange her hair with such deft
+touches, and it really appeared as if she could take off the burthen of
+years by some delicate manipulations. Yes, she would miss her very much.
+But it would be a grand match for a foundling. And if they went to
+France, she would rouse herself and go. M. Destournier was so occupied
+with the matters of the town that he had grown indifferent, and seldom
+played the lover.</p>
+
+<p>But how was Eustache to propose to a girl who could not, or would not
+understand, who never allowed any endearments or softened to sentiment.
+Why, here had been a whole fortnight since he had won the Sieur's tardy
+consent. Now and then he had found some soft-eyed Indian girl not averse
+to modestly-caressing ways, but his religion kept him from any absolute
+wrong, and meaning to marry some time, he had not played at love.</p>
+
+<p>So he came to miladi with his anxieties. Was there ever a woman's soul
+formed with no longing, no understanding of the divine passion, that
+could kneel at the marriage altar in singleness of heart?</p>
+
+<p>Miladi studied the young man. Had the girl no warm blood coursing
+through her veins, no throb of pleased vanity, at the preference of this
+patient lover? Perhaps he was too patient.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she made answer, "I will see. You are quite sure your family will
+not be displeased? We know nothing of her birth, you are aware."</p>
+
+<p>"Her beauty will make amends for that."</p>
+
+<p>One could not deny her beauty. Such a dower had never been miladi's,
+though she had been pretty in youth.</p>
+
+<p>"Beg her to listen to me."</p>
+
+<p>"A man should be able to compel a woman to listen," she made answer a
+little sharply.</p>
+
+<p>Glancing out over the space between, she caught sight of Rose and her
+husband coming down from the fort. She was gay enough now, talking with
+no restraint.</p>
+
+<p>"I am almost jealous of M. Destournier," Eustache said, with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>Miladi was suddenly jealous as well, and this swept away the last shred
+of reluctance.</p>
+
+<p>"You give her great honor by this marriage proposal. She shall be
+compelled to consider it."</p>
+
+<p>"A thousand thanks. If Madame will excuse, I will go out to them."</p>
+
+<p>M. Destournier left her with the young lover. Would she not go out on
+the river? No. Then let them take a forest ramble. There were some fine
+grapes back of the settlement. Pani had brought in a great basket full.
+What would she do?</p>
+
+<p>"Sit here on this ledge and watch the river. Pierre Cadotte is at the
+fort. They came through the rapids at Lachine. It was very exciting. He
+has been at the trading post up to the strait and tells marvellous
+stories of hardships and heroism. And the good priest up there has made
+converts already."</p>
+
+<p>She was always so interested in some far-off thing.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish a priest might make a convert here. There is much need."</p>
+
+<p>She was off her guard. Canoes and boats were going up and down the
+river. Some men were hauling in a catch of fish; just below, an Indian
+woman sat weaving reed baskets, while a group of children played around.
+Not an ideal spot for love-making, but Eustache was desperate.</p>
+
+<p>"Thee"&mdash;leaning over until his black curls touched hers. "I would have
+thee converted to love and matrimony. I have been a coward, and kept my
+heartaches and desires to myself. I can do it no longer."</p>
+
+<p>"But I am not for matrimony." She raised her clear eyes that would have
+disheartened almost any man. "I do not want any husband. I like my own
+fancies, and I suppose they are strange. There is only one person I ever
+talk to about them. No one else understands. I think sometimes I do not
+belong here, but to another country; no, the country is well enough. I
+am suited to that. I do not want to go away."</p>
+
+<p>"You would like old France, Paris. My mother would be glad to welcome
+you, I know. And, oh, you would like Paris. Or, if you would rather stay
+here&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not want to be married in a long time yet. Women change so much
+when they have husbands, and it seems as if they made themselves unhappy
+over many things their husbands do."</p>
+
+<p>"But my sister was very happy. She would not have come all the way to
+New France if she had not loved her husband dearly."</p>
+
+<p>"You see that is so different. I do not love any one in that manner.
+And, oh, M'sieu, she was like an angel, and prayed so much. It is a good
+thing, but I would not like to stay in a darkened room and pray. I like
+better to be roaming in the woods, and singing with the birds, and
+gathering flowers. I believe I am not old enough to accept these
+things."</p>
+
+<p>"But my sister was only twelve when she was betrothed to the Sieur de
+Champlain."</p>
+
+<p>"You see something makes the difference." Her brow knit in perplexity.
+"If it is a thing you want, it would be very easy to reach out your hand
+and take it&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But I want it!" He reached out his hand and caught hers. "I love you,
+strange, bewitching as you are in your innocence. And I would teach you
+what love was. No young girl loves much before marriage. But when she is
+with her husband day by day and his devotion is laid at her feet, she
+cannot help understanding what a delight it is, and she learns to give
+of her sweetest and best, as you will, my adorable child."</p>
+
+<p>The heat of his hand and the pulse throbbing in every finger roused a
+deeper feeling of resistance. She tried to withdraw it, but the pressure
+only tightened.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you release my hand?" she said, with a new-born dignity. "It is
+mine, not yours!"</p>
+
+<p>"But I wish it for mine. Oh, Rose, you sweet, delightful creature, you
+<i>must</i> learn to love me. I cannot give you up. And the Destourniers are
+quite willing. I have asked for you."</p>
+
+<p>"No one can give me away. I belong only to myself."</p>
+
+<p>She drew her hand away in an unguarded moment. She sprang up straight
+and lithe, her head poised superbly. Every pulse within him was
+mysteriously stirred, and his breath came in gasps. Yes, he must set her
+in his life. It would be bleak and barren without. To kiss the rosy lips
+when he listed, to pillow the fair head on his shoulder, to encircle the
+supple figure, so full of vitality, in his arms&mdash;yes, that would be the
+highest delight.</p>
+
+<p>"I will wait," he said, in a beseeching voice. "You are but a child.
+Pity has not sprung up in your heart yet. I will wait and watch for the
+first sign."</p>
+
+<p>"Go!" She made a dismissing gesture with her hand. "Do not attempt to
+follow me."</p>
+
+<p>He stood still, looking after her. His whole soul was aflame, his voice
+could have cried to the heavens above that she might be enkindled with
+the sacred flame that leaped and flashed within him.</p>
+
+<p>Rose picked her way deftly, daintily over the rocky way. She did not
+stop at the house, but went on to the beach. A fish-hawk was chasing a
+robin, that suddenly veered round as if asking her protection, and
+picking up a sharp stone, she took aim at the hawk and stunned him for
+an instant, so that he lost his balance.</p>
+
+<p>"Bravo, little Rose," said a hearty voice, and the canoe turned in the
+bend. "If your stone had been larger it might have done more execution."</p>
+
+<p>"But I saved the bird." The robin had perched himself on the limb of a
+dead fir tree, and began a gay song.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better go farther away from your enemy," she counselled. Then
+to the canoeist&mdash;"Will you let me come in and go down the river?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I will take you down. What did you do with young Boull&eacute;?"</p>
+
+<p>She colored a little. "I want to tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"I saw you both up on the cliff."</p>
+
+<p>"I came away and left him."</p>
+
+<p>He drew up the canoe and she stepped in lightly, seating herself so
+gently that the canoe did not even swerve.</p>
+
+<p>"How blue the water is! And so clear. It is like the heaven above. And
+there are rays of sun in the river bed. It does not seem very deep, does
+it? I could almost touch it with my hand."</p>
+
+<p>Destournier laughed. "Suppose you try?"</p>
+
+<p>"And tip us over?" She smiled as well.</p>
+
+<p>It was so lovely that both were moved to silence. Now and then they
+glanced at each other, at some special point or happening. She was not
+effusive.</p>
+
+<p>After a while she began with&mdash;"Do you like M. Boull&eacute; very much?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is a promising young man, I am glad he did not return to France. We
+have few enough of them here. Every one counts."</p>
+
+<p>"He will go some time," she said, reflectively.</p>
+
+<p>A sudden thought flashed through his mind. The girl's face was very
+calm, but her eyes had a sort of protest in them.</p>
+
+<p>"Will he take you?" Destournier asked, in a husky tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, M'sieu Ralph, would you send me? Would you give me to any one
+else?"</p>
+
+<p>Now her eyes were alight with an eager breathless expression that was
+almost anguish.</p>
+
+<p>"Not if you did not want to go."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not want to go anywhere. Oh, M'sieu Ralph," and now her tone was
+piteous, "I wish you would send him away. I liked him very well at
+first, but now he wants me to love him, and I cannot, the kind of love
+that impels one to marry, and I do not want to be married."</p>
+
+<p>"Has he tried to persuade you?"</p>
+
+<p>Ralph Destournier knew he would make a good husband. Some time Rose
+would marry. But it was plain she did not love him. And though love
+might not be necessary, it was a very sweet accompaniment that, he knew
+now, it was sad to miss.</p>
+
+<p>"He talked to me about marriage. I do not like it." She gave a little
+shiver, and the color went out of her face, even her lips, and her
+pliant figure seemed to shrink as from a blow.</p>
+
+<p>"My child, no one shall marry you against your will, neither shall you
+be taken away. Rest content in my promise."</p>
+
+<p>She nodded, then smiled, with trusting eyes. He wondered a little about
+her future. While he lived&mdash;well, the Sieur de Champlain was well and
+hearty, and much older. She was only a child yet, though she had
+suddenly grown tall. He could care for her in the years to come, and she
+would no doubt find a mate. He knew very little about girls. They
+generally went to convents and were educated and husbands were chosen
+for them by their parents. But in this new world matters had changed.
+There was talk of a convent to train the Indian girls, and the
+half-breeds who took more readily to civilization. The priests were in
+earnest about it, but money was lacking. Rose had picked up much useful
+knowledge, and knew some things unusual for a girl. Good Father Jamay
+would be shocked at Terence, Aristophanes, and Virgil for a girl.</p>
+
+<p>"So you do not like marriage?" he said, rather jestingly.</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"But then you know nothing about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, there is the Sieur and the beautiful Madame. And you and miladi.
+And Marie, with her dirty house and her babies. She is not as nice as
+the Indian women. And they have to wait upon the braves or else, when
+the braves are off fur hunting, they have to plant the crops and catch
+fish, and even hunt and mend tents, and do such hard work. All that is
+no delight like dreaming on the moss in the woods, and talking to the
+birds, and breathing the fragrance all about, and having rushes of
+delight sweep over you like a waft from the beautiful heaven above. Oh,
+why should I marry; to think of some one else that I do not want and not
+feel that my life was my very own."</p>
+
+<p>He studied the youthful unconscious face before him, the clear, fine
+skin, a few shades deeper from the daily contact with sun and much
+dallying on the river; the beautiful dark eyes that seemed always
+gathering the choicest of life, with joy and wonder; the rounded cheeks,
+with exquisitely-faint coloring, seeming to join the clear-cut chin,
+with its dimpled cleft melting into the shapely throat, that upheld it
+like a flower on a strong, yet delicate stem. He was strangely moved by
+the peculiar aloofness of the beauty.</p>
+
+<p>Her soft hair hung about her like a cloud, the curling ends moved now
+and then as if by their own vigorous life. Indeed, there was an intense
+sort of vitality about her that, quiescent as it often was, in this
+trifling, daily round, could shoot up into a bewildering flame. Perhaps
+that was love. She did not have it for Eustache Boull&eacute;, she might never
+have it for him. Were men and women but half alive? Was there some
+sudden revivifying influence that raised them above the daily wants,
+that gave them an insight into a new existence? Had he ever experienced
+it?</p>
+
+<p>The sun dropped down behind a range of hills, covered with pines, furs,
+and cedars, that were growing into a compact dark wall, the interstices
+being black. The edge of the river took on these sombre hues, but a
+little beyond there were long strips of rose and tawny gold, between
+zones of purple and green. The current tossed them hither and thither,
+like some weird thing winding about. Destournier was strangely moved by
+this mysterious kinship to nature that he had never experienced before.</p>
+
+<p>"We must turn back," he began briefly, though it seemed to him he could
+gladly go on to a new life in some other land.</p>
+
+<p>She nodded. The tide was growing a little stronger, but it was in their
+favor. They kept quite near the shore, where it was dark in spaces, and
+then opened into a sort of clearing, only to close again. Even now the
+voyager dreams on the enchanting shores that are not all given up to
+towns and business.</p>
+
+<p>She began to sing. It was melody without words. Now and then she
+recalled a French verse or two, then it settled into some melancholy
+Indian plaint, or the evening song of a belated bird. She was not
+singing for him, yet he was enchanted.</p>
+
+<p>He drew in the canoe presently. She sprang out with the agile grace
+caught from much solitary rambling and climbing. Then she waited for him
+to fasten it.</p>
+
+<p>"You are quite sure that you will not consent to M. Boull&eacute;'s wishes?"
+she inquired, as they turned in and out of the winding path.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall be left entirely free. You shall not marry at all, if you
+prefer," he answered solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a thousand thanks. And you will convince miladi. I think she wishes
+M. Boull&eacute; all success. I must go make my peace with Wanamee and get some
+supper."</p>
+
+<p>She ran to the end of the house, the wide kitchen, where the cooking was
+done. Wanamee and Mawha were in a discussion, as often happened. Pani
+sat with a great wooden platter on his knees, eating voraciously. Rose
+realized suddenly that she was hungry, and the smell of the broiling
+fish was appetizing.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm famished, Wanamee," she cried. "Will you give me some supper?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miladi is much vexed with you, little one. She had supper sent to her
+room and M. Boull&eacute; was there. They wanted you and M. Destournier. There
+was to be a&mdash;I do not know what you call it, but he wanted you to
+promise to be his wife, for he goes to Tadoussac to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>Rose's heart beat with a guilty joy.</p>
+
+<p>"I should not promise that. I do not want to be a wife."</p>
+
+<p>Mawha, who had been a wife several times, a tall, rather severe-looking
+Indian woman, turned upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art well-grown and shouldst have a husband. Girls get too wild if
+they are let go too long. A husband keeps them in order."</p>
+
+<p>"I will have some supper," Rose said, with dignity, ignoring the
+stricture.</p>
+
+<p>Then she cleared a place on the table and brushed it clean with the
+birch twigs. Wanamee brought a plate of Indian meal cake, deliciously
+browned, some potatoes baked in the hot ashes, and a great slice of
+fish, with a dish of spiced preserves of some green fruit and berries.</p>
+
+<p>"I looked for you," Pani said. "Were you up on the mountain?"</p>
+
+<p>Rose shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>She was hungry, but she dallied over her meal, wondering if she had best
+go in and say good-night to miladi. She did not always; she quite
+understood now that there were times when miladi did not care to see
+her; then, at others, she sent for her. Now she would let her send. She
+went up to her small chamber presently. The young moon was travelling
+over westward with her attendant star. There were boats still out on the
+river, merry voices, others in loud and angry dispute. Why did people
+want to quarrel, when the world was so beautiful! Then a shrill cry of
+some night bird, guards coming and going about the fort. She grew drowsy
+presently, and went to bed, serene in the belief that M. Boull&eacute; would go
+his way and torment her no more, for had not M. Ralph promised?</p>
+
+<p>M. Ralph and miladi were having a rather stormy time. She had inquired
+very peremptorily what had kept him so late. Pani had been sent to the
+warehouse and had not found him, neither had he been at the fort.</p>
+
+<p>M. Destournier was no hand to prevaricate. He lived an open, honest
+life, and had few secrets beside those of business. Ordinarily, he would
+have explained what he had been about the last two hours, but he had a
+sudden premonition that it was wiser not to do so. Miladi was sometimes
+captious where Rose was concerned.</p>
+
+<p>"I was busy," he made answer briefly.</p>
+
+<p>"M. Boull&eacute; goes to Tadoussac to-morrow. The vessel came down for him
+to-day. Some urgent business requires his attention."</p>
+
+<p>"He has loitered quite long enough," commented her husband. "He is a
+pleasant young fellow, but there is more than indolent pleasuring to a
+young man's life."</p>
+
+<p>"He has had a purpose, a matter that lies near his heart. This new
+country and the lack of fixed rules are demoralizing, and it will be a
+good thing when there is a convent for the proper training of girls. But
+lawless as Rose has grown, he has asked her in marriage. We wanted you
+to ratify the consent I have given. He will make arrangements for the
+marriage a few months hence."</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to think Rose has no voice in this."</p>
+
+<p>"Why should she have? Do we not stand in the place of parents? My father
+chose M. Giffard, and he was presented to me as my future husband. No
+well-bred girl makes any demur. But it seems that Mam'selle Rose has
+some queer ideas, imbibed from heaven only knows where, that she must
+experience a kind of overwhelming preference for a man, which would be
+positively disgraceful in a young girl who has no right to consider love
+until she is called upon to give it to her husband. It will be a most
+excellent thing for her."</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment or two of silence. He was considering how best to
+make his protest.</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;why do you not reply?" tartly. "The young man is very ardent. She
+can never do better."</p>
+
+<p>"She is but a child. There need be no haste. And if she does not
+care&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"She is no longer a child. Fully fourteen, I think, and Mam'selle Boull&eacute;
+was married younger that that."</p>
+
+<p>"And whether the Sieur would quite approve. There are some formalities
+in old France which we have not shaken off. His parents are still
+alive&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And he is quite certain he can have the mystery about her fathomed. She
+should go down on her knees to a man who would prove her honorably born,
+even if he had no fortune. To-morrow morning he wants the matter
+settled, and a betrothal, before he goes. If you know where she is, you
+had better summon her and instruct her as to her duty. She is quite old
+enough to understand. She has played the child too long already, and it
+has spoiled her."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not have her betrothed against her will. She has no fancy for
+marriage. And there will be time enough. If M. Boull&eacute; chooses to wait
+until the Sieur returns, and he consents&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"She has always been a favorite of his," interrupted miladi. Then
+suddenly&mdash;"Why are you so obstinate about it, when it will be such an
+excellent thing for her?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not obstinate about it, only as far as she is concerned. If she
+desired it she should have my full and free consent. But I will not
+insist upon a step she does not desire."</p>
+
+<p>"As if a girl knew what was best!" reiterated miladi scornfully. "And
+why should you wish to keep her? Unless"&mdash;and now miladi's eyes flashed
+fire&mdash;"unless&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not say it!" He held up his hand forbiddingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I will say it! You are not her father, and it seems strange you should
+have such an overwhelming fondness for her as to keep her from a most
+excellent marriage, and persuade yourself that a woman grown can indulge
+in all kinds of childish behavior, without detriment to her character.
+If it is your fondness for her that stands in the way&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Miladi at that moment was in a jealous fury. The passion leaped to her
+heart full-grown. She understood now why she half-feared, half-disliked
+the child that she had once esteemed a pet and plaything. She had
+supplanted her in her husband's affections. She had youth and beauty,
+and miladi was fading, beside being years older than her husband, and
+then never very well any more.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" exclaimed her husband, in a commanding tone. "I forbid you to
+think of such a thing! When have I failed in my devotion to you?
+To-morrow she shall have her choice, but she shall not be forced into
+any promise beside her own wishes. And then I will find a new home for
+her."</p>
+
+<p>He turned and went out of the room. Miladi pounded on the table before
+her with her small fist, as if she could beat the life out of
+something.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3>FROM A GIRL'S HEART</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rose stood looking over the wide expanse of the river to the opposite
+shore, wondering a little. Down there, miles and miles below, were the
+English settlements. The men, as traders, came to Quebec now and then.
+Were the English women like the French? Were there young girls among
+them? She was beginning to experience a peculiar loneliness, a want of
+companionship, that no one about her could satisfy.</p>
+
+<p>"Madame Destournier wishes to see you," exclaimed Pani, who had been
+sent on the errand.</p>
+
+<p>She went slowly to miladi's room, and entering it wished her
+good-morning, with a dainty courtesy.</p>
+
+<p>"You will be needed for a matter in hand," began miladi, "about which I
+desire to say a few words before the gentlemen come. It would have been
+settled yesterday, but you were not to be found. Where were you?"</p>
+
+<p>Miladi asked it carelessly, so intent on the matter in hand that she did
+not remark the color that flew up to the fair brow.</p>
+
+<p>"Out on the river," she answered briefly.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not proper for you to go alone. I have told you of this before.
+You are a young woman, and with so many men roaming about, it is too
+bold and unsafe, as well."</p>
+
+<p>"I am never in any danger."</p>
+
+<p>"You do not know. But then it is not proper."</p>
+
+<p>Rose made no reply to that. For some time miladi had not seemed to care
+where she went. And she often did have Pani with her.</p>
+
+<p>There was a rather awkward silence. Rose was meditating an escape. Then
+miladi began, in so severe a tone that every nerve within her quivered.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you were needed yesterday afternoon. M. Boull&eacute; came in and laid
+before me a grave matter. You two seem to have wandered about in a
+manner that would have scandalized a more civilized place, but there
+appear to be no restrictions in this wilderness of savages. I have not
+been able to watch over you as I should, and Wanamee does not
+understand. Out of all this freedom, so unusual to a French maid, has
+come a proposal of marriage, and this morning you are to be betrothed."</p>
+
+<p>"I? But I have not consented, Madame. I told M. Boull&eacute; yesterday that I
+could not marry him, that I did not want to marry any one."</p>
+
+<p>"You will consider. Remember you are a foundling, with no name of
+ancestry, no parents, that a man might refer to with pride when children
+grow up about the family altar. It is not a thing to be quite satisfied
+with, Mademoiselle, or proud of," and there was a sting in her tone.
+"This man loves you so well that he is willing to overlook it and offer
+you honorable marriage, which but few men would do. We have accepted him
+for you. He returns to Tadoussac to-day, but the marriage day will be
+settled and though you cannot have what I would wish, we will do our
+best."</p>
+
+<p>The girl's face had changed from scarlet to deathly whiteness. Something
+inside of her seemed to spring into a flame of knowledge, of womanhood,
+and burn up grandly. That subtle chemistry that works in the girl's
+soul, and transforms it, sometimes slowly, was in her case like the
+sudden bursting of a bud into flowering. She was her own. She had said
+this before; in a way, she had always felt it; but now it was graven
+with a point of steel.</p>
+
+<p>"Madame," she began, in a tone she vainly strove to render steady, "only
+yesterday I told M. Boull&eacute; I could not take the love he proffered me,
+and make any return. And then I felt on a certain equality. I understand
+better now. I am nameless, a rose of the wilderness, a foundling, as you
+said. So I will marry no man who may be ashamed of me before his
+children. Thank M. Boull&eacute; for the honor, and tell him&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The door opened, Destournier recalled one of the few plays he had seen
+in Paris, with a tragedienne who had won a king's heart, and it seemed
+almost as if this girl might step into fame, so proud and full of power
+was she, standing there. Miladi had not been willing to wait for a
+conference. But the result would have been the same.</p>
+
+<p>Both men looked at her in surprise, and were speechless for a moment.
+Then M. Destournier, recovering, reached out and took the girl's slim,
+nerveless hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose," he said, "M. Boull&eacute; has done us all the honor to ask your hand
+in marriage. If you can accept him you will have our heartiest wishes
+for your happiness; if you feel that you cannot, if no affection draws
+you to him, then do not give him a cold, loveless heart in return. Make
+your own choice; there is no one to compel you, no one to insist."</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you, M. Boull&eacute;, for the honor." She held her head up very
+straight; it seemed as if she had grown since yesterday. Her eyes were
+fearless in their high light, the delicious curves of her lips seemed
+set as if they had been carved, instead of rosy flesh. "It is more than
+the usual honor, I believe. I am a nameless foundling, and have been
+handed about from one to another, and they were not the kind in whom one
+could take pride. Therefore, I shall not bestow myself on any man, and
+no one has any right to take advantage of his generosity. If I loved
+you, I should do the same thing. How much more resolute I should be when
+I do not love you, and would wed you simply for the sake of sheltering
+myself under your name. I am sorry any one has considered this possible,
+since it is not."</p>
+
+<p>Boull&eacute; took a step forward and grasped her hand, as he poured out a
+torrent of ardent love. Miladi looked on, amazed. Was the girl made of
+stone, or was her heart elsewhere? She made no appeal to M. Destournier,
+indeed her face was turned a trifle from him.</p>
+
+<p>"You pain me," she said wearily, yet with a tender pity. "I can say no
+more."</p>
+
+<p>"But I will wait," he pleaded.</p>
+
+<p>"My answer would always be the same."</p>
+
+<p>"Rose!" miladi exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Madame Destournier, I thank you also for your kindness to a foundling,
+and you, also," turning to M. Destournier, "for home and shelter, and
+many other things. I feel now that since I have disappointed you I
+cannot avail myself of your generosity any longer. I can find another
+home&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She turned swiftly as a ray of light, and disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you no control over her?" cried Madame angrily, "that she defies
+you to your face. It shows the blood that runs in her veins, wayward,
+ungrateful thing that no honor can raise, no generosity touch. She has
+the heart of a stone. M. Boull&eacute;, you have made a fortunate escape."</p>
+
+<p>"But I love her, Madame. And I thought her noble in her refusal, but I
+would have taken her to my heart, no matter what she was. And I do not
+quite despair. I may find some link that will rehabilitate her. She must
+have come from a fine race. There is no peasant blood there."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps honorable peasant blood may be cleaner than a king's bastard,"
+returned miladi scornfully.</p>
+
+<p>"You have my most fervent sympathy," and M. Destournier wrung the
+lover's hand. "But it would be ill work marrying a woman who did not
+care for you. Perhaps another year"&mdash;should he give him hope? It was
+such an honest, earnest face, and he would have been brave to set at
+naught family tradition.</p>
+
+<p>They went down the winding stair together. Rose was nowhere to be seen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you will watch over her?" M. Boull&eacute; cried, with a lover's
+desperation.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not fear. She has been like a child to me. No harm shall come to
+her."</p>
+
+<p>Miladi in her transport of rage tore the handkerchief she held in her
+hand to shreds, and stamped her foot on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"She shall never come in this house again, the deceitful, ungrateful
+wretch. And he shall not care for her, or befriend her in any way. She
+must love him, and it is no child's love, either. Why, I have been blind
+and silly all this last year."</p>
+
+<p>Rose had flown out of the house, across the gardens and the settlement
+to the woods, where she had spent so many delightful hours. She threw
+herself down on the moss and the fragrant pine needles, and gave way to
+a fit of weeping that seemed to rend both soul and body. Was she an
+outcast? Oh, it could not be that M. Destournier would forsake her. But
+she could ask nothing from him, and miladi would never see her again.
+Why could she not have loved M. Boull&eacute;? Did it take so much love to be a
+man's wife? to be held in his arms and kissed, to live with him day by
+day&mdash;and she shuddered at the thought.</p>
+
+<p>But she was young, and the flood of tears subsided. She sat up, leaning
+against a stout pine. Then she rose and peered about. Was it true that
+M. Boull&eacute; was to go away? What if he came and found her again?</p>
+
+<p>She crawled out cautiously, and looked up at the sun. It had passed the
+meridian. She was hungry, so she searched about and found some berries,
+but she longed for something more substantial. For the first time
+solitude seemed to pall upon her. She felt as if everything had been
+swept away.</p>
+
+<p>Toward night she crept down to the settlement. Several of the Indian
+women would take her in, she knew. There was Noko sitting just outside
+her tent; she would not accept a cabin of logs or stone. She was making
+a cape of gulls' feathers, that she might sell to some of the traders,
+who often took curious Indian finery home with their furs. Her three
+sons were trappers. One had a wife and three children that the poor
+mother provided for, and when her brave came home, she was devoted to
+him, grateful for a pleasant word. What curious ideas these aborigines
+had of wedded love!</p>
+
+<p>"Noko, will you take me in for the night, and give me some supper?" she
+asked, as she threw herself down beside the Indian woman, who, at
+forty, looked at least sixty, and though she had the face of her tribe,
+it was marked by a grave sort of pleasantness, and not the severity that
+generally characterized middle life.</p>
+
+<p>"Has the Sieur gone to Tadoussac?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not that I know of. But I have offended miladi. And your wigwam is
+always so clean, and there are no children."</p>
+
+<p>The woman shook her head with a sort of remonstrance.</p>
+
+<p>"You will have them of your own some day. When they are little, you will
+care for them. They will be no trouble. When they are older, you will be
+proud of them, and rejoice in their bravery. Then they go away, and
+forget."</p>
+
+<p>She began to put up her work. "Are you in earnest?" she asked. "Do you
+need shelter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the Gaudrions would take me in, but there is such a crowd, I am for
+a little quiet and solitude to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shalt have it. The Sieur has been good to me. But it is hardly
+wise to quarrel with one's home."</p>
+
+<p>"There was no quarrel. Miladi wanted me to do something that I could
+not. And you know I have no real claim upon them, Noko, I belong to
+Quebec, not to any person."</p>
+
+<p>She gave a little laugh that sounded almost shrill. There was not so
+much joy in belonging only to one's self.</p>
+
+<p>"To Quebec, yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Now let me kindle the fire. See how handy I can be. And to-morrow I can
+help you with that beautiful cape. I suppose the great ladies in Paris
+feel very grand in some of these things. I heard the Governor say that a
+great deal of money was paid for a deerskin dress by some one at court.
+It was worked beautifully, and as soft as velvet."</p>
+
+<p>Rose busied herself in her eager, graceful fashion. Noko broiled some
+deer steak on the coals, and had a stew made of various things, with
+fish for the foundation. Rose was not very partial to this, but the
+steak and the cakes made of rye and corn, and well browned, tasted good
+to the hungry girl. There was a tea made of herbs, which had a
+delightful fragrance.</p>
+
+<p>Afterward they sat in the doorway, and one and another came to give Noko
+a bit of gossip. Rose crept off to bed presently. How fragrant the fresh
+balsam of fir was, and the tired girl soon fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>M. Destournier had been quite engrossed with a few forgotten things that
+had to go to Tadoussac. Then the vessel pushed off and he turned to the
+storehouse. Presently a load would go to France. Though he was
+mechanically busy, his thoughts turned to Rose. She must have another
+home. He had wondered more than once how it had come to pass that miladi
+had lost so many of her charms, yet grown so much more exacting. He had
+awakened to the fact that he had never been a rapturous lover. He paid
+Eustache Boull&eacute; all honor that he had proved so manly and brave, yet in
+his secret heart he felt glad that Rose had not loved him. Why, he could
+not tell, except that she was too young. And he wondered how much miladi
+had loved Laurent Giffard. How much was she capable of loving? And the
+sweet angel-like H&eacute;l&egrave;ne, who had willingly crossed the ocean and exiled
+herself from the life she loved to these uncongenial surroundings. They
+were that for a woman.</p>
+
+<p>When business was through with, he made his way down to M. H&eacute;bert's.
+Though the man had been bred an apothecary, and had a wider education
+than many in a higher round, he was making an excellent and enthusiastic
+farmer. Madame H&eacute;bert had brought some of the old-world knowledge and
+frugality with her, and put them in practice, bringing up her daughters
+to habits of industry, while the son was equally well trained by the
+father.</p>
+
+<p>M. H&eacute;bert was busy with his young fruit trees. Every year he sent for
+some hardy kind, and had quite a variety. He was a colonist, which so
+few of the emigrants were.</p>
+
+<p>After a walk about the garden, they went in to see Madame H&eacute;bert and
+Th&eacute;r&egrave;se, who was making lace. Then M. Destournier preferred his request
+that they would take Rose for a while. He did not hint at any
+disagreement. Madame Destournier's health was precarious, and she had
+little idea of what was necessary for a girl, having been
+convent-trained herself. Now that Madame de Champlain had gone there
+was no real companionship for Rose, who was surely outgrowing her
+childish fancies.</p>
+
+<p>"How would you like it, Th&eacute;r&egrave;se?" asked her mother.</p>
+
+<p>Th&eacute;r&egrave;se was a solid dark-eyed, dark-haired, rather heavy-looking girl,
+without the French vivacity and eagerness. Destournier smiled inwardly;
+he could hardly fancy their being companions; yet in a way, each might
+benefit the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;if you approved. Though I am never lonely," raising her eyes to
+the visitor.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose is quite given to rambling about. She haunts the woods, she is
+fond of canoeing, and I think she has quite a mind for study. I am sorry
+there are so few opportunities. Our good fathers seem to frown on
+everything but prayers."</p>
+
+<p>"Prayers are good, but there must be work, as well," said Madame H&eacute;bert,
+who had been brought up a Huguenot, and who thought conventual life a
+great waste.</p>
+
+<p>"I should like the change for her. It may not be for long, but it would
+be a favor. And you need not feel that you must devote a great deal of
+time and energy to her, but give her the shelter of a home, until
+matters change a little," with a hopeful accent in his voice, and a
+smile that had the same aspect.</p>
+
+<p>"Madame Destournier is not well?" in a tone of inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>"No. She should have gone to France with the Sieur and his wife, but it
+was thought she had not the strength to stand the sea voyage. I feel
+much troubled about her."</p>
+
+<p>Madame H&eacute;bert was sympathetic, but she had never admired the wife as
+much as she did the husband. She was too volatile in the early days, and
+held her head quite too high.</p>
+
+<p>It was arranged that Rose should be an inmate of the H&eacute;bert home for a
+month or two. It was such a comfortable, cheerful-looking place. There
+was a set of bookshelves, and no one beside the Governor owned more than
+a prayer-book, which did little good, since they could hardly read in
+their own language.</p>
+
+<p>M. Ralph did not go at once to his wife, but stopped in the kitchen.
+Mawha was brewing some herbs. Wanamee entered with a plate on which
+there was some wheaten toast.</p>
+
+<p>"She will not take it. She does nothing but fret for Monsieur, and say
+dreadful things about <i>ma fille</i>"&mdash;then she stopped in a fright, seeing
+her master.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Rose?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"She has not been here all day. I sent Pani to look for her, but he has
+not returned."</p>
+
+<p>M. Destournier went to his wife's room. She was hysterical and
+unreasonable.</p>
+
+<p>"Promise me that such a miserable, deceitful thing as that girl is shall
+never enter this house," she cried. "I cannot breathe the same air with
+her. You must choose between us. If you keep to her, I shall know you
+have no love for me. I will kill myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Marguerite, calm yourself. Rose is not to remain here, but go to the
+H&eacute;berts. So you will have quiet and nothing to do but recover your
+health. And if you can get well enough, we will go to Montreal, as I
+have to transact some business. The change will do you good."</p>
+
+<p>"You will not take her?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no. Now let the girl alone. She is provided for, and you have the
+two women at your service."</p>
+
+<p>"She did nothing for me. And after roaming the woods and canoeing with
+M. Boull&eacute;, she should have been glad to marry him, for decency's sake."</p>
+
+<p>"We will let her quite alone," he exclaimed authoritatively. "Why did
+you not eat some supper?"</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't. Oh, Ralph, be kind to me. Do not let that girl steal your
+love from me. I was quite as pretty in youth, but the years are hard on
+one. And I need your love more than ever. You are not tender and
+caressing as Laurent was."</p>
+
+<p>He bent over and kissed her, smoothed her tangled hair, and patted the
+hot cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been busy all day, and have had no supper," he began, loosening
+the hands about his neck.</p>
+
+<p>She sobbed wildly. She had been so lonely all day. She missed M. Boull&eacute;
+so much. He would have been a son to them.</p>
+
+<p>He had to tear himself away. He did not take his supper, but rushed out
+to make inquiries. Where had Rose gone? Was she wandering about the
+woods? There had been wolves, stray Indians, and a dozen dangers. The
+palisade gates were fastened. He asked at two or three of the cabins,
+where he knew she was a favorite. And where was Pani?</p>
+
+<p>Pani was asleep on a soft couch of moss, under a clump of great oak
+trees. He had lain down, warm and tired, and his nap was good for ten or
+twelve hours.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw her by Noko's wigwam," said a woman, as she heard him inquiring.</p>
+
+<p>Not even waiting to thank her, he rushed thither. Noko had the
+reputation of being a sort of seer, though she seldom used her gift. She
+sat on the stone beside her door, and a woman knelt before her, to whom
+she was talking in a low monotonous tone. His step startled the
+listener, and she sprang up.</p>
+
+<p>"Whither did Rose go?" he asked peremptorily, seizing Noko's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"She is here, Monsieur. She is in bed asleep. There is trouble and the
+fair-haired woman hates her. You had better not try to make them agree.
+And she has no love for the dark-haired suitor who is on the river,
+dreaming of her. She is too young. Let her alone."</p>
+
+<p>"I wanted to know that she was safe. I will see her in the morning. Keep
+her until I come."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Destournier had wept herself to sleep, and was breathing in
+comparative tranquillity. Ralph sat down beside the bed. If Rose had
+loved Eustache Boull&eacute;, the way would have been smooth as a summer sea.
+Was he sorry, or mysteriously glad? Why should he be glad? he demanded
+of himself.</p>
+
+<p>Rose made no demur the next morning when M. Destournier told her of the
+new arrangements, only stipulating that she should have her liberty, to
+go and come as she pleased.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you very angry because I could not take M. Boull&eacute; for a husband?"
+she inquired timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no. It was your life, Mademoiselle, for sorrow or joy. You only
+had the right to choose."</p>
+
+<p>The bronze lashes quivered sensitively upon her cheeks, and a soft flush
+seemed to tangle itself among them.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it joy, M'sieu?" in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>"It ought to be."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall wait until there comes a touch of joy greater than any I
+have yet known. And I have had thrills of delight that have gone all
+through my body, but they faded. The love for a husband should last
+one's whole life."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Mademoiselle. Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>All the white tones of her skin flushed to rose, and crept even among
+the tendrils of her hair and over her small ears. Had he ever remarked
+how perfect they were before?</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Ma fille</i>," he responded softly. "And you will be content until better
+times."</p>
+
+<p>"So long as I do not have to marry, yes."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a good <i>fille</i>. I shall see you now and then. You will like M.
+H&eacute;bert. He has plenty of books, and it will be a good practice to read
+up French."</p>
+
+<p>She nodded.</p>
+
+<p>He took a second thought.</p>
+
+<p>"You may as well go now, and I will see that all is fair sailing. Noko,
+thanks for keeping Rose of Quebec where neither wolves nor marauders
+could get at her."</p>
+
+<p>They walked quietly along, she with her agile step, that gave graceful
+turns to her figure. She was hardly a woman, and yet more than a child.
+But she kept the sweet simplicity of the latter.</p>
+
+<p>Madame H&eacute;bert gave her a pleasant welcome. Th&eacute;r&egrave;se glanced up from her
+lace work and nodded, hoping in a formal and quite ungirlish manner that
+she would be happy with them. Rose sat down beside her, and looked at
+the lace. There were pins stuck in a cushion and Th&eacute;r&egrave;se threw her
+thread over this one and that one. How queer it looked.</p>
+
+<p>"But if you should go wrong?" she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is the pattern. This is quite simple. I have one very intricate,
+but handsome, like they make at home, Maman says. And one with beads. I
+took the idea from an Indian woman. I have some finished work, too."</p>
+
+<p>"I have done a little of that. Miladi, that is Madame Destournier, used
+to do embroidery. At first she had such a store of pretty things. But
+now they cost so much. Only there are always packs of furs to exchange."</p>
+
+<p>M. H&eacute;bert came in, with a pleasant word for his guest. They were
+extremely sorry that Madame was ill, but it gave them the pleasure of a
+visit from Rose. M. Destournier said she was fond of reading; he had
+some poets, and books on gardening, out of which he made poetry, smiling
+with French gayety.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, Rose liked the exchange. For a few days it seemed rather
+stiff, but there were so many new things, and M. H&eacute;bert liked a good
+listener. She walked about the garden with him. There were some rare
+flowers, of which he was very proud, and several he had found in the
+woods. Then there was a bed of herbs, and he distilled remedies, as well
+as some delightful perfumes. He soon grew quite fond of the pretty girl
+who was so interested in his pursuits, and fond of hearing him read
+aloud, and though his wife and children listened amiably, their thoughts
+were more on their work. Industry was Madame H&eacute;bert's cardinal virtue,
+and her daughter was a girl after her own heart.</p>
+
+<p>But this fresh young creature to whom a marvellous world was being
+opened, who watched with eager eyes, who smiled or was saddened, who was
+sympathetic or indignant, who flushed or paled with the pain of tragedy,
+how charming she was!</p>
+
+<p>She often ran up to the old home for a word with Wanamee, who was glad
+to see her. Miladi was neither better nor worse, some days so irritable
+that nothing could please her.</p>
+
+<p>"She would keep M. Destournier beside her all the time," said Wanamee,
+"but a man has business. He is not meant for a nurse, and to yield to
+every whim. She is not a happy woman, miladi, and one hardly knows how
+much of her illness is imaginary. If she would only brighten up and go
+out a little, I think she would be better."</p>
+
+<p>Rose used her strongest efforts to induce Th&eacute;r&egrave;se to take a ramble with
+her. She did go to the woods occasionally, but she took her work along,
+always.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you keep so closely to it?" Rose asked one day.</p>
+
+<p>"Mam'selle, part is for my trousseau. Maman instructed me in the fashion
+of her old home, where girls begin to fill up a chest, to be ready."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Th&eacute;r&egrave;se, have you a lover?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Non.</i>" Th&eacute;r&egrave;se shook her head. "But I may have, some day. There will
+be people, men sent over to settle New France. The King has promised."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see M. Boull&eacute;, when he was here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes. And a nice young man he is, too."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish he had wanted to marry you. He is nice and good to look at. How
+could one marry Pierre Gaudrion, with his low brow and fierce eyebrows
+that meet over his nose, and his great hands, that seem made of lead, if
+he lays them on you! Yet he is smart and ingenious."</p>
+
+<p>"And they say now that he visits Anastase Fromont. She will make a good
+wife."</p>
+
+<p>Rose gave a little shiver. She could recall one time, the last, when
+Pierre had laid his hand on both her shoulders and drawn her to him, and
+she had wrenched herself away, every drop of blood within her rising up
+in protest.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you dare to touch me again, or I will kill you," she had flung
+out with blazing eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Then for weeks he had never so much as looked at her.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," retrospectively. "Why do people take likes the wrong way? Now if
+M. Boull&eacute; had&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It is said he was wild for love of you," interposed Th&eacute;r&egrave;se.</p>
+
+<p>"That made the trouble. Miladi liked him so much. Th&eacute;r&egrave;se, there is some
+kind of love we must have before you can put yourself in a man's hand,
+and let him take you to his home, where you must remain while life
+lasts. A whole long life, think of it! And if you wanted to get free the
+priest would forbid it. There would be nothing but to throw yourself
+into the river."</p>
+
+<p>Th&eacute;r&egrave;se looked with frightened eyes at the impetuous girl.</p>
+
+<p>"There is God to obey and serve. And if He sends you a good husband&mdash;M.
+Boull&eacute; was brother to our dear Sieur's wife. It would have been an
+excellent marriage."</p>
+
+<p>"If it hadst only been thou!" Rose's short-lived passion was over, and
+she was smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"But you see, Mam'selle, they are strong Catholics. I follow my mother's
+faith, and we do not believe telling beads and saying prayers is all of
+the true service to the Lord. So it would never have done."</p>
+
+<p>Rose was minded to laugh at the grave, satisfied tone, and the placid
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not a good Catholic, either. I do not go to confession. I do not
+tell lies nor steal, and though I get in tempers, it is because people
+try me and insist that I should do what I know it would be wrong for me
+to do. I did not want any husband, and I said so."</p>
+
+<p>"But all girls hope to marry some time. I should like to have as good a
+husband as my mother has, and be as happy with him."</p>
+
+<p>"He is delightful," admitted Rose. "But your mother loved him."</p>
+
+<p>"He was chosen for her, and there was no good reason why she should not
+accept him. Yes, they have been very happy. But in France girls do not
+have a voice, and when the husband is chosen, they set themselves about
+making every act and thought of theirs agreeable."</p>
+
+<p>"But if he was&mdash;unworthy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Few parents would choose an unworthy lover, I think. They have the good
+of their children at heart."</p>
+
+<p>Eustache Boull&eacute; had not been unworthy. He would have married her,
+nameless. Her heart turned suddenly tender toward him. She was learning
+that in the greater world there was a certain pride of birth, an honor
+in being well-born. She was better satisfied that she had not accepted
+Eustache. What if the Sieur had been opposed to it and Madame de
+Champlain frowned upon her?</p>
+
+<p>And then the Sieur returned, but he came alone. The house in the Rue St.
+Germain l'Auxerrois, with Madame Boull&eacute;, was more attractive than the
+roughness of a half-civilized country. Even then H&eacute;l&egrave;ne plead for
+permission to become a lay sister in a convent, which would have meant a
+separation, but he would not agree to this. Ten years after his death
+she entered the Ursuline Convent, and some years later founded one in
+the town of Meaux, endowing it with most of her fortune. And though the
+next summer Eustache renewed his suit, he met with a firm refusal, and
+found the influence of his brother-in-law was against him.</p>
+
+<p>Rose had been brave enough to lay the matter before him.</p>
+
+<p>"Little one," he said, in the most fatherly tone&mdash;"if thou dost not love
+a man enough to give him thy whole soul, except what belongs to God, to
+desire to spend thy life with him, to honor and serve him with the best
+thou hast, then do not marry him. It is a bitter thing for a man to go
+hungry for love, when a woman has promised to hold the cup of joy to his
+lips."</p>
+
+<p>Eustache then returned to France, and after a period of study and
+preparation, took holy orders, as a Friar.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3>A WAY OVER THORNS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Champlain found on his arrival five Jesuit priests, who had received a
+poor welcome, even from their French brethren. The R&eacute;collets had offered
+them the hospitality of their convent, which had been gratefully
+accepted. So far not much advance had been made among the Indians, who
+seemed incapable of discerning the spiritual side of religion, though
+they eagerly caught up any superstition.</p>
+
+<p>There had also come over a number of emigrants, two or three families,
+the others, men of no high degree, who had been tempted by the lure of a
+speedy fortune. It was a long, hard, cold winter, and throngs of Indians
+applied for relief. Champlain had established a farm at Beaupr&eacute;, down
+the river, and stocked it with cattle he had imported. But for weeks
+everything was half-buried in snow.</p>
+
+<p>One morning M. Destournier came in. Rose was sitting by the fire in M.
+H&eacute;bert's study and shop. The great fireplace was full of blazing logs,
+and she looked the picture, not only of comfort, but delight. She had
+not seen much of him for the month past. There was no opportunity for
+sledging even, the roads had been so piled with snow. Then she had
+taken quite a domestic turn, much to the gratification of Madame H&eacute;bert.</p>
+
+<p>M. Destournier looked thin and careworn. Rose sprang up, deeply touched.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you are ill," she cried. "I have not seen you in so long. Sit here
+in the warmth. And miladi?"</p>
+
+<p>She always inquired after her.</p>
+
+<p>"That is what I have come about. Rose, my dear child, can you forget
+enough of the past, and the long silence, to come back to us? Miladi
+wants you, needs you, has sent me to see. She is very ill, and lonely."</p>
+
+<p>Rose flushed warmly, with both pain and pleasure, and her eyes softened,
+almost to tears.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be glad to come." There was a tremble of emotion in her voice.
+"I realize how great a disappointment it was to her, but you know I was
+right, and when I asked the Sieur if I had been too hasty, or unjust, he
+approved. He thinks no woman ought to marry without giving her whole
+heart, and somehow I had none to give," blushing deeply and looking
+lovelier than ever. "I think it is because&mdash;because I am a foundling,
+and could not go to any man with honor. So I must make myself happy in
+my own way."</p>
+
+<p>Her figure had taken on more womanly lines, though it was still slim and
+exquisitely graceful. And the girlish beauty had ripened somewhat,
+losing none of its olden charm.</p>
+
+<p>She colored still more deeply under his glance.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there anything new with miladi?" she inquired, with some hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems a gradual wasting away and weakness. She thinks she will be
+better when spring opens, and longs to return to France. I am putting my
+affairs in shape to make this possible. She is very lonely. She has
+missed your brightness and vivacity. It has seemed a different place."</p>
+
+<p>Rose's heart swelled with pity. She forgave Madame from the depths of
+her heart, remembering only the old times and the tenderness.</p>
+
+<p>"When shall I come?"</p>
+
+<p>"At once. She begged for you last week, but I was afraid it was a
+restless fancy. The road is quite well broken. What a winter we have
+had! The drought last summer shortened crops, and there have been so
+many extra mouths to feed among the unfortunate Indians. So if you will
+inform the H&eacute;berts&mdash;I have seen Monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>She went through to the kitchen, where mother and daughter were
+concocting savory messes for the sick. They both returned with her and
+expressed much sympathy for the invalid. M. H&eacute;bert had said to his wife
+that miladi was slowly nearing her end, while her real disease seemed a
+mystery, but medical lore in the new world had not made much advance.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall only lend her to you for a while," Madame H&eacute;bert said, with a
+faint smile. "I hardly know how Monsieur will do without her. She is
+truly a rose-bloom in this dreary winter, that seems as if it would
+never end."</p>
+
+<p>"And I want her to bloom for a while in the room where my poor sick wife
+has to stay. She longs for some freshness and sweetness," he said, in a
+pleading tone.</p>
+
+<p>"She was rightly named," said Madame, with a smile. "Her poor mother
+must have died, I am quite sure, for she could not have sent away such
+an adorable child. Even when M&egrave;re Dubray had her, she was charming, in
+her wild, eager ways, like a bird. The good God made her a living Rose,
+indeed, to show how lovely a human Rose could be."</p>
+
+<p>She came in the room wrapped in her furs, her hood with its border of
+silver-fox framing in her face, that glowed with youth and health.</p>
+
+<p>"You have all been so good to me," and her beautiful eyes were alight
+with gratitude. "I shall come in often, and oh, I shall think of you
+every hour in the day."</p>
+
+<p>"Do not forget the latest pattern of lace-making," added the practical,
+industrious Th&eacute;r&egrave;se.</p>
+
+<p>It was glorious without, a white world with a sky of such deep blue it
+almost sparkled. Leafless trees stretched out long black or gray arms,
+and here and there a white birch stood up grandly, like some fair
+goddess astray. Stretches of evergreens suggested life, but beyond them
+hills of snow rising higher and higher, until they seemed lost in the
+blue, surmounted by a sparkling frost line.</p>
+
+<p>The paths had been beaten down&mdash;occasionally a tract around a doorway
+shovelled. It was hard and smooth as a floor. Destournier slipped her
+arm within his, and then gazed at her in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"You must have grown. How tall you are. I wonder if I shall get
+accustomed to the new phase? I seem always to see the little girl who
+sat upon my knee. Oh, do you remember when you were ill at M&egrave;re
+Dubray's?"</p>
+
+<p>"All my life comes to me in pictures. I sometimes think I can remember
+what was before the long sail in the boat, but it is so vague. Now it is
+all here, its rough ways, its rocks, its beautiful river are a part of
+me. I am never longing to go elsewhere. I am sorry Madame de Champlain
+did not love it as well. And the Sieur was such a good, tender husband."</p>
+
+<p>Destournier sighed a little, also. The Sieur kept busy and full of
+plans, but occasionally there came a wistfulness in his eyes and a pain
+in the lines that were settling so rapidly about his face.</p>
+
+<p>They crunched over the icy paths. A time or two she slipped, and he drew
+her nearer, the touch of her body, though wrapped in its furs, giving
+him a delicious thrill. He lifted her up the steep ways he had seen her
+climb with the litheness of a squirrel.</p>
+
+<p>Wanamee came out with a fervent welcome. The old kitchen was the same.
+Pani was toasting himself in his favorite corner. Mawha was doing Indian
+bead and feather work, and looked up with a cordial nod.</p>
+
+<p>"Get good and warm. I will tell miladi you have come. You will find her
+much changed, but she does not like it remarked upon."</p>
+
+<p>She and Wanamee were in an earnest talk when she was summoned. The room
+had in it some new appointments, brought from France, but even a
+luxurious court beauty might have envied the rich fur rugs lying about
+and hanging over the rude and somewhat clumsy chairs of home
+manufacture.</p>
+
+<p>Pillowed up in a half-sitting posture in the bed was miladi. Rose could
+hardly forbear a shocked exclamation. When she had seen her every day,
+the changes had passed unremarked, for they had begun, even then. The
+lovely skin was yellowed and wrinkled and defined the cheek bones, the
+beautiful hair had grown dull, and the eyes had lost their lustre. All
+her youth was gone, she was an old lady, even before the time.</p>
+
+<p>And this vision of youthful, vigorous beauty was like a sudden sunburst,
+when the day had been dull and cloudy. She seemed to animate the room,
+to light up the farthest recesses, to bring a breath of revivifying air
+and hope.</p>
+
+<p>"I have wanted you so," the invalid said piteously. "Oh, how strong and
+well you are! I never was very strong, and so the illness has taken a
+deeper hold on me. And now you must help me to get well. Your freshness
+will be an elixir&mdash;that is what I have wanted. Wanamee is good for a
+servant nurse, but I have needed something finer and better."</p>
+
+<p>She held out her hand and Rose pressed it to her lips. It was bony,
+showing swollen blue veins, and had a clammy coldness that struck a
+chill to the rosy lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you like them at the H&eacute;berts? They are very staid people, and think
+only of work, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"They were very kind, and I found them well-informed about everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, when they know so much, can they not cure me? You know it is not
+as though my case was very serious. I am weak, that is all. The doctor
+came down from Tadoussac, but he just shook his head, and his powders
+did me no good. M. H&eacute;bert sent some extracts of herbs, but nothing gives
+me any strength. And the snow and cold stays on as if spring would never
+come. What have you been doing all this while? You couldn't run about in
+the woods."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Madame, I am outgrowing that wild longing, though the trees have a
+hundred voices, and I seem to understand what they say, and the song of
+the birds, the ripple and plash of the river. But I have been learning
+other things. How great the world is, and the stories of kings and
+queens, and brave travellers, who go about and discover new places. It
+widens one's subjects of thought. And I have learned some cooking, and
+how to make home seem cheerful, and the weaving of pretty laces, like
+those the ships bring over. I am not so idle now."</p>
+
+<p>"And you liked them very much?" She uttered this rather resentfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Madame, how could one help, when people were so good, and took so
+much pains with one."</p>
+
+<p>Her voice was sweet and appealing, yet it had a strand of strength and
+appreciation. But had <i>she</i> not been good to the little girl all these
+years!</p>
+
+<p>"Has Mam'selle Th&eacute;r&egrave;se any lover?" she asked, after a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet, Madame. Some old family friends are to come over in the
+summer, and one has a son that Th&eacute;r&egrave;se played with in childhood. It may
+be that she will like him."</p>
+
+<p>"And she will do as her parents desire!"</p>
+
+<p>"They are very just with her, and love her dearly."</p>
+
+<p>"And the brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"He went to Mont R&eacute;al before the hard cold. If there were only people to
+settle there it would be finer than Quebec, it is said."</p>
+
+<p>"I am so tired of Quebec. Next summer we will go home; that is the
+country for me. M. Destournier is willing to go at last, and I shall see
+that he never returns to this dreary hole."</p>
+
+<p>"It can hardly be called a hole, when there are so many heights all
+about," laughed the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a wretched place. And you will soon like France, and wonder how
+people are content to stay here. You see the Governor's wife had enough
+of it. She had good sense."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Madame, the priests teach that a wife's place is beside her
+husband."</p>
+
+<p>"What have I gained by staying beside mine, who is always planning how
+to civilize those wretched squaws, and make life better for them? The
+better should have been for me. And now I have lost my health, and my
+beautiful hair has fallen out and begins to turn white. Am I very much
+changed?"</p>
+
+<p>Rose was embarrassed. Years ago miladi hated the thoughts of growing
+old.</p>
+
+<p>"Illness tries one very much," she said evasively. "But you will gain it
+up when you begin to mend."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do you think so? You see I must get something to restore the wasted
+flesh. How plump you are. And I had such an admirable figure. M. Laurent
+thought me the most graceful girl he had ever seen, had so many pretty
+compliments, and that keeps one in heart, spurs one on to new efforts.
+M. Destournier is not of that kind. He is cold-blooded, and seems more
+English than French."</p>
+
+<p>Rose colored. The dispraise hurt her.</p>
+
+<p>"Fix my pillows, and put me down. I get so tired. And stir up the fire."</p>
+
+<p>Rose did this very gently, smoothing out wrinkles, holding the cold
+hands in hers, so warm and full of strength. The room seemed smothering
+to her, but she stirred the fire vigorously, and sent a vivid shower of
+sparks upward.</p>
+
+<p>"Now if you had a little broth&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But I cannot bear to have you go away. Yes, I know I shall get stronger
+with you here."</p>
+
+<p>"You need some nourishment. I will not be gone long," giving a heartsome
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>A gallery ran along this side of the house, built for miladi's
+convenience. She stepped out on it, in the clear air and sunshine, and
+took a few turns. Poor Madame! Would she get well when she seemed so
+near dying?</p>
+
+<p>The broth was reviving. Rose fed her with a teaspoon, instead of giving
+her the cup to drink from, and they both laughed like children. Then she
+arranged the pillows and bathed the poor, wrinkled face and hair with
+some fragrant water, and miladi fell asleep under these ministrations.</p>
+
+<p>Rose moved lightly about the room, changing its aspect with deft
+touches. She was glad to do something in return. Miladi had been very
+sweet when she was ill, and there had been the pleasant years when she
+had not minded the exactions. Was there really a plan to go to France?
+Would they take her from her beloved Quebec?</p>
+
+<p>M. Destournier brought in a book from the Governor's store and Rose read
+aloud in the evening. That was a restless time for miladi, but the
+sweet, cheerful voice tranquillized her. M. Ralph sat in the corner of
+the wide stone fireplace, watching the changes in the lovely face, as
+she seemed to enter into the spirit of the adventures. Heroism appealed
+to her. The flush came and went in her cheek, her eyes sent out gleams
+of glory, and her bosom rose and fell.</p>
+
+<p>There came an instant of rapture to Ralph Destournier, that mysterious
+and almost sublime appreciation of a woman's love, a love such as this
+girl could give. He had possessed the childish affection, the innocent
+girlish fondness, but some other would win the woman's heart, the prize
+he would lay down his life for. What had been the pity and weak
+tenderness was given to the woman in the bed yonder. He knew now she had
+only touched his heart in sympathy, and a fancied duty. In a thousand
+years she would never be capable of such love as this girl, blossoming
+into womanhood, could give.</p>
+
+<p>"There should be some women at hand," declared a weak voice from the
+bed. "It adds an interest to the discoveries, to think, if a woman did
+not inspire it, she crowned it with her admiration. But for a party of
+men to go off alone&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The hardships would be too great for a woman."</p>
+
+<p>Destournier's voice was husky with repressed emotion. This girl would
+keep step and inspire an explorer.</p>
+
+<p>"They would not take so many hardships then. What if there is a great
+river or ocean leading to India! A man can live but one life, and that
+should be devoted to some woman."</p>
+
+<p>He rose, crossed the room, and kissed his wife on the forehead. He
+learned by accident one day that she used something to keep her lips red
+with the lost bloom of youth, and they had never been sweet to him
+since.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night. I hope you will sleep. Rose had better not read any more.
+We must not have all the good things in one day."</p>
+
+<p>He ran down the steps to where a street had been straightened and
+widened in the summer. The moonlight gave everything a weird glow, the
+stars were tinted in all colors, as one finds in the clear cold of the
+north. Only the planets and the larger ones, the myriad of small ones
+were outshone. What beauty, what strength, what wonders lay hidden in
+the wide expanse. He was tempted to plunge into the wilderness, to the
+frozen north, to the blooming south, or that impenetrable expanse of the
+west, and leave behind the weak woman, who in her selfish way loved him,
+and the girl who could create a new life for him, that he could love
+with the force of manhood suddenly aroused, that had been clean and
+wholesome. He was glad of that, though he could not lay it at the girl's
+feet. Miladi had been in this state so long, sometimes rallying, and in
+the summer they would go to France. But they would leave Rose of old
+Quebec behind.</p>
+
+<p>Over there at the fort a man sat poring over maps and papers, a
+solitary man now, who had wedded youth and beauty, and found only Dead
+Sea fruit. But he was going bravely on his way. That was a man's duty.</p>
+
+<p>In a few days there was a decided improvement in miladi. She was
+dressed, and sat up part of the time. She evinced an eager resolve to
+get well, she put on a sort of childish brightness, that was at times
+pitiful. But nothing could conceal the ravages of time. She looked older
+than her years. She was, in a curious manner, drawing on the vitality of
+the young girl, and it was generously given.</p>
+
+<p>Then came to Rose a great sorrow. M. H&eacute;bert, who had been such an
+inspiring influence to her, died from the effects of a fall. There was a
+general mourning in the small settlement. The Governor felt he had lost
+one of his most trusty friends. The eldest daughter, Guillemette, who
+had married one Guillaume Couillard, came down from Tadoussac, and they
+took his place on the farm. Hers had been the first wedding in Quebec.</p>
+
+<p>Rose felt that this must change the home for her. She had counted on
+going back to them. There were days when she grew very tired of miladi's
+whims and inanities, and longed to fly to her beloved wood.</p>
+
+<p>"If I should die, he will marry her," miladi thought continually. "I
+will not die. I will take her to France and marry her to some one before
+her beauty fades. She will make a sensation."</p>
+
+<p>Rose never dreamed she was so closely watched. After that moonlight
+battle with himself, Destournier allowed his soul no further thought of
+the present Rose, but dreamed over the frank child-charm she had
+possessed for him. He grew grave and silent, and spent much of his time
+with the Sieur.</p>
+
+<p>Spring was very late. It seemed as if old Quebec would never throw off
+her ermine mantle. Richelieu was now at the helm in France, and that
+country and England were at war with each other. Quebec was looking
+forward to supplies and reinforcements that had been promised.</p>
+
+<p>From a cold and unusually dry May, they went into summer heats. The
+Sieur de Champlain spent much of his time getting his farm at Cape
+Tourmente in order. M. Destournier was engrossed with the improvements
+of the town, and keeping the Indians at work, who were, it must be
+confessed, notoriously lazy. Miladi complained. Rose grew weary. She
+missed her dear friend M. H&eacute;bert, and she was puzzled at the coldness
+and distance of M. Destournier. But the rambles were a comfort and a
+kind of balance to her life. She brought wild flowers to miladi, and the
+first scarlet strawberries. And there was always such an enchanting
+freshness after these excursions, that the elder woman liked her to take
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Richelieu understood better than any one yet the importance of this
+colony to France, when the English were making such rapid strides in the
+new world. He was planning extensive improvements in colonizing, and
+fitting out ships with stores and men.</p>
+
+<p>The news came to Cape Tourmente that vessels had been sighted. Word was
+sent on to Quebec, and there was a general rejoicing.</p>
+
+<p>But it was soon turned to terror and anguish. Some savages came paddling
+furiously to the town, and though the cries were indistinguishable at
+first, they soon gathered force.</p>
+
+<p>"The English have burned and pillaged Cape Tourmente, and are at
+Tadoussac! Save yourselves. Man the fort. Call all to arms!"</p>
+
+<p>Alas! The fort was considerably out of repair. The Indians had been
+peaceable for some time and the mother country had kept them short of
+supplies. The walled settlement was protection from marauding bands, and
+the fort could have been made impregnable if the Governor had carried
+out his plans and not been hampered by the lack of all-needed
+improvements.</p>
+
+<p>The farmer at Cape Tourmente had been slightly wounded, and was brought
+down with the boat, on which several had escaped. The buildings had been
+burned, the cattle killed, the crops laid waste. No doubt they were now
+pillaging Tadoussac.</p>
+
+<p>Champlain began to prepare for defense with all the force available.
+Muskets were loaded, cannon trained down the river, the fort manned.
+Friendly Indians offered their services. All was wild alarm, the blow
+was so unexpected.</p>
+
+<p>Miladi, hearing the noise and confusion, explained it her way.</p>
+
+<p>"It is always so when the horde of traders come in," she said. She had
+been looking over old finery, and getting ready for a return to France.</p>
+
+<p>The little convent on the St. Charles was prepared to repel any
+surprise. But at mid-afternoon a boat hovered about in the river, and it
+was learned presently that it conveyed some captives taken by the
+English, who were sent with a letter from the commander of the fleet,
+that now appeared quite formidable, with its six well-manned vessels.</p>
+
+<p>The Governor at once called together the leading men of the place and
+laid before them the summons of surrender, and the first news of the war
+between France and England. It was couched in polite terms, but
+contained a well-laid plan. In all, eighteen ships had been despatched
+by His Majesty, the King of Britain. Several small stations had been
+captured, also a boat with supplies from France, and all resources were
+to be cut off. By surrendering they would save their homes and property,
+and be treated with the utmost courtesy, but it was the intention of the
+English to take the town, although they preferred to do it without
+bloodshed.</p>
+
+<p>It was quite a lengthy document, and Champlain read it slowly, that each
+sentence might be well considered. The hard winter, the late spring, the
+supplies at Cape Tourmente and Tadoussac being cut off, rendered them in
+no situation for a prolonged struggle. But they would not yield so
+easily to the demand of the English. They had the courage of men who had
+undergone many hardships, and the pride of their nation. Quebec had been
+the child of the Sieur de Champlain's work and love. With one voice they
+resolved to refuse, and the word was sent to Captain David Kirke.</p>
+
+<p>He meanwhile turned his fleet down the river, fancying the town an easy
+prey, when he espied the relief stores sent from France, a dozen or so
+vessels, bringing colonists, workmen, priests, women, and children, and
+farming implements, as well as stores, convoyed by a man-of-war. It was
+a rich prize for the Englishman, and an order for surrender was sent,
+which was refused.</p>
+
+<p>The battle was indeed disastrous for Quebec, though they were not to
+know it until months afterward. Most of the emigrants Captain Kirke
+despatched back to France, some of the least valuable vessels he burned,
+and sailed home with his trophies, leaving Quebec for another attempt.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the little colony waited in ill-defined terror. Day after day
+passed and no attack was made. Then they ventured to send out some boats
+and found to their surprise the river was clear of the enemy, but every
+little settlement had been laid waste. The stock of food was growing
+low, the crops were not promising. Every consignment sent from France
+had miscarried, and since the two nations were at war there was small
+hope of supplies. What would they do in winter? Already the woods were
+scoured for nuts and edible roots, and stores were hidden away with
+trembling hands. There were many plans discussed. If they could send
+part of their people out to find a Basque fishing fleet, and thus return
+home.</p>
+
+<p>No heart was heavier than that of the Sieur de Champlain. To be sure
+there was his renown as a discoverer and explorer, but the city he had
+planned, that was to be the crowning point of France's possessions, was
+slowly falling to decay.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3>HELD IN AN ENEMY'S GRASP</h3>
+
+
+<p>These were sad times for old Quebec and for the little girl who was
+blossoming into a womanhood that should have been joyous and serene, she
+asked so little of life.</p>
+
+<p>When the news of the reverse and the loss of the stores reached them,
+they were still more greatly burthened by the influx from Tadoussac and
+the settlements around. Then, too, the wandering Indians joined in the
+clamor for food. Trade was stopped. Mont R&eacute;al took the furs and disposed
+of them in other channels. No one knew how many English vessels were
+lying outside, ready to confiscate anything valuable.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Destournier was in a state of ungovernable terror.</p>
+
+<p>"Why should we stay here and be murdered?" she would cry. "Or starve to
+death! Let us return to France, as we planned. Am I of not as much
+consideration as an Indian squaw, that you all profess so much anxiety
+for?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would not be prudent to cross the ocean now," her husband said. "We
+might be taken prisoners and carried to England. You are in no state to
+face hardships."</p>
+
+<p>"As if I did not face them continually! Oh, I should have gone at once,
+when Laurent died. And if the English take the town, where will be the
+fortune he struggled for! I wish I had never seen the place."</p>
+
+<p>She would go on bewailing her hard fate until utterly exhausted. There
+were days when she would not let Rose out of her sight, except when her
+husband entered the room. It was well that he had a motive of the
+highest honor, to hold himself well in hand, though there were times
+when his whole heart went out in pity for Rose. Was there another soul
+in the world that would have been so pitiful and tender?</p>
+
+<p>Eustache Boull&eacute; had come from Tadoussac, since so little could be done
+toward rehabilitating that, and proved himself a most worthy compatriot
+to Champlain. Rose was sorely troubled at first, but she soon found that
+miladi no longer cared for the marriage. She was too selfish to think of
+losing one who was so useful to her. The girl's vigor and vivacity were
+a daily tonic to her. Would she sap the strength out of this splendid
+creature? Ralph Destournier wondered, with a pang. Yet to interfere was
+not possible. He understood the jealous nature, that if given the
+slightest ground would precipitate an <i>esclandre</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Among the Indians flocking in was Savignon, who had gone to France years
+before with Champlain, and who had been in demand as an interpreter. He
+had spent a year or two up at the strait, where there was quite a
+centre, and the priests had established a station, and gone further on
+to the company's outpost. An unusually fine-looking brave, with many of
+the white man's graces, that had not sunk deep enough to be called real
+qualities. But they were glad to see him, and gave him a warm welcome.</p>
+
+<p>And now what was to be done? All supplies being cut off, the grain
+fields laid in ruin, the crops failing, how were they to sustain
+themselves through the winter? Various plans were suggested. One of the
+most feasible, though fraught with danger, was to lead a party of
+Algonquins against the Iroquois, and capture some of their villages. The
+tribe had proved itself deceitful and unfriendly on several occasions.
+The Algonquins were ready for this. Another was to accept the proffer of
+a number settled at Gasp&eacute;, who had been warm friends with Pontgrave, and
+who would winter about twenty of the suffering people.</p>
+
+<p>Ralph Destournier offered to head the expedition, as it needed a person
+of some experience to restrain the Indians, and good judgment in not
+wasting supplies, if any could be found. Savignon consented to accompany
+them, and several others who were weary of the suffering around them and
+preferred activity. They would be back before winter set in if they met
+with any success.</p>
+
+<p>Destournier planned that his wife should be made comfortable while he
+was gone. At first she protested, then she sank into a kind of sullen
+silence. She had seemed stronger for some weeks.</p>
+
+<p>Rose had gone for her daily walk late in the afternoon. She read miladi
+to sleep about this time and was sure of an hour to herself. She was
+feeling the severe drain upon her quite sensibly, and though she longed
+to throw herself on a couch of moss and study the drifting clouds in the
+glory of the parting day, when the sun had gone behind the hills and the
+wake of splendor was paling to softer colors; lavender and pale green,
+that mingled in an indescribable tint, for which there could be no name.
+There was a little coolness in the air, but the breath of the river was
+sweet and revived her. Many of the leaves had dried and fallen from the
+drought, yet the juniper and cedar were bluish-green in the coming
+twilight, with their clusters of berries frostily gray.</p>
+
+<p>But she walked on. There was a craving in her heart for a change, a
+larger outlook. It would not be in marrying M. Boull&eacute;, though more than
+once when she had surprised his eyes bent wistfully upon her, a pang of
+pity for him had gone to her heart. Could she spend years waiting on
+miladi, whose strength of will kept her alive. Or was it that horrible
+fear of death? If it was true as the priests taught&mdash;oh, yes, it must
+be. God could not be so cruel as to put creatures in this world to toil
+and suffer, and then drop back to dust, to nothingness. Even the Indians
+believed in another sphere, in their crude superstitious fashion, and
+there must be some better place as a reward for the pain here that was
+not one's own fault. She loved to peer beyond the skies as she thought,
+and to drift midway between them and the grand woods, the changeful sea.
+What if one floated off and never came back!</p>
+
+<p>There was a step beside her, and she drew a long breath, though she was
+not alarmed, for she almost felt a presence, and turned, waited.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose," the voice said, "I have wanted to find you alone. I have several
+things to say. I have promised to go on this expedition because I felt
+it was necessary. You will not blame me. I have made all arrangements
+for you and miladi, and I shall be back before the real cold weather
+sets in. I only pray that we may be successful."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said under her breath, yet in vague surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a hard burthen to lay upon you. Do not imagine I have not seen
+it. At first I thought it only the restless whim of failing health, but
+I believe she loves you as much as she can love any human being. I
+realize now that she should have gone to her own sunny France long ago.
+She is formed for pleasure and brightness, variety, and to have new
+people about her when she exhausts the old. I should not have married
+her, but it seemed the best step then. I truly believed&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>No, he would not drag his weak justification before this pure, sweet
+girl, though he had almost said "I believed she loved me." And he had
+learned since that she loved no one but her own self. Laurent Giffard
+had never awakened to the truth. But he had taken the best of her youth.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you must know that I am glad to make some return for all your
+kindness in my childhood. And she was sweet and tender. I think it is
+the illness that has changed her. Oh, I can recall many delightful hours
+spent with her. I should be an ingrate if I could not minister to her
+now of my best."</p>
+
+<p>"You could never be an ingrate," he protested.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope not," fervently.</p>
+
+<p>"I count confidently on returning. I can't tell why, for we shall risk
+the fate of war, but I can almost see myself here again in the old
+place. Like our beloved Commandant I, too, have dreams of what Quebec
+can be made, a glorious place to hand down to posterity. Meanwhile you
+will care for her as you do now, and comfort her with your many pleasant
+arts. I am a man formed for business and active endeavor, and cannot
+minister in that manner. Perhaps Providence did not intend me for a
+husband, and I have thwarted the will of Providence."</p>
+
+<p>There was a humorous strain in his voice at the last sentence.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you need not fear but that I will do my best. And I, too, shall
+look for your home-coming, believe in it, pray for it."</p>
+
+<p>"The women will remain, and Pani will serve you to the uttermost. When
+this weary time is ended, and we are in better condition, you will have
+your reward."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not want any reward, it is only returning what has been given."</p>
+
+<p>He knew many things miladi had grudged her, most of all the home, since
+it was of his providing and intent.</p>
+
+<p>They wandered on in silence for some time. Both hearts were too full for
+commonplace talk, and he did not dare venture out of safe lines. He
+could not pretend to fatherly love, even that cloaked by brotherliness
+would be but a sham, he knew. He had his own honor to satisfy, as well
+as her guilelessness.</p>
+
+<p>Now it was quite dark.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I must go back. It has been so pleasant that I have loitered. Let
+us run down this slope."</p>
+
+<p>She held out her hand, and he took it. They skimmed over the ground like
+children. Then there were the steps to climb, but she was up the first.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night." She waved her white hand, and he saw it in the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"The saints bless and keep you."</p>
+
+<p>She ran over to the level and then up again toward the kitchen end.
+There was a savory smell of supper. A moose had been killed and divided
+around.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how delightful! Is there enough for two bites? One will not satisfy
+me. But I must see miladi."</p>
+
+<p>"No," interposed Wanamee. "I took in a cup of broth, but she was soundly
+asleep. Have some steak while it is hot. The saints be praised for a
+mouthful of decent food."</p>
+
+<p>Yes, it was good. Pani watched with eager, hungry eyes and lips aquiver.
+Rose felt almost conscience-smitten that she should have been satisfied
+first.</p>
+
+<p>"Was there much to be divided?" she asked of him.</p>
+
+<p>"He was a noble, big fellow. And they have gone up in the woods for
+deer."</p>
+
+<p>Miladi was still asleep when she entered the room. She held the lamp a
+little close with a sudden fear, but she saw the tranquil movement of
+her chest and was reassured. There was a young moon coming up, a golden
+crescent in a sky of flawless blue. It was too small to light the savage
+cliffs, but she could hear the plash of the incoming tide that swirled
+along with the current of the river. If the English came, what then?</p>
+
+<p>It was near ten when miladi woke.</p>
+
+<p>"What time is it?" she asked. "Not quite morning, for it is dark. I have
+had such a splendid sleep. Why, I feel quite well."</p>
+
+<p>She sat up in the bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Come and bathe my face, Rose. Do you know whether Madame H&eacute;bert has the
+recipe of this fragrant water? Mine is nearly gone. It is so
+refreshing."</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite sure she has. You have had no supper. There is some tasty
+meat broth."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm tired of pease and greens, and make-believe things that don't
+nourish you at all. And there was such nice fish. Why do they not get
+some? The river certainly hasn't dried up."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Madame," in almost a merry tone, as if it might take the edge off
+of complaining. "But there is such a scarcity of hooks. Petit Gabou is
+making a net of dried grass that he thinks will answer the purpose. And
+we have always had such a plentiful supply of fish."</p>
+
+<p>The broth was very nourishing. Then Rose must sit with both of miladi's
+hands in hers, so warm and soft, hers being little beside bone and
+joints. She talked of France and her youth, when she was a pretty girl,
+just out of the convent, and went to Paris. "You will like it so much. I
+can hardly wait for the summer to come. I shall not mind if Monsieur has
+so much business on hand that he cannot leave," and her tone had a
+little mocking accent. "When men get older they lose their nice ways of
+compliment and grace. They care less for their wives. Even M. de
+Champlain does not fret after his, who is no doubt enjoying herself
+finely. She was wise not to return."</p>
+
+<p>The slim, golden crescent had wandered away to other worlds, and the
+stars grew larger and brighter in their bed of blue. She watched them
+through the open window. A screen was set up so that no draught should
+annoy miladi. Presently she fell asleep again, and Rose stole to her own
+couch, the other side of the screen, where she could still watch the
+stars.</p>
+
+<p>Savignon had come in with news. The Algonquins knew of a storehouse of
+the Iroquois, who had gone on the war-path, and would hardly be back for
+a whole moon. It would be best to start at once, and they began
+preparations. Some of the Indian women volunteered, they were used to
+carrying burthens. Bags were packed up. They trusted to find most of
+their food upon the route.</p>
+
+<p>Miladi took the parting tranquilly. M. Ralph had spent weeks on
+exploring expeditions. If there was any danger in this, she did not heed
+it. She held up her face to be kissed, and he noted how dry and parched
+the lips were.</p>
+
+<p>He gave a brief good-bye to Rose, who was standing near.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely, he does not care for women," Miladi thought exultingly. "Even
+her fresh, young beauty is nothing to him. He has no tender, eager
+soul."</p>
+
+<p>Rose went down to the plateau to see the start.</p>
+
+<p>"You are much interested, Mam'selle?" Savignon said. "Give us the charm
+of your thoughts and prayers."</p>
+
+<p>"You have both, most truly." What a fine, stalwart fellow Savignon was,
+lighter than the average, and picturesque in his Indian costume, though
+he often wore the garb of civilization. French had become to him almost
+a mother tongue.</p>
+
+<p>Yet Rose wondered a little if it was right to rob the storehouse where
+the industrious Indians had been making preparations for the coming
+winter. Was it easier for one race to starve than another?</p>
+
+<p>"And wish us a safe return."</p>
+
+<p>The look in his eyes disconcerted her for an instant. Her own drooped.
+She was acquiring a woman's wisdom.</p>
+
+<p>"I do that most heartily," she made answer, turning aside; but the
+admiration lingered over her fine, yet strong figure, with its grace of
+movement. The beautiful eyes haunted him, if they were turned away.</p>
+
+<p>Such forays were not uncommon among the tribes. The Iroquois had planted
+more than one storehouse in the wilderness, in most secluded places. It
+saved carrying burthens, as they wandered about, or if in desperate
+weather, they set up their wigwams, and remained eating and sleeping,
+until hunger drove them elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>A ship had come down from Acadia with news that several English vessels
+were hovering about. They offered to take some of the women and
+children, and M. de Champlain was thankful for this. By spring there
+must be some change in affairs. The mother country could not wholly
+forget them.</p>
+
+<p>Rose wondered at times that miladi remained so tranquil. She slept a
+great deal, and it was an immense relief. It seemed occasionally that
+her mind wandered, though it was mostly vague mutterings.</p>
+
+<p>Once she said quite clearly&mdash;"I will not have the child. You will come
+to love her better than you do me."</p>
+
+<p>Then she opened her eyes and fixed them on Rose, with a hard, cold
+stare.</p>
+
+<p>"Go away," she cried. "Go away. I will not have you here to steal his
+love from me. You are only a child, but one day you will be a woman. And
+I shall be growing old, old! A woman's youth ought to come back to her
+for a brief while."</p>
+
+<p>Rose's heart swelled within her. Was this why miladi had taken such
+queer spells, and sometimes been unkind to her for days? And M.
+Destournier had always stood her friend.</p>
+
+<p>Yet she felt infinitely sorry for miladi, and that calmed her first
+burst of indignation. She went out to the forest to walk. The withered
+leaves lay thick on the ground, they had not been as beautiful as in
+some autumns, the drought had turned them brown too soon. The white
+birches seemed like lovely ghosts haunting the darkened spaces. Children
+were digging for fallen nuts, even edible roots, and breaking off
+sassafras twigs. What would they do before spring, if relief did not
+come!</p>
+
+<p>Suppose she went away with the next vessel that came in. But then she
+had promised. Oh, yes, she must look after miladi, just as carefully as
+if there were depths of love between them. How did she come to know so
+much about love? Surely she had never loved any one with her whole soul.
+Neither had she craved an overwhelming affection. But now the world
+seemed large, and strange, and empty to her. She rustled the leaves
+under her feet, as if they made a sort of company in the loneliness.
+Perhaps it would not have been so bad to have taken M. Boull&eacute;'s love. If
+only love did not mean nearness, some sacred rites, kisses. She felt if
+she raised her hand in permission it might still be hers. No, no, she
+could not take it, and she shivered. Why, it was nearly dark, and cold.
+She must run to warm her blood.</p>
+
+<p>She came in bright and glowing, her eyes in cordial shining.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank the Holy Mother that you have come," cried Mawha. "Miladi has
+been crying and going on and saying that you have deserted her. Wanamee
+could not comfort her. Run, quick."</p>
+
+<p>Miladi was sobbing as if her heart would break. Rose bent over her,
+smoothed her brow and hair, chafed the cold hands.</p>
+
+<p>"The way was so long and dark," she cried, "such a long, long path. Will
+I have to go all alone?" and Rose could feel the terrified shiver.</p>
+
+<p>"You will not have to go anywhere," began the girl, in a soothing tone.
+"I shall stay here with you."</p>
+
+<p>"But you were gone," complainingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not go again."</p>
+
+<p>"Then sit here and hold my hands. I think it was a dream. I am not going
+to die. I am really better. I walked about to-day. Is there word from
+Monsieur? You know we are going to France in the summer. Do you know
+what happens when one dies? I've seen the little Indian babies die. Do
+you suppose they really have souls?"</p>
+
+<p>"Every one born in the world has. The priest will tell you." Rose gained
+a little courage. "Perhaps you would like to see Father Jamay."</p>
+
+<p>"I went to confession a long while ago. The priest wanted my French
+books. M. Ralph said I need not give them up. I prayed to the Virgin. I
+prayed for many things that did not come. But we will go to France, M.
+Ralph promised, and he never breaks his word, so I do not need to pray
+for that. I am cold. Cover me up warm, and get something for my feet.
+Then sit here and put your arms around me. Promise me you will never go
+away again."</p>
+
+<p>"I promise"&mdash;in a sweet, soft tone.</p>
+
+<p>Then she sat on the side of the bed and placed her arm about the
+shoulders. How thin they were.</p>
+
+<p>"Sing something. The silence frightens me."</p>
+
+<p>Rose sang, sometimes like a chant, lines she could recall that had a
+musical sound. The leaning figure grew heavier, the breathing was slow
+and tranquil. Wanamee came in.</p>
+
+<p>"Help me put her down," Rose said, for she was weary with the strained
+position.</p>
+
+<p>They laid her down tenderly, without waking her.</p>
+
+<p>"Stay with me," pleaded Rose. "You know when I went away M. Destournier
+used to come in. I do not like to leave her alone."</p>
+
+<p>"It is curious," exclaimed Wanamee. "This morning she seemed so well,
+and walked about. Then she sinks down. How long she has been ill, this
+way."</p>
+
+<p>Rose wanted to ask a solemn question, but she did not dare. Presently
+Wanamee dozed off, but Rose watched until the eastern sky began to show
+long levels of light. There seemed an awesome stillness in the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Wanamee," she said faintly.</p>
+
+<p>The woman rose and looked at the figure on the bed, standing some
+seconds in silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Go out quietly, <i>ma fille</i>, and find Mawha. Send her in." Then she
+turned Rose quite around, and the girl uttered no question.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter?" asked Pani. "Mam'selle, you are white as a
+snowdrift."</p>
+
+<p>"I think miladi is dead," and she drew a long, strangling breath, her
+figure trembling with unknown dread.</p>
+
+<p>Pani bowed and crossed himself several times.</p>
+
+<p>Wanamee came in presently. "The poor lady is gone," she said reverently.
+"She was so afraid of dying, and it was just like a sleep. Pani, you
+must row up to the convent at once, and ask some of the fathers to come
+down. Stop first at the fort and tell the Governor."</p>
+
+<p>That Madame Destournier should die surprised no one, but it was
+unexpected, for all that. It appeared to accentuate the other sorrows
+and anxieties. And that M. Destournier should be away seemed doubly sad.
+Two of the priests came down with Pani, and held some services over the
+body. Her ill health was the excuse of her not having paid more
+attention to the offices of the Church, that so far had not flourished
+at all well. The convent was really too far, and the chapel service had
+waned since the departure of Madame de Champlain.</p>
+
+<p>When Rose gained courage to go into the room where a few tapers were
+dimly burning, she lost her fear in an instant. It was a thin and
+wrinkled face, but it had a certain placid sweetness that often hallows
+it, when pain and fear are ended. Rose pressed her lips to the cold
+forehead, and breathed a brief prayer that miladi had found entrance to
+a happier land. A new thought took possession of her. Miladi belonged
+wholly to Laurent Giffard now. The tie that bound her to M. Destournier
+was broken, and it was as if it had never been. She remembered he had
+once said he would relinquish her in that other country. She had simply
+been given to him in her sorrow, to care for a brief while. And how
+grandly he had done it. Rose was too just, perhaps with some of the
+incisive energy of youth, to cover up miladi's faults at once. If she
+had been grateful to him for his devotion she would have thought more
+tenderly of love. Yet she experienced a profound pity.</p>
+
+<p>There had been set aside a burial plot, one end for the white
+inhabitants. Thither the body was taken, and laid beside her true
+husband, with the rites of the Church. M. de Champlain headed the
+procession, but on the outskirts there was a curious throng.</p>
+
+<p>The H&eacute;berts pressed their hospitality upon Rose, but even they were in
+great straits. Then Wanamee was less superstitious than most of her
+race, and made no demur at remaining in the house, if Rose desired to
+stay. It was home to the girl, and she could almost fancy the better
+part of miladi's spirit hovered about it, released from suffering.</p>
+
+<p>How would M. Destournier take it? Would he regret he had not been here?</p>
+
+<p>Day after day they waited the return of the party. Had there been a
+battle? Sometimes Rose felt as if she must join them, the suspense
+seemed the hardest of all to endure.</p>
+
+<p>At last most of the Indians returned, with bags and blankets of
+supplies. There had been no battle. They had come unexpectedly upon a
+storehouse, cunningly hidden in the wood. There were no guards about. So
+they had entered, and after satisfying their hunger, packed corn and
+dried meats, onions, which would be a great treat, and nuts. They
+divided the party, and sent one relay on ahead, to travel as fast as
+possible, with the good news, and relieve the famishing people.</p>
+
+<p>Quebec greeted them with the wildest joy. Savignon headed this party.
+They had two days' start, and though the ground was frozen, there had
+been no deep snow to prevent the others from a tolerably comfortable
+march. They would no doubt be in soon. It seemed a large addition to
+their scanty store. A great joy pervaded the little colony.</p>
+
+<p>Two days passed, then a third. A party, headed by Savignon, went out to
+meet them. They found a few men, dragging and carrying weary loads.
+There had been an accident to M. Destournier. He had stumbled into an
+unseen pitfall and broken his leg. They had carried him on a litter for
+two days, then he had begged the others to leave him with an attendant,
+and hurry onward, coming back for him as soon as possible.</p>
+
+<p>Rose was all sympathy and anxiety. She flew to one of the half-breeds,
+who had borne the litter. Was there much injury beside the broken leg?</p>
+
+<p>"He was a good deal shaken up, but he knew what to do about bandaging,
+and he uttered no groans. But when he attempted to walk the next morning
+he died for a few moments, as your women sometimes do. And when he came
+to life, they made the litter. He was very brave. So we rigged up a sort
+of tent in the woods, as he insisted on being left."</p>
+
+<p>The Commandant ordered that a party be formed at once to rescue him.
+They could not allow him to perish there in the wilderness. He might be
+ill.</p>
+
+<p>"He might die," Rose said to herself. And then an intense ungovernable
+longing came over her to see him once again. Women could minister to him
+better than men. And if Wanamee and Pani would go. Pani had been so much
+with women that he had lost many of the virile Indian traits.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, they would go, but Wanamee did not quite approve of the journey. No
+one could tell how deep a snow would set in.</p>
+
+<p>"But it will be only a six days' journey, and most of it through the
+forests. Savignon will be an excellent guide. And no one must speak of
+the great sorrow that awaits him here."</p>
+
+<p>M. de Champlain opposed the plan. It was too severe for women. But
+curiously enough Savignon said&mdash;"The blossom of Quebec is no dainty
+flower, to be crushed by wind and storm. If she wants to go, I am on her
+side."</p>
+
+<p>When Rose heard this she flew out to thank him, catching one hand in
+both of hers, her eyes luminous with gladness.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I cannot truly thank you, Monsieur. I must go, even if I ran away
+and followed on behind. And I am no delicate house-plant."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art a brave girl," admiringly. "Thou hast been used to woods and
+rocks, and art strong and courageous."</p>
+
+<p>To be called monsieur was one of Savignon's great delights. He had tired
+not a little of the roughness of savage life, and though he had caressed
+pretty Indian maidens he had never been much in love with them. And this
+girl was different from most of the white women. The courage in every
+line of her face, the exuberant bounding life that flushed her veins,
+her straight lithe figure, and the grace of every movement, appealed
+strongly to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wilt find it hard going, Mam'selle, keeping step to the men, and
+sleeping in the woods. But three days are soon spent, and we need not
+march back so hastily. Our women have stood more than that."</p>
+
+<p>"You will see how much I can stand," she answered proudly. She believed
+the admiring eyes were for her courage alone.</p>
+
+<p>Go she must. She did not stop to question. There was only one thing
+uppermost in her mind. If he died she must see him; if he lived, she
+must wait upon him, comfort him in his sorrow, for although in a vague
+way she knew he had not come up to the highest joy in his marriage, any
+more than her dear Sieur de Champlain, he had cared very tenderly for
+miladi, and would sorrow to know her shut out of life. And it had been
+so quiet at the last, just falling asleep. Her arms had been around her,
+her voice the last sound miladi had heard. He would rejoice in his
+sorrow that all had been so tranquil.</p>
+
+<p>Rose and Wanamee came down in their robes of fur, with their deerskin
+frocks underneath. Rose's cap had its visor turned up and it framed in
+her beautiful face. Her hair fell in loose curls, the way she had always
+worn it, and the morning sun sent golden gleams amongst it. There was a
+small crowd to wish them God-speed.</p>
+
+<p>The horses that De Champlain had brought over and a few mules that had
+been at Cape Tourmente were carried off in the English raid. True, they
+would not have been of much account in the overgrown brush of the
+wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>"Mam'selle," Savignon said, after an hour or two, "do not hurry ahead
+so. You will tire before night."</p>
+
+<p>"I feel as if I could run, or fly," she made answer, and she looked so.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<h3>A LOVER OF THE WILDERNESS</h3>
+
+
+<p>The weather was splendid, the sky cloudless, the air scented with the
+resinous fragrance of cedar, fir, and pine. They paused for a midday
+lunch and then kept on until dark. In a clearing in an almost
+impenetrable forest they paused, built a fire, and prepared to camp.
+Savignon drew some young saplings together and filled up the interstices
+with boughs, ordering smaller ones inside that a sort of bed should be
+raised off the ground. One of the men had shot some squirrels, and their
+broiling over the coals was appetizing.</p>
+
+<p>"You and Wanamee will be quite safe," the guide said. "We shall wrap in
+our blankets and sleep about the fire. If you hear the cry of wolves, do
+not be alarmed."</p>
+
+<p>"How good you are," Rose returned, her eyes glorious with grateful
+emotions. "M. Destournier will never forget your service. It cannot be
+rewarded."</p>
+
+<p>"Mam'selle, a man would give his life for your pleasure. Sleep well and
+do not fear."</p>
+
+<p>And sleep she did, with the slumber of youth and health. Naught came to
+alarm them.</p>
+
+<p>Their second day's journey was uneventful, though it was not so clear
+and sunny, and again they camped for the night. Was there only one day
+more? Rose's heart beat with alternate fear and joy. Indeed, they might
+meet the cavalcade on the way.</p>
+
+<p>She would not admit fatigue, indeed she did not feel it. Her grand hope
+gave lightness to her step and color to her cheeks, which were like a
+delicious opening rose, and you were fain to declare they had the same
+fragrance. When she talked to Wanamee, Savignon did not listen for any
+girlish secrets, but simply the music of her voice. That day some bird
+astray in the forest gave his whistle, perhaps to his mate, and she
+answered it with the most enchanting music. He came so near they could
+hear the flutter of his wings. Cadotte started up with his gun.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall not kill it!" she cried. "Do you think I would lure a bird to
+such a cruel, treacherous death!"</p>
+
+<p>Her face was bewitching in its indignation. What spirit, what strength
+of purpose shone in it!</p>
+
+<p>"He will freeze before spring, Mam'selle," Cadotte returned sullenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then let him die as the good God intends."</p>
+
+<p>"Mam'selle, I never heard a human voice so like a bird's," Savignon
+declared, in a tone of admiration. "Do you know other voices that range
+in Quebec?"</p>
+
+<p>She laughed, her present anger vanishing.</p>
+
+<p>"I used to tame them when I was a child. They would come at my call. I
+loved them so. And a tame deer knew my voice and followed me."</p>
+
+<p>"As anything would. Mam'selle, sing or whistle, and it will make our
+steps lighter. Among the Bostonnais they march to music not as sweet as
+thine."</p>
+
+<p>She was glad to give them pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>The last day seemed long indeed, to her. Once they mistook the path and
+had to pick their way back. Savignon's acute eyes told him another party
+had crossed it, and he went on warily.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, in the coming darkness, two scouts ran on ahead.</p>
+
+<p>"Art thou tired, Mam'selle?" asked the well-modulated voice that had
+lost the guttural Indian tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Not tired, but impatient. Do you suppose we have missed them? What if
+they should have started in some other direction?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly think that. I have expected to meet them. M. Destournier must
+have been more disabled than we supposed. But we shall soon know."</p>
+
+<p>Oh, what if he were dead! A blackness fell over everything. She caught
+Wanamee's arm for support. It was growing so dark they kept closer
+together. The dead leaves rustled under their feet, now and then in an
+opening they saw the sky in the soft, whitish-gray tints before it turns
+to blue.</p>
+
+<p>There was a shrill, prolonged whistle.</p>
+
+<p>"They are coming back with news." Savignon guessed it was not cheering.
+He answered through his fingers.</p>
+
+<p>The two scouts came hurrying forward.</p>
+
+<p>"They are gone. They must have taken some other road. The campfire is
+out, the stones are missing. What shall we do?"</p>
+
+<p>Rose gave a soft, appealing cry, that she vainly strove to restrain.</p>
+
+<p>"We had better go on. We must stop for the night. It is too dark to find
+their trail."</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to Rose as if she would sink to the ground with indescribable
+terror.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do you think&mdash;&mdash;" She caught Savignon's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"They have started on and missed the trail," he replied, in an almost
+indifferent tone, but he guessed in his heart there had been some
+surprise. "We must find the old place and camp for the night. To-morrow
+we will seek out the trail."</p>
+
+<p>"You do not think there can have been&mdash;&mdash;" Her voice faltered for very
+fear.</p>
+
+<p>"We had best think nothing. We should no doubt come wide of the mark.
+Let us push on," to the men.</p>
+
+<p>There were heavy hearts and slow steps. It seemed as if it must be
+midnight when they reached the clearing, though it was not that late.
+They built their fire. Cadotte and Savignon took a survey.</p>
+
+<p>"Another party has been here," Cadotte exclaimed, in a whisper. "There
+has been a struggle. They are carried off somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Do not speak of it to-night. The women are tired. And Mam'selle will
+have a thousand fears."</p>
+
+<p>They found the others busy with fire and supper. Rose sat apart, her
+face buried in her hands, a thousand wild fears chasing one another
+through her mind. Life would be dreary if&mdash;if what? If he were dead? Had
+he suffered long with no one to cheer? Or had he been suddenly
+despatched by some marauding party? Then they would find his poor body.
+Yes, to-morrow they would know all.</p>
+
+<p>She did not want any supper and crept to bed, weeping out her fears in
+Wanamee's arms.</p>
+
+<p>They were all astir the next morning at daybreak. It was a little
+cloudy. The three days had been unusually fine. Savignon had been
+tracing this and that clew, and presently came upon a piece of wampum,
+with a curious Huron design at one end. And a little further on he found
+a trail where things had been roughly dragged. But he came to breakfast
+with no explanation.</p>
+
+<p>Did the Rose of Quebec care so much for this man? He had been like a
+father to her, perhaps it was only a child's love. But now M.
+Destournier was free to choose a new wife&mdash;if he were alive. He was a
+brave man, a fine man, but if he were dead! The Hurons would show scant
+pity to a disabled man. Savignon had done and would do his best, but
+somehow he could not feel so bitterly grieved. He loved this woman&mdash;he
+knew that now.</p>
+
+<p>They were discussing plans when a near-by step startled them. Parting
+the undergrowth, a torn and dishevelled man appeared. It was Paul De
+Loie. He almost dropped on the ground at their feet.</p>
+
+<p>"I have run all night," he cried gaspingly. "The Hurons! They took us
+prisoners, and the stores. They are expecting another relay of the
+tribe, and are going up north for the winter, to join the Ottawas. But
+first they are to have a carouse and dance," and the three prisoners are
+to be tortured and put to death. He had escaped. He supposed the party
+would be back for M. Destournier and the stores. They must fly at once,
+and return if they would save their lives. And what madness possessed
+them to bring women!</p>
+
+<p>"Wait!" commanded Savignon. "Let us go apart, De Loie, and consider the
+matter," and taking the man by the arm, he raised him and walked him a
+little distance.</p>
+
+<p>"Now tell me&mdash;M. Destournier&mdash;how did he progress?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, indeed. We made him a crutch. We decided to take what stores we
+could manage, and resume our journey, thinking we would be met by some
+of the party. <i>Ma foi</i>, if we had started a day earlier! There were not
+many of them, but twice too many for us. There was nothing to do, we
+could gain nothing by selling our lives, we thought, but now they will
+take them. In two days the rest of the party, thirty or forty, will join
+them. We cannot rescue the others. Vauban could have escaped, but he
+would not leave M. Destournier. And now retrace your steps at once."</p>
+
+<p>Savignon buried his face in his hands, in deep thought. Should he try to
+rescue these men? The Hurons were superstitious. More than once he had
+played on Indian credulity. He held some curious secrets, he had the
+wampum belt that he could produce, as if by magic. He was fond, too, of
+adventure, of power. And he imagined he saw a way to win the prize he
+coveted. He was madly, wildly in love with Rose. She was heroic. If she
+would grant his desire, the safety of three people would accrue from it.
+And surely she had not loved the Frenchman, who until a brief while ago
+had a wife. As he understood, they had been as parents to her. She was
+young, but if a man could inspire her with love&mdash;with gratitude even&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>He questioned De Loie very closely. The trouble with Destournier would
+be his inability to travel rapidly. They would soon be overtaken. Escape
+that way was not feasible.</p>
+
+<p>"I will consider. Come and share our breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>Rose was walking by herself, on the outskirts of the clearing, her slim
+hands clasped together, her head drooping, and even so her figure would
+have attracted a sculptor. The Indian was enchanted with it. To clasp it
+in his arms&mdash;ah, the thought set his hot blood in a flame.</p>
+
+<p>She turned and raised her eyes beseechingly, her beautiful, fathomless
+eyes in whose depths a man easily lost himself, the curved sweetness of
+the mouth that one might drain and drain, and never quite have his fill.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, M'sieu? Is there any hope? Can nothing be done?" Her voice
+went to his heart.</p>
+
+<p>"What would you be willing to do, Mam'selle?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I were a man I would attempt his rescue, or die with him. It would
+not be so hard to die holding a friend's hand."</p>
+
+<p>"You love him very much?"</p>
+
+<p>The love Savignon meant had so little place in her thoughts that the
+question did not cause her to change color.</p>
+
+<p>"He was so good to me when I was little, and ill for a long while. He
+used to hold me on his knee, and let my head rest on his strong breast.
+And when I was well again we climbed rocks, and he showed me where the
+choicest wild fruit grew. And we went out in the canoe. He taught me to
+read, he had books of strange, beautiful stories. And after he married
+miladi he took me in his home as if I was a child. Ah, I could not help
+loving one so kind, unless I had been made of stone. And I wanted to
+comfort him in his sorrow."</p>
+
+<p>Her voice, in its pathos, the eyes luminous with tears that did not
+fall, swept through the man like a devouring flame. He must have her. He
+would risk all, he would test her very soul.</p>
+
+<p>"You have not said what you would give."</p>
+
+<p>"My life, M'sieu, if I could exchange it for his."</p>
+
+<p>"It does not need that. Listen, Mam'selle: When I first looked upon you,
+I was swept away with a strange emotion. I had seen lovely girls, there
+are some in our own race, with eyes of velvet, and lips that tempt
+kisses. And I knew when I helped you get your way on this expedition,
+what it was; that I loved you, that I would have kissed the ground you
+had walked on. And on our journey here I have dreamed beautiful,
+thrilling dreams of you. I slept at the door of your improvised tent
+lest some danger should come upon you unawares. Last night when I noted
+your tired step I wanted to take you in my arms and carry you. You have
+filled my soul and my body with the rapture of love. I can think of
+nothing else but the bliss of straining you to my heart, of touching
+your lips with the fire that plays about mine, like the rosy lightning
+that flashes through the heavens, engendered by the heat of the day. Oh,
+take me for your husband, and your life shall be filled with the best I
+can give. You shall not weary your small hands with work, they shall be
+kept for a husband's kisses. I will worship you as the priests do their
+Virgin."</p>
+
+<p>She had been transfixed at the outburst and flaming, passionate tone,
+that in its vehemence seemed to grow finer, loftier. Was that love's
+work?</p>
+
+<p>"But it will not save M. Destournier," she wailed.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen again." He stood up, manly and strong, and somehow touched her
+with a subtle influence. It is not in a woman's nature to listen to a
+tale of passionate love unmoved. "Once, among the Hurons an old witch
+woman was wild to adopt me for her son. She gave me a great many secret
+charms, many you white people would think the utmost foolishness. Some
+were curious. And my people are superstitious. I have used them more
+than once to the advantage of myself and others. I have brought about
+peace between warring tribes. I have prevented war. I will go to the
+Hurons, and try for M. Destournier's liberty. From what De Loie said,
+they mean to sacrifice the men to-morrow. There are horrid, agonizing
+tortures before death comes. If you will promise to marry me I will go
+at once and do my utmost to rescue him, them."</p>
+
+<p>"And if you fail?" Her very breath seemed like a blast of winter cold.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Mam'selle, I can ask no reward, only a share in your sorrow. I
+will try to lighten their sufferings. That is all I can do."</p>
+
+<p>She crossed her arms upon her breast and rocked herself to and fro.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I cannot, I cannot," she said, with a cry of anguish. "Another man,
+our dear Madame de Champlain's brother asked this thing of me, and I
+could not. I do not want to marry."</p>
+
+<p>"All women do in their hearts," he said moodily.</p>
+
+<p>Was she not quite a woman yet? Had she just the soul of the little girl
+who had climbed trees, scaled rocks, and plunged headlong into the
+river to swim like a fish!</p>
+
+<p>"It is three lives," he said, with the persuasive voice of the tempter.</p>
+
+<p>Three lives! And among them her best friend! Something rose in her
+throat, and she thought she was dying.</p>
+
+<p>"And if I cannot?" in a tone of desperate anguish.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we must start homeward at once. When the Hurons have whet their
+appetite with their hellish pleasure, it is not easily satisfied. They
+will look about for more fuel to add to the flames. So we must decide. I
+cannot risk my own liberty for months for nothing. It will not make M.
+Destournier's death pang easier."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, go away, go away!" she almost shrieked, but the sorrow in her voice
+took off the harshness. "Let me think. I do not love you! I might run
+away. I might drown myself. I might not be able to keep my promise."</p>
+
+<p>"I should love you so much that you would not want to break it. Ah, I
+could trust you, since you love no one else that you desire to marry."</p>
+
+<p>She dropped on the ground and hid her face, too much stunned even to
+cry. "Three lives" kept singing in her ears. Was she not selfish and
+cruel? O God, what could she do!</p>
+
+<p>"You know even the Sieur and the priests have approved of these mixed
+marriages, so there would be no voice raised against it. The children
+would belong to the Church and be reared in the ways of wisdom and
+honor. In my way I am well born. I could take you to Paris, where you
+would be well received. I have had some excellent training. Oh, it would
+be no disgrace."</p>
+
+<p>They were calling to him from the group. He turned away. His intense
+love for her, his little understanding of a woman's soul, his passionate
+nature, not yet adjusted to the higher civilization, could not
+understand and appreciate the cruelty.</p>
+
+<p>When he came back her small hands were nervously beating the dried turf.
+He could not see her face.</p>
+
+<p>"They have decided to go at once," he exclaimed. "De Loie says there is
+no time to lose."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall stay here and die," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"That will not save any one's life."</p>
+
+<p>Oh, that was the pity of it!</p>
+
+<p>She rose with a strained white face. She looked like some of the
+beautiful carvings he had seen abroad. Not even anguish could make her
+unlovely.</p>
+
+<p>"If you will go," she began hoarsely, and she seemed to strain her very
+soul to utter the words, "and bring back M. Destournier, and the others,
+I will marry you&mdash;not now, but months hence, when I can resolve upon the
+step. I shall have to learn&mdash;no, you must not touch me, nor kiss me,
+until I give you leave."</p>
+
+<p>"But you must let me take your hand once, and promise by the Holy Mother
+of God."</p>
+
+<p>His seriousness overawed her. She rose and held out her slim, white
+hand, from which the summer's brown had faded. Her lips shook as if with
+an ague, but she promised.</p>
+
+<p>He wanted to kiss the hand, but he in turn was overawed.</p>
+
+<p>She heard the voices raised in dissent around the fire. What if they
+would not let him go? She was chill and cold, and almost did not care.
+She would stay here and die. Perhaps they could take the strange,
+awesome journey together.</p>
+
+<p>Wanamee joined her. "Savignon has determined to go to the rescue of the
+men," she began, "but De Loie thinks it a crazy step. And we must stay
+and risk being made prisoners. What is the matter, <i>ma fille</i>? You are
+as white as the river foam in a storm."</p>
+
+<p>"I am tired," she made answer. "I slept poorly last night. Then they
+think there is no chance of success?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no! And we ought to escape."</p>
+
+<p>She dropped down again, pillowing her head on a little rise of ground.
+Should she be glad, or sorry? Either way she seemed stunned.</p>
+
+<p>The sky cleared up presently, and the sun came out. The few men walked
+about disconsolately. The rations were apportioned, some went farther in
+the woods, to find nuts, if possible. Now that the stores had been taken
+and two days added to the journey, want might be their portion.</p>
+
+<p>Two of the men succeeded in finding some game. There was a small stream
+of water, but no fish were discernible in it. It froze over at night,
+but they could quench their thirst, and with some dried pennyroyal made
+a draught of tea.</p>
+
+<p>Rose wondered if she had ever prayed before! All she could say now was:
+"Oh, Holy Mother of God, have pity on me."</p>
+
+<p>The long night passed. De Loie said in the morning: "I think one of you
+had better start with the women. If we should be beset with the savages,
+they might find their way home. Here are some points I have marked out."</p>
+
+<p>"No," returned Rose, "let us all perish together."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Mon Dieu!</i> Do you suppose they would let you perish? You would have to
+be squaw to some brave."</p>
+
+<p>Rose shuddered. No, she could but die.</p>
+
+<p>De Loie started out on the path he had come. It was mid-afternoon. A
+light snow began to fall, and the wind moaned in the trees. Rose and
+Wanamee huddled together at the fire, their arms around each other,
+under the blanket. It was easy to love Wanamee. But then she had begun
+it as a child&mdash;Was it easy to love when one was grown?</p>
+
+<p>The darkness was descending when they heard a shout. Was it friend or
+foe? Another, and it came nearer. It was not the voice of an Indian.</p>
+
+<p>De Loie rushed in upon them. "You men go and relieve those at the
+litter. Savignon is a wizard. He has the three men. I could not believe
+it at first, and I am afraid now it is a trick. You cannot trust an
+Indian."</p>
+
+<p>Rose drew a long breath. Then her fate was sealed. Or, if they were
+attacked in the night, it would be some compensation to die together.</p>
+
+<p>They came in at last, with Destournier on an improvised hemlock litter.
+The fire blazed up brightly, making a striking picture of the eager
+faces. The men lowered the litter to the ground, and they crowded around
+it. Destournier was ghostly pale, but full of thankfulness. When there
+was a little space open he reached out his hand to Rose.</p>
+
+<p>"You two women have been very brave, but you should not have taken the
+journey. As for Savignon, we all owe him a debt that we can never
+repay."</p>
+
+<p>"It is repaid already," returned the Indian, glancing over at Rose. "To
+have rescued you&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What arts and incantations you used! I could not have believed it
+possible to move their stony hearts."</p>
+
+<p>"It was not their hearts." Savignon gave a grim smile. "It was their
+fears that were worked upon. I was afraid at one time that I would not
+succeed. But I had a reward before me."</p>
+
+<p>"Quebec will pay you all honor. It is a grand thing to have saved three
+lives from torture and death. For there was no other escape."</p>
+
+<p>That night Destournier related the surprise and capture. The stores were
+a great loss. But they would not let him bemoan them.</p>
+
+<p>"We must get back as rapidly as we can," he said. "I do not trust the
+temper of the reinforcements, when they find they have been balked of
+their prey."</p>
+
+<p>The snow had only been a light fall, and the trees in their higher
+branches were marvels of beauty. It had not reached the ground in many
+places.</p>
+
+<p>After a frugal breakfast the cavalcade started. Destournier insisted
+upon walking at first, as he was freshened by his night's rest,
+comparatively free from anxiety. His broken leg was well bandaged, and
+he used two crutches. Rose noticed the thinness and pallor, and the
+general languid air, but she kept herself quite in the background.
+Savignon was really leader of the small party.</p>
+
+<p>"Wanamee," she said, in a low tone, "will you tell M. Ralph about
+miladi?&mdash;I thought to do it, but I cannot. And I am so sorry she left no
+message for him. He was always so good to her. And you can tell him I
+held her a long while in my arms that night."</p>
+
+<p>"You were an angel to her, <i>ma fille</i>. I used to wonder sometimes&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it was being ill so long, and trying so hard to get well,
+that made her unreasonable. It is better to go out of life suddenly, do
+you not think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to know a little about the hereafter. You see our nation
+believe we go at once to another land, and do not stay in that miserable
+place they tell of. But many of the braves believe there are no women
+in the happy hunting grounds. One is swung this way and that," and
+Wanamee sighed.</p>
+
+<p>Rose's mind was torn and distracted by her promise. Now and then an
+awful shudder took her in a giant grasp, and she thought she would drop
+down and ask them to leave her. Savignon would stay behind, if she
+proposed that. What if he had not gone to the Hurons? Frightful stories
+of torture she had heard rushed to her mind. Old Noko had witnessed
+them. So had some of the men at the fort. Death itself was not so hard,
+but to have burning sticks thrust into one's skin, to have fingers and
+toes cut off, piecemeal&mdash;oh, she had saved him from that. Yes, she would
+marry Savignon, and then throw herself into the river, after she had
+kept her promise.</p>
+
+<p>The weather was growing colder. They halted for the night, and made a
+fire. They had shot nothing, but the supper was very light, indeed.</p>
+
+<p>"Little Rose," said Destournier, "come over beside me, since I cannot
+well come to you. I have hardly seen you, and have not asked what has
+gone on at the fort. I feel as if I had been away half a lifetime. And
+miladi&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Wanamee will tell you, I cannot." She drew away the hand he held, and
+gently pushed the Indian woman forward, going out of the clear sound of
+her voice. Oh, would it be a great sorrow to him?</p>
+
+<p>Wanamee's recital of that last night set a halo about Rose in the man's
+mind. He had known for years that he had not loved miladi as a man could
+love, but he also questioned whether such a light, frivolous nature
+could have appreciated the strong, earnest affection. Her great effort
+to keep herself young had led to a meretricious childishness. She had a
+vain, narrow soul, and this had dwarfed it still more. Many a night he
+had watched over her, pained by her passionate beseeching that he would
+not let her die, her awesome terror of death. He felt God had been
+merciful not to allow her to suffer that last rending pain. He had
+really become so accustomed to the thought of her dying that it did not
+seem new or strange to him, but one of the inevitable things that one
+must endure with philosophy. He realized the sweetness and patience of
+Rose through these last months.</p>
+
+<p>When Wanamee came back she was snugly tucked in her blanket, and feigned
+sleep. She did not want to talk. She fancied she would like to lie
+beside miladi in the little burying ground. Young sorrow always turns to
+death as a comforter.</p>
+
+<p>That night an adventure befell them, though most of them were sleeping
+from exhaustion. It was the Indian's quick hearing that caught a
+suspicious sound, and then heard a stealthy rustle. He reached for his
+gun, and his eyes roved sharply around the little circle. The sound came
+from nearly opposite. The fire was low, but his sight was keen, and
+presently he espied two glaring eyes drawing nearer Wanamee and her
+charge. There was a quick shot, a shriek, almost human, and a rush
+farther in the forest.</p>
+
+<p>They were all awake in an instant. "An attack!" shouted two of the men.</p>
+
+<p>"A wolf," rejoined Savignon. He took up a brand and peered about in the
+darkness. The body was still twitching, but the head was a mangled mass.
+There were no others in sight, but they heard their cry growing fainter
+and fainter.</p>
+
+<p>Rose sat up in affright. How near it had been to her. Was she always to
+be in debt to this Indian?</p>
+
+<p>"Go to sleep again," he said, in a low tone. "We shall have no more
+alarms to-night. I am keeping watch. I would give my life to save you
+from harm."</p>
+
+<p>Wanamee drew the trembling, shrinking figure closer. Rose felt as if her
+heart would burst with the sorrow she could not confess.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE PASSING OF OLD QUEBEC</h3>
+
+
+<p>They ate their last crumbs for breakfast. A fine, cutting sleet was in
+the air, but they kept quite inside of the forest, except when they were
+afraid of losing the trail. There was no stop for a midday meal, and
+they pushed on, carrying Destournier in a litter. Must they spend
+another night in the woods?</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a shout reaches them, the sound of familiar French voices, and
+every heart thrilled with joy, as they answered it. Blessed relief was
+at hand.</p>
+
+<p>Being alarmed at the long delay, a party had been sent out to search for
+them. They halted, for indeed it seemed as if they could go no further.
+Weak and hungry, some of the men sat down and cried, for very joy.</p>
+
+<p>"I have hardly been worth all the trouble," Destournier said, in a
+broken voice.</p>
+
+<p>"It was not altogether you," replied one of the men. "And to have
+rescued some of our men from those fiendish Hurons was worth while.
+Savignon must have had some wonderful power to make them give up their
+prey."</p>
+
+<p>The relief party were provided with food, dried meat that had come down
+from some friendly Indians. After they had eaten, they resolved to push
+on, and started with good courage. The storm had ceased and the stars
+were pricking through the blue. The moon would rise later on. But it was
+midnight when they came in sight of the fort. The warm welcome made
+amends for all.</p>
+
+<p>Wanamee took Rose under her protection. She was nearly exhausted. M. de
+Champlain insisted upon caring for Destournier, and examining the leg,
+which was much swollen, but had been very well set. The story of the
+wonderful escape was told over, to interested listeners.</p>
+
+<p>"We owe Savignon a great debt, and are too poor to pay it," said the
+Governor sorrowfully.</p>
+
+<p>Poor indeed they were. It was the hardest winter the colony had known.
+The dearth of news was most trying, and the fear of the English descent
+upon them racked the brave heart of the Commandant, who saw his dream of
+a great city vanishing. Jealousy had done some cruel work, and the
+misgovernment of the mother country stifled the best efforts.</p>
+
+<p>Rose lay listless in bed for many days. How could she meet Savignon, who
+haunted the place hourly, to inquire, and begged to see her? One day she
+told Wanamee to send him in, and braced herself for the interview.</p>
+
+<p>Semi-famine had not told on him, unless it had added an air of
+refinement. That he was superior to most of his race, was evident.</p>
+
+<p>He was not prepared for the white wraith-like being who did not rise
+from her chair, but nodded and motioned him to a seat at a distance.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mam'selle, you have been truly ill," he said, and there was a
+tender sort of pity in his tone. "I have been wild to see you, to hear
+you speak. Mam'selle, you must not die. I cannot give you up. I have
+been starved, I have been half-crazy with impatience. Oh, can you not
+have a little pity on me, when I love you so? And you have no one who
+has a right to protest. You will keep your promise? For I swear to you
+that I will kill any man who marries you. I cannot help if it brings
+grief upon you. It would be the sorrow of my life not to have you! Oh,
+let me touch your little white hand"&mdash;and he started from his seat with
+an eager gesture.</p>
+
+<p>She put both behind her. "I do not love you," she began bravely. "It
+would take time&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I said I would wait, Rose of Quebec, wait months, for your sweetness to
+blossom for me. But I cannot see you go to another."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no other. There will be no other." She was sure she told the
+whole truth. "But if you insist now, I shall die before a marriage
+comes. I could slip out of life easily. Perhaps when I am strong again,
+courage may come back to me. You must go away and let me be quite by
+myself, and think how brave you were, how patient you are. Then when
+you come again&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She would be in her white winding sheet, then, and he would be afraid to
+kiss her.</p>
+
+<p>"But I won you fairly, Mam'selle. And I had great trembling of heart,
+for the Huron chief was obdurate. I succeeded at length. <i>He</i> has had a
+wife, he does not need another. He might be your father. And you have
+repaid him for all care by giving him back his life, by saving him from
+torture you know little about. For if the party joining them had
+discovered the robbery of their storehouse, there would have been little
+mercy. Oh, Mam'selle, how can so sweet a being be so cold and
+unyielding?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have told you the secret of it. I do not love you. I do not want you
+for a husband. But I will keep my promise. Give me time to get well. It
+may not look so terrible to me then."</p>
+
+<p>How lovely she was in her pleading, even if it did deny. He could have
+snatched her to his heart and stifled her with kisses, yet he did not
+dare to touch so much as her little finger. What strange power held her
+aloof? But if she was once his wife&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"A month," he pleaded.</p>
+
+<p>"Longer than that. Three months. Three whole moons. Then you may come
+again and I will answer you."</p>
+
+<p>His face paled with anger, his eyes were points of flame, his blood was
+hot within him.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not wait."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you may have my dead body."</p>
+
+<p>"But you break your promise."</p>
+
+<p>"I ask you to wait," she said, in a steady tone. "That is all."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will not seek to die, Mam'selle?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will be your wife then. Now go. I am too tired to argue any more."</p>
+
+<p>A sudden ray of hope kindled in the Indian's heart. He would see M.
+Destournier, and lay the case before him, and beg his assistance. Surely
+he could not refuse, when his life had been saved!</p>
+
+<p>Rose leaned back in a half-faint. Oh, surely God would take her before
+that time. But she had promised in good faith. Matters might look
+different to her when she was strong once more.</p>
+
+<p>Savignon meant to be armed at all points. He went up to the St. Charles
+and laid his case before one of the fathers. His fine bearing and
+intelligence won him much favor.</p>
+
+<p>"Men often married Indian women, who made good wives. In this case if
+the woman desired to take him for her husband, there could be no real
+objection; it was between the two parties. No over-persuasion was to be
+used. And if her friends or parents consented, it would be right enough.
+Only they must truly love each other."</p>
+
+<p>He knew now she did not truly love him. You might beat an Indian woman
+into obedience&mdash;he had never struck one since he had come to manhood.
+But this beautiful being, who was like a bit of flame, would be blown
+out by harshness or force, and one would have only the cold body left.
+If he could not make her love him at the end of the three months&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Then he sought Destournier, and laid the tale before him. He had won
+Mademoiselle honorably. She had given her promise. At the end of the
+three months he would come for her. Now he had resolved to go to the
+islands, since it would be wretched to stay here and not see Mam'selle.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the best thing," Destournier said, but he was stunned by the
+bargain. Was his life to cost that sacrifice? There must be some way of
+preventing it.</p>
+
+<p>As the days went on he considered various plans. This was why Rose was
+so languid and unlike herself. Perhaps the hard winter and poor food had
+something to do with it. She had bought his life at too great a
+sacrifice. And then came the sweet, sad knowledge that he loved her,
+also.</p>
+
+<p>The spring was quite early. Men began to work in their gardens and mend
+the damages of the winter, but with a certain fear of what was to come.
+And one day Destournier found Rose sitting in the old gallery, where she
+had run about as a child. But she was a child no longer. The
+indescribable change had come. There were womanly lines in her figure,
+although it was thinner than of yore, and the light in her eyes deeper.</p>
+
+<p>He had given up the house to her and the two Indian women, with Pani for
+attendant. M. Pontgrave had been a great invalid through the winter, and
+besought the younger man's company. The Sieur often came in and they
+talked over the glowing plans and dreams of the earlier days, when they
+were to rear a city that the mother country could be proud of.</p>
+
+<p>He understood why Rose had shunned him, and whenever he resolved to take
+up this troublous subject his courage failed him. Saved from this
+marriage she surely must be. In a short time Savignon would return. He
+had known of two women who had cast in their lots with the better-class
+Indians at Tadoussac, and were happy enough. But they were not Rose.</p>
+
+<p>He came slowly over to her now. She looked up and smiled. Much keeping
+indoors of late had made her skin fair and fine, but her soft hair had
+not shed all its gold.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose," he began, then paused.</p>
+
+<p>She flushed, but made a little gesture, as if he might be seated beside
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose," he said again, "in the winter you saved my life. I have known it
+for some time."</p>
+
+<p>Her breath came with a gasp. How had he learned this, unless Savignon
+had come before the time?</p>
+
+<p>"And you paid a great price for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, oh!" she clasped her hands in distress. "How did you know it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Savignon told me before he went away. He asked my consent to your
+marriage. I could not give it then. He will soon return. I cannot give
+it now."</p>
+
+<p>"But it was a promise. Monsieur, your life was of more account than
+mine."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think I will accept the sacrifice? I have been weak and cowardly
+not to settle this matter before, not to give you the assurance that I
+will make a brave fight for your release."</p>
+
+<p>"I was very sad and frightened at first, partly ill, as well, and I
+hoped not to live. But the good God did not take me. And if He meant me
+to do this thing, keep my word, I must do it. I asked Father Jamay one
+time about promises, and he said when one had vowed a vow it must be
+kept. And I have prayed for courage when the time comes. See, I am quite
+tranquil."</p>
+
+<p>She raised her face and he read in it a nobly spiritual expression. He
+recalled now that she had gone up to the convent quite often with
+Wanamee, and that more than once she had slipped into Madame de
+Champlain's <i>prie-dieu</i>, that her husband never would have disturbed.
+Was she finding fortitude and comfort in a devotion to religion that
+would strengthen her to meet this tremendous sacrifice? She looked like
+a saint already.</p>
+
+<p>She could not tell him that he knew only half, that he might still be
+the object of Savignon's vengeance, if she failed to keep her word.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps the Sieur will have something to say, if my wishes fail.
+Unless you tell me you love this Indian, and that seems monstrous to me,
+this marriage shall never take place."</p>
+
+<p>"It must, it must," she said, though her face was like marble, where it
+had been human before. "M'sieu, what is right must be done. I promised,
+and you were saved."</p>
+
+<p>"Of your own free will? Rose," he caught both hands in a pressure that
+seemed to draw her soul along with it, "answer me truly."</p>
+
+<p>"Of my will, yes, Monsieur." Her white throat swelled with the anguish
+she repressed.</p>
+
+<p>"You have left out the 'free,'" but he knew well why she could not utter
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, I think you would be noble enough to give your life for a
+friend"&mdash;she was about to say "whom you loved," but she caught her voice
+in time.</p>
+
+<p>Was this heroic maiden the little girl who had run wild in the old town,
+and sung songs with the birds; who had been merry and careless, but
+always a sweet human Rose; the child he had taken to his heart long ago,
+the girl he had watched over, the woman&mdash;yes, the woman he loved with a
+man's first fervent passion! She should not go out of his life, now that
+God had made a space for her to come in it. Miladi he had given up to
+Laurent Giffard, she had never belonged to him in the deep sacredness of
+love. And as he watched her, his eyes seeming to look into her soul,
+through the motes of light that illumined them, he knew it was not
+simply that she had no love for the Indian, but that she loved him. It
+seemed the sublime moment of his life, the sweetest consciousness that
+he had ever known.</p>
+
+<p>"You gave something greater than life. Listen," and he drew his brows
+into a resolute line. "When that man comes we will have it out between
+us. For I love you, too. I owe you a great reward that only a life's
+devotion can pay. I am much older, but I seem to have just awakened to
+the dream of bliss that sanctifies manhood. My darling, if a better man
+came, I could give you up, if I went hungering all the rest of my days.
+But you shall not go to certain wretchedness. And he must see the truth.
+That is the way a man should love."</p>
+
+<p>Her slender, white throat rose and fell like a heartbeat. With Savignon
+she would be loved with a fierce passion, for the man's supreme joy;
+this man would love for the woman's joy.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, I have studied the subject, and I think it is right. I pray
+you, do not disturb my resolve. It has been made after many prayers. If
+the good Father should change His mind&mdash;but that is hardly to be thought
+of. Do not let us talk about it," and she rose.</p>
+
+<p>For instead of throwing herself in the river, as she had thought in her
+wildness, she could cross to France, and enter a convent, if she could
+not endure it.</p>
+
+<p>Ralph Destournier saw that argument was useless. When the time came, he
+would act.</p>
+
+<p>But May passed without bringing the lover. Quebec was beginning to take
+courage, and what with hunting and fishing, semi-starvation was at an
+end. Emigrants came back and all was stir and activity in the little
+town.</p>
+
+<p>There came a letter to Rose, after a long delay. Savignon had joined a
+party of explorers, who were pushing westward, and marvelled at the
+wonderful country. He had pondered much over his desires, and while his
+love was still strong, he did not want an unwilling bride. He would give
+her a longer time to consider&mdash;a year, perhaps. He had wrung a reluctant
+assent from her, he admitted, and taken an ungenerous advantage. For
+this he would do a year's penance, without sight of the face that had so
+charmed him.</p>
+
+<p>Was he really brave enough to do that? Rose thought so. Destournier
+believed it some new attraction to the roving blood of the wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>But Rose would not wholly accept her freedom. Still she was more like
+the Rose of girlhood, though she no longer climbed or ran races. The
+Sieur was whiling away the heavy hours of uncertainty by teaching
+several Indian girls, and Rose found this quite a pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>The servant came in with some news. Not the French vessel they hoped
+for, but an English man-of-war, with two gunboats, was approaching.</p>
+
+<p>If defence had been futile before, it was doubly so now. The fort was
+out of repair, the guns useless from lack of ammunition, there was no
+provision to sustain a siege. A small boat with a flag of truce rounded
+the point, and with a heavy heart Champlain displayed his on the fort.</p>
+
+<p>The two brothers of Captain David Kirke, who was now at Tadoussac, had
+again been sent to propose terms of surrender. The English were to take
+possession in the name of their king.</p>
+
+<p>It was a sad party that assembled around the large table, where so many
+plans and hopes had stirred the brave hearts of the explorers and
+builders-up of new France. Old men they were now, Pontgrave a wreck from
+rheumatism, a few dead, and Champlain, with the ruin of his ambitions
+before him. There was some vigorous opposition to the demands, but there
+was clearly no alternative but surrender. Hard as the terms were, they
+must be accepted. And on July 20, 1629, the lilies of France ceased to
+wave over Quebec, dear old Quebec, and Captain Louis Kirke took
+possession of the fort and the town, in the name of His Majesty, King
+Charles I, and the standard of England floated quite as proudly over the
+St. Lawrence.</p>
+
+<p>Did they dream then that this scene would be enacted over again when a
+new Quebec, proud of her improvements and defences, that were considered
+impregnable, should fight and lose one of the greatest of battles, and
+two of the bravest of men, and again lower the lilies! A greater romance
+than that of old Quebec, the dream of the Sieur de Champlain.</p>
+
+<p>But it seemed a sad travesty that the mother country should send succor
+too late. A French vessel, with emigrants and supplies, came in sight
+only to fall into the hands of the victorious English.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Emery de Caen insisted that peace had been declared two months
+before, but the Kirkes would not admit this. It was said that all
+conquests after that date were to be restored. A new hope animated the
+heart of the brave old Commandant. If it were true, the lilies might
+replace the flaunting standard.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the citizens preferred to remain. They had their little homes
+and gardens, and the English proved not overbearing. Then there was an
+end to present want. A hundred and fifty men gave the town a new
+impetus, and when the next fleet came, with the large war-ships, there
+was a certain aspect of gayety, quite new to the place.</p>
+
+<p>After some discussion, Champlain resolved to return to France, and
+thence to England, to understand the terms of peace, and if possible, to
+win New France once more.</p>
+
+<p>Ralph Destournier was a Frenchman at heart, though a little English
+blood ran in his veins. He had a strong desire to see France.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you go?" he asked of Rose.</p>
+
+<p>"Not until the year is ended," she said gravely. "But if you will
+go&mdash;Wanamee and Pani can care for me. I am a little girl no longer."</p>
+
+<p>It was true. There was no more little girl, but there was no more old
+Quebec. It had already taken on a different aspect. Officers and men in
+bright uniforms climbed the narrow, crooked streets, with gay jests, in
+what seemed their rough language; there were little taverns opened,
+where the fife and drum played an unmelodious part. Religion was free,
+for there had come to be a number of Huguenots, as well as of the new
+English church. The poor priests were at their wits' end, but they were
+well treated.</p>
+
+<p>Eustache Boull&eacute; was to go with the Sieur, but he never returned. He took
+a rather fond farewell of Rose. "If you would go, we might find
+something of your family," he said. "I once had a slight clew."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it not worth looking after?" asked Destournier, as he and Rose were
+walking the plateau, since known as the Plains of Abraham. "If you were
+proved of some notable family&mdash;there have been so many over-turns."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you feel prouder of me?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Do you not know that you are dearer to me as the foundling of
+Quebec, and the little girl I knew and loved?"</p>
+
+<p>She raised luminous eyes and smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I do not care. No place will seem like home but this."</p>
+
+<p>He would not go to France, but busied himself with his fields and his
+tenants. He came back to the old house, altered a little, the room where
+miladi had spent her fretful invalid years was quite remodelled. Vines
+grew up about it. The narrow steps were widened.</p>
+
+<p>Autumn came, and winter. The cold and somewhat careless living carried
+off many of the English. But Madame H&eacute;bert had married again, and
+Th&eacute;r&egrave;se had found a husband. There was Nicolas Revert, with some growing
+children. Duchesne, a surgeon, they had been glad to welcome. Thomas
+Godefroy, Pierre Raye, and the Couillards formed quite a French colony.
+They met now and then, and kept the old spirit alive with their songs
+and stories.</p>
+
+<p>June had come again, and the town had begun to bloom. There were still
+parties searching for the north sea, for the route to India, for the
+great river that was said to lie beyond the lakes. The priests, too,
+were stretching out their lines, especially the Jesuits, about whom
+still lingers the flavor of heroic martyrdom. Father Breibouf coming
+back for a short stay, to get some new word from France, told the fate
+of one unfortunate party. Among them he said "was that fine Indian
+interpreter, Savignon, who you must remember went to the rescue of a
+party the last time he was in Quebec. He was a brave man, and a great
+loss to us. He had come to an excellent state of mind, and was one of
+the few Indians that give me faith in the salvation of the race."</p>
+
+<p>Rose's eyes were lustrous with tears as she listened to this eulogy. He
+had proved nobler than his first passion of love. She had some Masses
+said for his soul, but it pleased her better to give thanks to God for
+his redemption.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you belong to no one but me," Destournier said to her some weeks
+later, when she had recovered from her sorrow. "Yet I feel that it is
+selfish to take your sweet youth. I am no longer young. I shall always
+be a little lame, and never perhaps realize my dream of prosperity. But
+I love you. I loved you as a little girl, you have always, in some
+fashion, belonged to me."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to belong to you, to take your name. Do you remember that I
+have no other name but Rose? You are very good to shelter me thus. I
+think I could never have gone gladly to any one else. We are a part of
+old Quebec, we are still French," and there was a little triumph in her
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>It was true the English had taken possession after peace had been
+declared, and had not the right to hold the country. When France
+demanded the recession King Charles held off, and the Kirkes were
+unwilling to yield up the government, as they found great profit in the
+fur trade. But needing money sorely, and as the Queen's dowry as a
+French princess had only been half paid, he made this a condition, and
+Richelieu accepted it.</p>
+
+<p>So in 1632 Acadia, and all the important points in Canada, were ceded
+back to France.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring of the next year Champlain was again commissioned
+Governor, and he set sail from Dieppe, with three vessels freighted with
+goods, provisions, and the farming implements of that day, clothing and
+some of the new hand-looms, beside seeds of all kinds. Two hundred
+persons, many of them married couples, and farmers were to found a new
+Quebec.</p>
+
+<p>One May morning, just at sunrise, there was a great firing of bombards,
+and for a brief while all was consternation and fear. But persons sent
+out to explore, brought the welcome news of Champlain's return. Then
+went up a mighty shout of joy, and the lilies of France were once more
+unfurled to the breeze. There stood the stalwart old commander, whose
+life work was crowned with success. All was gratulation. He must have
+been touched by the ovation.</p>
+
+<p>M. and Madame Destournier were among the throng, while Wanamee carried
+the little son, who stared about with wondering eyes, and smiled as if
+he enjoyed the glad confusion.</p>
+
+<p>Even the Indians vied with the French, as he was triumphantly escorted
+up the cliff, with colors flying and drums beating, and once more
+received the keys of the fort. The spontaneous welcome showed how deep
+he was in the affections of the people. He had been thwarted in many of
+his plans, neglected, traduced, but this hour made amends.</p>
+
+<p>"Little Rose," he said, "thou art a part of old Quebec, but thy son
+begins with the new r&eacute;gime. Heaven bless and prosper thee and thy
+husband. I should have missed thee sorely had any untoward event
+happened."</p>
+
+<p>The settlement at the foot of the cliff had been burned, but the upper
+town, as it came to be called, had stretched out. The H&eacute;berts were on
+the summit of the cliff, that part of the town where the ancient
+bishops' palace stood for so long. Many of the former settlers had come
+up here.</p>
+
+<p>"I had hoped Madame de Champlain would return with him," Rose said. "I
+wonder if any time will ever come when I shall love myself better than
+you."</p>
+
+<p>He bent over and kissed her. He had never quite understood love or known
+what happiness was until now.</p>
+
+<p>When the Indians learned of the return of their beloved white chief,
+they planned to come in a body, and salute him. Algonquins, Ottawas,
+Montagnais, and the more friendly Hurons, came with their gifts, and
+smoked the pipe of peace.</p>
+
+<p>In the autumn Champlain commenced the first parochial church, called,
+appropriately, Notre Dame de Recouvrance. The Angelus was rung three
+times a day. For now the brave old soldier had grown more religious,
+there were no more exploring journeys, no more voyages across the stormy
+ocean. He had said good-bye to his wife for the last time, though now,
+perhaps, he understood her mystical devotion better.</p>
+
+<p>It was indeed a new Quebec. There was no more starvation, no more
+digging of roots, and searches for edible food products. Their anxious
+faces gave way to French gayety. Up and down the steep road-way, leading
+from the warehouses to the rough, tumble-down tenements by the river,
+men passed and repassed with jests and jollity, snatches of song or a
+merry good-day, for it was indeed good. There were children of mixed
+parentage, playing about, for Indian mothers were no uncommon thing. The
+fort, the church, and the dwellings high up above, gave it a picturesque
+aspect. You heard the boatmen singing their songs of old France as they
+went up and down the beautiful river. Stone houses began to appear,
+though wigwams still remained. New streets were opened, but they were
+loth to level the hills, and some of them remain to this day.</p>
+
+<p>Ralph and Rose Destournier had a happy life. Children grew up around
+them. A large, new house received them presently, but they kept a fond
+remembrance for the old one that seemed somehow to belong exclusively to
+Miladi and a dreamy sort of old life.</p>
+
+<p>A mixed population it was, shaped by the sincerity of their religion.
+There were priests in their gray and black cassocks, officers in brave
+trappings, traders, Indians, farmers, stout and strong, and the
+picturesque <i>coureurs de bois</i>, that came to be a great feature, and
+added not a little to the romance of the place. They were not all mere
+adventurers, but they loved a roving life. Settlements were made here
+and there, an important one at Three Rivers, where the R&eacute;collets
+established a mission. The summers were given over to work and business,
+thronged with traders and trappers, but they found time in the winters
+for much social life.</p>
+
+<p>If the Sieur missed his old friend H&eacute;bert, there were others to take an
+active interest in horticulture. Pontgrave was no more, but his grandson
+kept up the name. A few years later the earnest young Ren&eacute; de Robault
+gave his fortune for the building of a college, and this kept the young
+men from returning to old France for an education. Convent schools were
+established, and Indian girls were trained in the amenities and
+industries of social life. Montreal spread out her borders as well, the
+Beauport road came to be a place of fine estates. All the way to the
+mouth of the great river there were trading stations. The fur company's
+business was good, there were new explorations to Lake Huron, Georgian
+Bay, Lake Michigan, up to the Fox river.</p>
+
+<p>Of the sons and daughters growing up in the Destournier household,
+H&eacute;l&egrave;ne, who should have been a devotee, was a merry madcap, who exceeded
+her mother in daring feats, a dark-eyed, laughing maid the Indian girls
+adored. She could manage a canoe, she could fly, they said, she took
+such wonderful leaps. Rose could sing like a bird and had a fondness for
+all animals. Little Barbe was a dainty, loving being, always clinging to
+her mother, and three sons were devoted to their father whose snowy
+white hair was like a crown of silver. They loved to hear the old tales,
+and fired with resentment when the lilies of France had to give way to
+the flag of England.</p>
+
+<p>"But they will never do it again," Robert Destournier would exclaim,
+with flashing eyes.</p>
+
+<p>But they did almost a century later. Robert was not there to strike a
+useless blow for his beloved land. That belongs to the story of a newer
+Quebec, and now all the romances are gathered up into history.</p>
+
+<p>In the autumn of 1635 the brave, beloved Champlain passed away in the
+heart of the city that had been his love, his ambition, his life-dream.
+The explorer, the crusader, the sharer of toils and battles, his story
+is one of the knightly romances of that period, and his name is
+enshrined with that of old Quebec. Other heroes were to come, other
+battles to be fought, much work for priest and civilian, but this is the
+simplest, the bravest of them all, for its mighty work was done at great
+odds.</p>
+
+<p>To-day you find the Citadel, the old French fort, but the wharves and
+docks run out in the river, and there are steamboats, instead of canoes.
+There is the Market Place and the City Hall, the Grande All&eacute;e St. Louis
+Place and Gate, the crowded business-point, with its ferries, the great
+Louise basin and embankment. The city runs out to St. Charles river, and
+stretches on and on until you reach the Convent of the Sacred Heart.
+There are still the upper and the lower town, and the steep ways, the
+heights that Wolfe climbed, the world-famed Plains of Abraham.</p>
+
+<p>Everywhere is historic ground, monuments of courage, zeal, and religion.
+The streets have old names. Here on a height so steep you wonder how
+they are content to climb it, juts out a little stone eyrie, just as it
+stood a hundred years ago. Three or four generations have lived within
+its walls, and they are as French to-day as they were then. They want
+nothing of the modern gauds of the present. Grandmothers used the clumsy
+furniture, and it is almost worth a king's ransom, it has so many
+legends woven around it.</p>
+
+<p>There is the Ch&acirc;teau Frontenac, that recalls romance and bravery. There
+are churches, with their stories. There are the old Jesuit barracks, out
+of which went many a heroic soul to face martyrdom, there is the Chien
+d'Or, with its stone dog gnawing a bone, and the romance of Nicolas
+Jaquin Philibert, the brave Huguenot.</p>
+
+<p>There are old graveyards, where rest the pioneers who prayed, and hoped,
+and starved with Champlain. All the stories can never be written, all
+the monuments that speak of glory do not tell of the sufferings. Yet
+there were happy lives, and happy loves, as well. The storms die out,
+the light and sunshine dry up the tears, and courage is given to go on.</p>
+
+<p>The old French days have left their impress. Champlain will always be a
+living memory, as the founder of one of the marvellous cities of the
+world. Gay little girls run about and climb the heights, they dance and
+sing, and have their festivals, and are happy in the thrice-renewed
+Quebec. Many a Rose has blossomed and faded since the days of
+Destournier.</p>
+
+<p>THE END</p>
+
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+
+<h2><a name="The_Little_Girl_Series" id="The_Little_Girl_Series"></a><span class="smcap">The "Little Girl" Series</span></h2>
+
+<h3>By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS</h3>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Little Girl in Old New York<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Little Girl of Long Ago<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A sequel to "A Little Girl in Old New York"<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Little Girl in Old Boston<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Little Girl in Old Philadelphia<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Little Girl in Old Washington<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Little Girl in Old New Orleans<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Little Girl in Old Detroit<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Little Girl in Old St. Louis<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Little Girl in Old Chicago<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Little Girl in Old San Francisco<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Little Girl in Old Quebec<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Little Girl in Old Baltimore<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Little Girl in Old Salem<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Little Girl in Old Pittsburg<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<h4>For Sale by all Booksellers or will be sent postpaid on receipt of price.</h4>
+
+
+<h3>A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS<br />
+52, 58 Duane Street          New York</h3>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Girl in Old Quebec, by 
+Amanda Millie Douglas
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+</body>
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+Project Gutenberg's A Little Girl in Old Quebec, by Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Little Girl in Old Quebec
+
+Author: Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2007 [EBook #23779]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD QUEBEC ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, J.P.W. Fraser, Mary
+Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD QUEBEC
+
+                        By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS
+
+
+
+
+A. L. BURT COMPANY
+PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
+
+Copyright, 1906
+BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+        I. A WILD ROSE
+
+       II. THE JOY OF FRIENDSHIP
+
+      III. SUMMER TIME
+
+       IV. A HUSBAND
+
+        V. CHANGING ABOUT
+
+       VI. FINDING AMUSEMENTS
+
+      VII. JOURNEYING TO A FAR COUNTRY
+
+     VIII. WHAT ROSE DID NOT LIKE
+
+       IX. ABOUT MARRIAGES
+
+        X. MILADI AND M. DESTOURNIER
+
+       XI. A FEAST OF SUMMER
+
+      XII. A LOVER IN EARNEST
+
+     XIII. FROM A GIRL'S HEART
+
+      XIV. A WAY OVER THORNS
+
+       XV. HELD IN AN ENEMY'S GRASP
+
+      XVI. A LOVER OF THE WILDERNESS
+
+     XVII. THE PASSING OF OLD QUEBEC
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD QUEBEC
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A WILD ROSE
+
+
+Ralph Destournier went gayly along, whistling a merry French song that
+was nearly all chorus, climbing, slipping, springing, wondering in his
+heart as many a man did then what had induced Samuel de Champlain to
+dream out a city on this craggy, rocky spot. Yet its wildness had an
+impressive grandeur. Above the island of Orleans the channel narrowed,
+and there were the lovely green heights of what was to be Point Levis,
+more attractive, he thought, than these frowning cliffs. The angle
+between the St. Charles and St. Lawrence gave an impregnable site for a
+fortress, and Champlain was a born soldier with a quick eye to seize on
+the possibility of defence.
+
+On the space between the cliffs and the water a few wooden buildings,
+rough hewn, marked the site of the lower town. A wall had been erected,
+finished with a gallery, loopholed for musketry, and within this were
+the beginnings of a town that was to be famous for heroic deeds, for men
+of high courage, for quaintness that perpetuates old stories which are
+perfect romances yet to-day after the lapse of three centuries.
+
+There was a storehouse quite well fortified, there was a courtyard with
+some fine walnut trees, and a few gardens stretching out with pleasant
+greenery, while doves were flying about in wide circles, a reminder of
+home. Ralph Destournier had a spirit of adventure and Champlain was a
+great hero to him. Coming partly of Huguenot stock he had fewer chances
+at home, and he believed there was more liberty in the new world, a
+better outlook for a restless, eager mind.
+
+He went on climbing over the sun-baked cliffs, while here and there in a
+depression where rain could linger there were patches of verdure, trees
+that somehow maintained a footing. How unlike the level old seaport town
+where he had passed a good part of his youth, considered his
+grandfather's heir, when in the turn of fortune's wheel the sturdy old
+Huguenot had been killed in battle and his estates confiscated.
+
+Something stirred up above him, not any small animal either. It crackled
+the bushes and moved about with a certain agility. Could it be a deer?
+He raised his gun.
+
+Then a burst of song held him in amaze. It was not a bird, though it
+seemed to mock several of them. There were no especial words or rhymes,
+but the music thrilled him. He strode upward. Out of a leafy bower
+peered a face, child or woman, he could not tell at first, a crown of
+light, loose curling hair and two dark, soft merry eyes, a cherry-red
+mouth and dimpled chin.
+
+"Hello! How did you get up there?" he asked in his astonishment. Indians
+sometimes lurked about.
+
+"I climbed. You did not suppose I flew?"
+
+The tone was merry rather than saucy, and taking a few steps nearer, he
+saw she was quite a child. But she wore no cap and she shook the
+wind-blown hair aside with a dainty gesture. There was a fearlessness
+about her that charmed him.
+
+"And you live--here?"
+
+"Not here in the woods--no. But down in the town. Down there by the
+garden, M'sieu Hebert and the General. And Maman has one. But I hate
+working in it. So I ran away. Do you know what will happen to me when I
+go back?"
+
+"No, what?" with a sense of amusement. "Perhaps you will get no supper!"
+
+"I shall be whipped. And to-morrow I shall not be let out of the garden.
+When I get to be a woman I won't work in the garden. I won't even have a
+husband. They make you do just as they like. Why isn't one's way as good
+as another's?"
+
+A line of perplexity settled between her eyes that were soft enough to
+melt the heart of a stone, he thought, if stones really had hearts.
+
+"Older people are generally wiser. And mothers----"
+
+"Oh, she isn't my mother," interrupted the child. "Even Catherine was
+not my mother. I was very sorry for that. She was good and tender, but
+she died. And Jean was very angry because she was not my real mother,
+and he would have nothing to do with me. So he brought me to Maman. Oh,
+it was a long while ago. Maman is good in some ways. She gives me plenty
+to eat when we have it and she does not beat me often, as she does
+Pani."
+
+"And who is Pani?"
+
+"Oh, the little slave. His tribe was driven away after they had lost
+their battle, but some of the children were left behind and they are
+slaves. Do you suppose the Indians will ever conquer M. de Champlain?
+Then we should be slaves--or killed."
+
+He shuddered. Already he had heard tales of awful cruelty in the
+treatment of prisoners.
+
+"Are you not afraid some Indians may be prowling about?" and he glanced
+furtively around.
+
+"Oh, they do not come here. They are good friends with M. de Champlain.
+And the fort is guarded. I should hide if one came."
+
+She began to descend and presently reached his level.
+
+"There are long shadows. It gets to be supper time."
+
+He smiled. "Are the shadows your clock hands?"
+
+"We have no clock. M. de Champlain carries his in his pocket. But you
+see the sun sends long shadows over to the east. It is queer. The sun
+keeps going round. What is on the other side?"
+
+"It would take a good deal of study to understand it all," he returned
+gravely.
+
+"I like to hear them talk. There are wonderful places. And where is
+India? Can any one find the passage they are looking for and sail round
+the world?"
+
+"They have sailed round it."
+
+"And have you seen Paris and the King?"
+
+"I fought for the dead King. And Paris--why, you cannot imagine anything
+like it."
+
+"Ah, but we are going to have new France here. And perhaps Paris."
+
+There were pride and gladness in her voice. He smiled inwardly, he would
+not disturb her childish dream. Would she ever see the beautiful city
+and the pageants that were almost daily occurrences?
+
+"When did you come here?" she asked presently.
+
+"A fortnight ago, when the storeship arrived."
+
+"Ah, yes. Maman and I went to see it and M. Hebert sent us some curious,
+delicious dried fruits. M. de Champlain is quite sure we shall grow them
+in time and have beautiful gardens, and fine people who know many
+things. Can you read?"
+
+"Why, yes"--laughing.
+
+"I wish I could. But we have no books. Maman thinks it a waste of time,
+except for the men who must do business and write letters. Can you write
+letters?"
+
+"Yes"--studying her with amusement.
+
+"Catherine could read. But she had no books. I once learned some of the
+letters. Jean could make figures."
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"Oh, off with the fur-hunters. And Antoine makes ever so much money. And
+he says he and Maman will go back to France. And I suppose they will
+leave me here. Antoine has two brothers and one is at Brouage, where M.
+de Champlain was born."
+
+She leaped from point to point in a graceful, agile manner, ran swiftly
+down some declivity, while he held his breath, it seemed so fraught with
+danger, but she only looked back laughingly. What a daring midget she
+was!
+
+And when they were in sight of the palisades they saw a group of men,
+Pontgrave and Champlain among them. Destournier quickened his pace and
+touched his hat to them with a reverent grace.
+
+"Have you had a guide?" and Champlain held out his hand to the little
+girl while he asked the question of Destournier. She took Champlain's
+hand in both of hers and pressed it against her cheek. Pontgrave smiled
+at her as well.
+
+Destournier glanced up at the eminence where he had first seen the
+moving figure. How steep and unapproachable!
+
+"Could you find no fairer site for a new Paris?" he inquired smilingly.
+"How will you get up and down the streets when you come to that?"
+
+"Is it not the key to the north and a natural fortress? Look you, with a
+cannon at its base and over opposite, no trading vessel could steal up,
+no hostile man-of-war invade us. There will come a time when the old
+world will divide this mighty continent between them and the struggle
+will be tremendous. It will behoove France to see that her entrances are
+well guarded. And from this point we must build. What could be a
+fairer, prouder, more invincible heritage for France? For we shall sweep
+across the continent, we shall have the whole of the fur trade in time.
+We shall build great cities," and Champlain's face glowed with the pride
+he took in the new world.
+
+Yet it was a small beginning, and a less intrepid soul would have been
+daunted by the many discouragements. A few dwelling houses, a moat with
+a drawbridge, and the space of land running down to the river divided
+into gardens. The Sieur de Champlain found time to sow various seeds,
+wheat and rye as well, to set out berries brought from the woods and
+native grape vines that were better fitted to withstand the rigorous
+climate. But now it was simply magnificent, glowing with the early
+autumn suns.
+
+"I have a good neighbor who takes a great interest in these things. You
+must inspect Mere Dubray's garden. With a dozen emigrants like her we
+should have the wilderness abloom. She rivals Hebert. We must have some
+agriculture. We cannot depend on the mother country for all our food.
+And if the Indians can raise corn and other needful supplies, why not
+we?"
+
+"Ah, ha! little truant!" cried Mere Dubray, with a sharp glance at the
+child, "where hast thou been all the afternoon, while weeds have been
+growing apace?"
+
+"She has been playing guide to a stranger," explained Destournier, "and
+I have found her most interesting. It has been time well spent."
+
+Mere Dubray smiled. She always felt honored by the encomiums of M. de
+Champlain. She was proud of her garden, as well, and pleased to have
+visitors inspect it. Indeed the young man thought he had seen no neater
+gardens in sunny France.
+
+"Mere Dubray," he said, "convert this young man into an emigrant. I am a
+little sorry to have him begin in the autumn when the summer is so much
+more enticing. But if the worst is taken first there is hope for better
+to cheer the heart."
+
+Something about her brought to mind the women of old France who sturdily
+fought their way to a certain prosperity. She was rather short and
+stout, but with no loosely-hanging flesh, her hair was still coal-black,
+with a sharp sort of waviness, and her eyes had the sparkle of beads.
+Her brown skin was relieved by a warm color in the cheeks and the red,
+rather smiling lips. No one could imagine the child hers. It was nothing
+to him, yet he felt rather glad.
+
+Destournier was very friendly, however, and found her really
+intelligent. The little girl ran hither and thither, quite a privileged
+character. There were very few children beyond the Indians and
+half-breeds. The fur-hunters often went through a sort of ceremony with
+the Indian girls during their weeks of dickering with the traders. Some
+returned another season to renew their vows, others sought new loves.
+
+"I suppose the child has some sort of story?" he said to Champlain as
+they sat in the evening smoking their pipes.
+
+"The child? The reputed mother came over with some emigrants sent by the
+King, and as a widow she married Jean Arlac. He, it seems, was much
+disappointed at not having children of his own and was not over-cordial
+to the little girl. Rather more than a year ago his wife was taken ill,
+she had never been robust. And in her last moments she confessed the
+child was not her own, but that of a friend, and before she told the
+whole story a convulsion seized her. Jean was very angry and declared
+the child was nothing to him. He brought it to Mere Dubray and then went
+off to the fur regions, from whence the tidings came that he had married
+an Indian woman and taken a post station. She is a bright little thing,
+and I think must have come of gentle people. Her only trinket is a chain
+and locket, with a sweet young face in it."
+
+"But there is no chance here for any sort of education. She seems
+naturally intelligent."
+
+"There will be soon. There is a plan to bring out some nuns, and we
+shall build a chapel. We cannot do everything at once. The mother
+country cannot be roused to the importance of this step. It is not
+simply to discover, one must hold with a secure hand. And we must make
+homes, we must people them."
+
+Pontgrave was to return to France. Ralph Destournier had half a mind to
+accompany him, but he was young and adventurous and desirous of seeing
+more of this strange country. At last he cast in his lot with them for
+the year at least.
+
+October was a gorgeous month with its changing colors, its rather sharp
+nights when the log fires were a delight, and its days of sunshine that
+brought a summer warmth at noon. At night the sky sparkled with stars.
+
+The buildings were calked on the outside and hung with furs within.
+Harsh winds swept down from the northwest, everything was hooded with
+snow. Now one counted stores carefully and wasted nothing, though
+Champlain's ever sympathetic heart dealt out a little from his not too
+abundant supplies to the wandering Montagnais and gave their women and
+children food and shelter. There was a continual fight to keep even
+tolerably well. Scurvy was one enemy, a low sort of fever another.
+
+There were many plans to make for the opening of spring. Yet Ralph
+Destournier would have found it intolerably dull but for the little girl
+whose name was Rose. He taught her to read--Champlain fortunately had
+some books in French and Latin. There were bits of old history, a volume
+of Terence, another of Virgil, and out of what he knew and read he
+reconstructed stories that charmed her. Most of all she liked to hear
+about the King. The romances of Henry of Navarre fired her
+rapidly-awakening imagination.
+
+Destournier took several little excursions with the intrepid explorer
+before the severest of the winter set in. What faith he had in this
+wonderful new France that was to add so much glory and prosperity to the
+old world! If its rulers could have but looked through his eyes and had
+his aims. There was Tadoussac, there was the upper St. Charles, where
+Jacques Cartier and his men had passed a winter that in spite of the
+utmost heroism had ended in the tragedy of death. To the south there was
+a sturdy band of Englishmen trying the same experiment, not merely for
+their King and country, but also some reward for themselves. Neither
+were they eager to plant the standard of religion; that was left for
+Puritans and French missionaries.
+
+It seemed to Destournier that the scheme of colonization was hardly
+worth while. He had not Champlain's enthusiasm--there was much to do for
+France, and that land had always to be on the defensive with England.
+Would it not be so here in the years to come? And the Indians would be a
+continual menace.
+
+But there was a whole continent to convert, to civilize. He went back to
+the times of Charlemagne and the struggles that had brought out a
+glorious France. And no one had given up the passage to India. Lying
+westward was a great river, and what was beyond that no one knew. It was
+the province of man to find out.
+
+It was a dull life for a little girl in the winter. Rose almost longed
+for the garden, even if weeds did grow apace. In the old country Mere
+Dubray had spun flax and wool, here there was none to spin. She had
+learned a little work from the Indian women, but she was severely
+plain. What need of fringes and bead work and laying feathers in rows to
+be stitched on with a sort of thread made of fine, tough grass? And as
+for cooking, one had to be economical and make everything with a view to
+real sustenance, not the high art of cooking, though her peasant life
+had inducted her into this.
+
+The little girl made a playhouse in one corner of the cabin and stood up
+sticks for Indian children to whom she told over what had been taught
+her. They blundered just as she had done, but she had a curious patience
+with them that would have touched one's heart.
+
+"What nonsense!" Mere Dubray would exclaim. "It is well enough for men,
+and priests must know Latin prayers, but this is beyond anything a woman
+needs. And to be repeating it to sticks----"
+
+"But I get so lonely when they are all away," and the child sighed. "The
+real Indian girls were a pleasure, but I'm afraid you could not teach
+them to read any more than these make-believes."
+
+"Yes, winter is a dreary time. I'm not sure but I would rather be up in
+the fur country with my man. It seems they find plenty of game."
+
+There was not so much game here, for the Indians were ever on the alert
+and the roving bands always on the verge of starvation. But once in a
+while there was a feast of fresh meat and Mere Dubray made tasty messes
+for the hungry men.
+
+Rose, bundled up in furs sometimes, ran around the gallery where they
+had cleared the snow. Then there were the forge and the workshop, where
+the men were hewing immense walnut trees into slabs and posts for spring
+building. Some days the doves were let out of the cote in the sunshine
+and it was fascinating to see them circle around. They knew the little
+girl and would alight on her shoulder and eat grains out of her hand,
+coo to her and kiss her. Destournier loved to watch her, a real child of
+nature, innocent as the doves themselves. Mere Dubray had scarcely more
+idea of the seriousness of life or the demands of another existence
+beyond. She told her beads, prayed to her patron saint with small idea
+of what heaven might be like, unless it was the beautiful little hamlet
+where she was born. And as she was not sure the child had been
+christened, she thought it best to wait for the advent of a priest to
+direct her in the right way.
+
+She was not a little horrified by Destournier's curious familiarity with
+God and heaven, as it seemed to her. Rose understood almost intuitively
+that it terrified her, that it seemed a sacrilege, though she would not
+have known what the word meant. So she said very little about it--it was
+a beautiful land beyond the sky where people went when they died.
+Sometimes, when the wonderful beauty of sunset moved her to a strange
+ecstasy, she longed to be transported thither. And in the moving white
+drifts she saw angel forms with out-stretched arms and called to them.
+
+The beginning of the new year was bitter indeed. Snow piled mountain
+high, it seemed a whole world of snow. For windows they had cloth
+soaked in oil, but now the curtains of fur were dropped within and a
+barricade raised without. There were only the blazing logs to give light
+and make shadows about. They hovered around it, ate nuts, parched corn,
+and heated their smoked eels. They slept late in the morning and went to
+bed early. The lack of exercise and vegetables told on health, and
+towards spring more than one of the little band went their way to the
+land beyond and left a painful vacancy. But one week there came a
+marvellous change. The mountains of snow sank down into hills, there was
+a rush in the river, the barricades were removed from the windows and
+the fur hangings pushed aside to let in some welcome light.
+
+Rose ran around wild. "I can recall last spring," she said, with a burst
+of gayety. "The trees coming out in leaf, the birds singing, the
+blossoms----"
+
+"And the garden," interposed Destournier.
+
+Rose made a wry face.
+
+"It will be an excellent thing for you to run about out of doors. You
+have lost your rosy cheeks."
+
+"But I am Rose still," she said archly.
+
+She ran gayly one day, she went up the stream in the canoe with
+Destournier and was full of merriment. But the next day she felt
+strangely languid. Most of the men had gone hunting. Mere Dubray was
+piling away some of the heaviest furs.
+
+"Thou wilt roast there in the chimney corner," she said rather sharply.
+"Get thee out of doors in the fresh air again. It is silly to think one
+cannot stir without a troop of men tagging to one. Thou art too young
+for such folly."
+
+"My legs ache," returned the child, "and my head feels queer and goes
+round when I stir. And I am sleepy, as if there had not been any night."
+
+Mere Dubray glanced at her sharply.
+
+"Why, thy cheeks are red and thy eyes bright. Come, stir about or I
+shall take a stick to thee. That will liven thee up."
+
+The child rose and made a few uncertain steps. Then she flung out her
+hands wildly, and the next instant fell in a little heap on the floor.
+
+The elder looked at her in amaze and shook her rather roughly by the
+arm. And now the redness was gone and the child had a strange gray look,
+with her eyes rolled up so that only a little of the pupil showed.
+
+"Saint Elizabeth have mercy!" she cried. "The child is truly ill. And
+she has been so well and strong. And the doctor gone up to Tadoussac!"
+
+She laid her on the rude couch. Rose began to mutter and then broke into
+a pitiful whine. There were some herbs that every householder gathered,
+there were secrets extorted from the squaws much more efficacious than
+those of their medicine men. The little hand was burning hot; yes, it
+was fever. There had been scurvy and dysentery, but she was a little
+non-plussed by the fever. And the Sieur would not be here until
+to-morrow; the doctor, no one knew when.
+
+She took out her chest of simples, a quaintly-made birchen-bark
+receptacle. They had been carefully labelled by the doctor. Yes, here
+was "fever"--here another. Which to take puzzled her.
+
+"I might try first one and then the other," she ruminated. "I would get
+the good of both. And they might not mix well."
+
+She boiled some water and poured it over the herbs. It diffused a
+bitter, but not unpleasant flavor. Then she put it out of doors to cool.
+
+Rose was sleeping heavily, but her eyes were half open and it startled
+Mere Dubray.
+
+"A child is a great responsibility," she moaned to herself. "If the
+Sieur were only here, or the doctor!" She woke her presently and
+administered the potion. But it brought on a desperate sickness.
+
+"Perhaps I had better try the other." She took the hot, limp hand, the
+cheeks were burning, but great drops of perspiration stood out on the
+forehead. She twisted the soft hair in a knot and struck one of her
+highly-prized pins through it, then she thought a night-cap would be
+better. Only they would be a world too large for the child. But she
+succeeded in pinning it to the right shape, though she grudged the two
+pins. They were a great rarity in those days, and if one was lost hours
+were spent hunting it up.
+
+The second dose fared better. There was nothing to do but let the child
+sleep. She busied herself about the few household cares, studied the
+weather and the signs of spring. Oh, was that a bird! Surely he was
+early with his song. The river went rushing on joyously, leaping,
+foaming as if glad to be unchained. The air had softened marvellously.
+Ah, why should one be ill when spring had come!
+
+The kindly Mere repeated her dose. Towards night the fever seemed to
+abate, but the child was desperately restless and the worthy woman much
+troubled. Yet what was the child to her? to any one? And death was sure
+to come sometime. She would be spared much trouble. She would also lose
+much happiness. But was there any great share of it in this new world?
+
+Rose was no better the next day. The nausea returned and clearly she was
+out of her head. But late this afternoon the Sieur and the young guest
+returned and were so much alarmed they dispatched an Indian servitor
+with instructions to bring the doctor at once.
+
+"A pretty severe case," he said, with a grave shake of the head. "You
+have done the best you could, Mere Dubray, and children have wonderful
+recuperative powers. So we will try."
+
+"Poor, pretty little thing," thought Destournier. "Will she find
+anything worth living for?" Women had so few opportunities in those
+times. And when one was poor and unknown, and in a strange country. Yet
+he could not bear to think of her dying. There was always a hopeful
+future to living.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE JOY OF FRIENDSHIP
+
+
+She went down to the very boundaries of the other country, this little
+Rose. One night and one day they gave her up. She lay white and silent
+and Mere Dubray brought out a white muslin dress and ironed it up, much
+troubled to know whether she had a right to Christian burial or not.
+
+And then she opened her eyes with their olden light and began to ask in
+a weak voice what happened to her yesterday, and found her last
+remembrance was six weeks agone.
+
+She could hardly raise her thin little hand, but all the air was sweet
+with growing things. The tall trees had come into rich leafage, the
+sunshine glowed upon the grass that danced as if each blade was
+fairy-born, and sparkled on the river that went hurrying by as if to
+tell a wonderful story. The great craggy upper town glinted in a
+thousand varying tints, and at evening was wreathed in trailing mists
+that seemed some strange army marching across. The thickly wooded hills
+were nodding and smiling to each other, some native fruit trees were in
+bloom, and the air was delicious with the scent of wild-grape
+fragrance.
+
+"It was a bad fever. And we had no priest to call upon. As if people
+here did not need one as well as in that wild place with a long name
+where they are hunting copper and maybe gold. But thanks to the saints
+and the good doctor, you have come through. Ah, we ought to have a
+chapel at least where one could go and pray."
+
+"It is so beautiful and sweet. One would not want to be put in the
+ground."
+
+She shuddered thinking of it.
+
+"No, no! And M. Pontgrave has come in with two ships. There is plenty of
+provisions and fruits from La Belle France. See, M'sieu Ralph brought
+them in for you. Now you have only to get well."
+
+Mere Dubray's face was alight with joy. The child smiled faintly.
+
+"And the Sieur de Champlain?" she asked.
+
+"Oh, he is as busy as any two men with plans for building up the town,
+and workmen, and some women for wives--two of whom are married already,
+though one couple did their courting on shipboard. Oh, you must soon get
+about. We are going to have a rare summer."
+
+The child raised herself up a trifle and then sank back.
+
+"Oh, dear!" with a little cry.
+
+"Do not mind, _ma petite_. People are always so at first. To-morrow
+maybe you can sit up, and a few days after walk. And then go out."
+
+"The world is so lovely and sweet," she murmured. And she was glad she
+had not died.
+
+The next day M'sieu Ralph came in. He appeared changed some way, but the
+old smile was there. The eyes seemed to have taken on a deeper blue
+tint. She stretched out her hands.
+
+"Thank the good God that you are restored, little one," he exclaimed,
+with deep fervor. "Only you are a shadow of the Rose who climbed rocks
+like a joyous kid less than a year agone. When will you pilot me again?"
+
+She drew a long breath like a sigh.
+
+"And there have been so many happenings. There are new people, though no
+little girls among them, for which I am sorry. And already they are
+building houses. The Sieur de Champlain has great plans. He will have a
+fine city if they work. Why, when thou art an old lady and goest dressed
+in silks and velvets and furs, as the women of the mother country, thou
+wilt have rare stories to tell to thy grandchildren. And no doubt thou
+wilt have seen Paris as well."
+
+Then she smiled, but it was a pitiful attempt.
+
+It was true Quebec had received a wonderful hastening in the new-comers
+and in several grants the King had made concerning the fur trade. The
+dreary winter was a thing of the past.
+
+Destournier came in the next day and insisted the child should be
+wrapped up and carried out in the sunshine. She seemed light as a baby
+when he took her in his arms. He seated himself on a bench and held her
+closely wound up in Mere's choicest blanket she had brought from St.
+Malo, and which had been woven by her grandmother.
+
+Ah, how lovely that savage primeval beauty looked to the child, who felt
+more than she could understand. Every pulse seemed instinct with new
+life. The gardens with their beds of vegetables, the tall slim spikes of
+onions which everybody had been requested to plant plentifully, the
+feathery leaves of the young carrots, the beans already in white bloom,
+the sword-like leaves of the corn hardly long enough to wave as yet, and
+the river with boats and canoes--why, it had never been so brisk and
+wonderful before.
+
+She drew in long breaths of health-giving fragrance. There had been some
+trouble with the Indians and the Sieur de Champlain had gone to chastise
+them. There were fur-traders on the way and soon everything would be
+stirring with eager business. And when she could they would take a sail
+around and up the St. Charles, and visit the islands, for besides Pani
+the Mere had another Indian boy the Sieur had sent her, so there would
+be no gardening for the small, white Rose. And he had made a new friend
+for her, who was waiting anxiously to see her.
+
+Presently she went soundly asleep in the fragrant air, and he carried
+her back and laid her on the bed. Mere Dubray came and looked at her and
+shook her head. She was indeed a white Rose now. They had cut her hair
+when she had tangled it with her tossing about, and it was now a bed of
+golden rings, but the long lashes that were like a fringe on her cheeks
+were black.
+
+"It will take her a good while to get back all she has lost," said the
+young man. "It is little short of a miracle that she is here."
+
+She gained a little every day. But she felt very shaky when she walked
+about, and light in the head. And then Destournier brought her a visitor
+one afternoon, a lady the like of whom the child had not dreamed of in
+her wildest imaginings, as she had listened to tales of royalty. A tall,
+fair woman whose bright hair was a mass of puffs and short dainty curls
+held by combs that sparkled with jewels, and the silken gown that was
+strewn with brocaded roses on a soft gray ground. It had dainty ruffles
+around the bottom that barely reached her ankles, and showed the clocked
+and embroidered stockings and elegant slippers laced back and forth with
+golden cord, and a buckle that sparkled with gems like the combs. Even
+royalty condescended to wear imitation jewels, so why should not the
+lower round? Her shapely shoulders were half veiled by a gauze scarf on
+which were woven exquisite flowers.
+
+The child gazed with fascinated admiration. Did the Greek women
+Destournier had read about, who won every heart, look like this?
+
+"This is the lady I told you of, little one, who has lately come from
+France, Madame Giffard. And this is Rose----" He paused suddenly with a
+half smile. "I believe the child has no other name."
+
+"Was she born here?" How soft and winning the voice was.
+
+Destournier flushed unconsciously.
+
+"She has a story and a mystery that no one has fathomed. The Sieur made
+some inquiries. A woman of the better class who came over with some
+emigrants brought her, and was supposed to be her mother. But some
+secret lay heavy on her mind, it seemed, and when she was dying she
+confessed that the child was not hers, but she had no time for
+explanations. The husband brought her here and has gone to one of the
+fur stations. His disappointment was so intense he gave up the child.
+And so--her name is neither Arlac nor Dubray. We shall have to
+rechristen her."
+
+"What a curious romance! If one knew what town she came from. Oh, my
+little one, will you let me be your friend? I had a little golden-haired
+girl who died when she was but four, and no children have come since to
+gladden my heart."
+
+Madame Giffard bent over and took the small hand, noting the taper
+fingers and slender wrist that seemed to indicate good birth. She
+pressed it to her lips. Rose looked up trustfully and smiled.
+
+"I like you," she said, with frank earnestness.
+
+"Then I shall come to see you often. This is such a queer place with no
+ready-made houses and really nothing but log huts or those made of rough
+slabs. I wonder now how I had the courage to come. But I could not be
+separated from my dear husband. And when he makes his fortune we shall
+go back to our dearly beloved France."
+
+The child smiled. The story had no embarrassment for her--Catherine had
+brought her from France and she had never called her mother until on
+shipboard. Back of it was vague and misty, though Catherine was in it
+all. But this beautiful woman with her soft voice, different from
+anything she had ever heard--why, she liked her already almost as much
+as M'sieu Ralph.
+
+"And you have been ill a long while?"
+
+"It seemed only a day when I first woke up. Then the snow was on the
+ground. I was so cold. I wanted to go to sleep on the chimney seat and
+Mere would not let me. And now everything is in bloom and the garden is
+planted and the sun shines in very gladness. I shall never like winter
+again," and she shuddered.
+
+"Are the winters so dreadful?" she inquired of Destournier.
+
+"I never knew anything like it. I can't understand why the Sieur de
+Champlain should want to found a city here when the country south is so
+much more congenial. Although this is the key to the North, as he says.
+And there is a north to the continent over there."
+
+"You think there are fortunes to be made?"
+
+"For those who come to make them. But the mother country will squeeze
+hard. We have not found the gold and silver yet. But after all, trade is
+your best pioneer. And this is an era of exploring, of fame, rather than
+money-getting. We are just coming to know there are other sides to the
+world. Ah, here is Mere Dubray."
+
+The child glanced from one woman to the other. She saw the same
+difference as there was between the workmen and the few of the better
+class. Was it knowledge such as M'sieu Ralph had? And the good-hearted
+home-making Mere scouted learning for women. Their business was cooking
+and keeping the house. But she decided she liked the lady the best, just
+as she liked M'sieu Ralph better than the brawny leathern- and fur-clad
+workmen. But the Mere had been very good and never scolded her now.
+
+She brought in some little cakes and a glass of beer brewed from roots
+and herbs. Madame Giffard thanked her and sipped it delicately. Some
+vague memory haunted the child, as if she had seen this lady before with
+the dead Catherine.
+
+"It is a wild, wild country. There is nothing like it in France," the
+lady said, in a tone of disparagement. "And how one is to live----"
+
+"You were not in France two or three centuries ago," he returned
+good-naturedly. "Most countries go through this period. Beginnings are
+not always agreeable."
+
+"But I cannot admit this is a city. Yet they talk about it at home. The
+furs are certainly fine. But the Indians! You are in fear of them all
+the time. And if they should make an attack here?"
+
+"They will hardly dare now. Indeed one Indian tribe is practically wiped
+out. And the fortifications are to be strengthened. We manage to keep
+quite friendly, though we do not trust too far."
+
+"But it is horrible to live in perpetual fear," and she shuddered.
+
+"You must not look on that side of it. It is a hard country for women, I
+shall have to admit."
+
+"But I have not come to stay, thank the saints. A year maybe at the
+longest. My husband is to go back when he has--what you call
+it--established his claim--concession. We like sunny France the best.
+Only one wants a fortune to enjoy it."
+
+"That is true, too. But here one can do without. At least a man
+can"--laughing a little as he surveyed the dainty figure.
+
+"A year," repeated the child. "How long is a year?"
+
+Mere Dubray had been standing in the doorway, waiting to take the cup
+when my lady had finished. Now she said in an unemotional tone--
+
+"It is a summer and a winter. It was last May when Jean Arlac brought
+you here."
+
+The child nodded thoughtfully and there came a far-away expression in
+her eyes.
+
+"Jean Arlac went up to the fur country," she said to the guest.
+
+"Does he return when the furs come in?"
+
+She glanced at Mere Dubray, who shook her head.
+
+"He comes back no more. He has married an Indian woman. But my husband
+will be here."
+
+"Does M. Gifford desire to go out himself?"
+
+"That is his plan, I believe. Can he get back before winter?"
+
+"Oh, yes, or by that time."
+
+"I shall come often to see the little one. And when they have finished
+the--the hut, the child must come often to me. I have brought some
+furnishings and pictures and a few books. There is much more in the old
+chateau, and my aunt is there to take care of it. But I wanted some old
+friends about me."
+
+At the mention of books Rose had glanced up eagerly at Destournier. Then
+there was a sudden rush without. Both Indian boys were racing and
+yelling in their broken language.
+
+"They are coming; they are coming! The canoes are in," and both began to
+caper about.
+
+Mere Dubray took down a leathern thong and laid it about them; but they
+were like eels and glided out of her reach.
+
+"One was bad enough, but I could manage him. The other"--and she gave
+her shoulders a shrug.
+
+The lady laughed. "That is like home," she said.
+
+"It is quite a sight. And I hope you will not be frightened, for the
+next few days. I had better escort you back, I think, for there will be
+a crowd."
+
+They were guests of M. de Champlain, who had quite comfortable
+quarters. Beside his governmental business he was much engrossed with a
+history of his journeys and explorations and the maps he was making. All
+the furnishings were plain, as became a hardy soldier who often slept
+out in the open. But the keeping room already showed some traces of a
+woman's love for adornment. He looked rather grim over it, but made no
+comment.
+
+"I will come again to-morrow." Madame Giffard pressed a kiss upon the
+white forehead. The child grasped her hand with convulsive warmth.
+
+An hour had changed the aspect of everything. Instead of the quiet,
+deserted, winding ways, you could hardly call them streets, everything
+seemed alive with a motley, moving throng. A long line of boats, and
+what one might call a caravan, seemed to have risen from the very earth,
+or been evolved from the wilderness. There were shouting and singing,
+white men turned to brown by exposure, Indians, half-breeds of varying
+shades, and attire that was really indescribable.
+
+"Is it an attack?" and Madame Giffard clung to her guide in affright.
+
+He laughed reassuringly.
+
+"It is only the awakening of Quebec after its long hibernation. They
+have been expected some days. Ah, now you will see the true business
+side and really believe the town flourishing, be able to carry a good
+report back to France."
+
+They looked over the land side from the eminence of the fortifications.
+Quebec did not mean to admit these roisterers within her precincts,
+which were none too well guarded. Still the cannons looked rather
+formidable from their embrasures. But as little would these lawless men
+have cared to be under the guard of the soldiery.
+
+They seemed to come to a pause. Indians and half-breeds threw down their
+packs. Some sat on them and gesticulated fiercely, as if on the verge of
+a quarrel. A few, who seemed the leaders, went about ordering, pointing
+to places where a few stakes had been driven. Great bundles were
+unpacked, a centre pole reared, and a tent was in progress.
+
+"Why, it is like a magic play," and she clapped her hands in eager
+delight. "Will they live here? Oh, where is Laurent, I wonder. He ought
+to see this."
+
+"They will live here a month or so. Some of the earlier ones will go
+away, new ones come. The company's furs will be packed and loaded on
+vessels for France, but there are plenty of others who trade on their
+own account. There will be roistering and drinking and quarrelling and
+dickering, and then the tents will be folded and packed and the throng
+take up their march for the great north again, and months of hunting."
+
+It was fascinating to watch them. They were building stone fireplaces
+outside and kindling fires. Here some deft hands were skinning a moose
+or a deer and placing portions on a rude spit. And there was the Sieur
+de Champlain and a dozen or so of armed soldiers, he holding parley with
+some of the leaders.
+
+"Oh, there is M. Giffard," she cried presently. "And look--are
+there--women?"
+
+"Squaws. Oh, yes."
+
+"Do they travel, I mean come from the fur country? What a long journey
+it must be for them."
+
+"They do not mind. They are nomads of the wilderness. You know the
+Indians never build towns as we do. Some of them settle for months until
+the hunting gives out, then they are off on a new trail."
+
+"What queer people. One would think the good missionaries would civilize
+them, teach them to be like--can they civilize them?"
+
+"After centuries, perhaps"--dryly.
+
+"Is all this country theirs?"
+
+"Well"--he lifted his eyebrows in a queer, humorous fashion. "The King
+of France thinks he has a right to what his explorers discover; the King
+of England--well, it was Queen Elizabeth, I believe, who laid claim to a
+portion called Virginia. She died, but the English remain. Their colony
+is largely recruited from their prisons, I have heard. Then his Spanish
+majesty has somewhat. It is a great land. But the French set out to save
+souls and convert the heathen savages into Christian men. They have made
+friends with some of the tribes. But they are not like the people of
+Europe, rather they resemble the barbarians of the north. And the
+Church, you know, has labored to convert them."
+
+"How much men know!" she said, with a long sigh of admiration.
+
+The sun was dropping down behind the distant mountains, pine- and
+fir-clad. She had never looked upon so grand a scene and was filled with
+a tremulous sort of awe. Up there the St. Charles river, here the
+majestic St. Lawrence, islands, coves, green points running out in the
+water where the reedy grass waved to and fro, tangles of vines and wild
+flowers. And here at their feet the settlement that had just sprung into
+existence.
+
+"You must be fatigued," he said suddenly. "Pardon my forgetfulness. I
+have been so interested myself."
+
+"Yes, I am a little tired. It has been such a strange afternoon. And
+that poor little girl, Monsieur--does that woman care well for her? She
+has the coarseness of a peasant, and the child not being her own----"
+
+"Oh, I think she is fairly good to her. We do not expect all the graces
+here in the wilderness. But I could wish----"
+
+Madame Gifford stumbled at that moment and might have gone over a ledge
+of rock, and there were many there, but he caught her in strong arms.
+
+"How clumsy!" she cried. "No, I am not hurt, thanks to you. I was
+looking over at that woman with something on her back that resembles a
+child."
+
+"Yes, a papoose. That is their way of carrying them."
+
+"Poor mother! She must get very weary."
+
+They threaded their way carefully to the citadel. The guard nodded and
+they passed. An Indian woman was bringing in a basket of vegetables and
+there was a savory smell of roasting meat.
+
+"Now you are safe," he said. "The Sieur would have transported me to
+France or hung me on the ramparts if any evil had happened to you."
+
+He gave a short laugh as if he had escaped a danger, but there was a
+gleam of mirth in his eyes.
+
+"A thousand thanks, M'sieu. Though I can't think I was in any great
+danger. And another thousand for the sweet little girl. I must see a
+good deal of her."
+
+The room she entered was within the double fortification and its windows
+were securely barred. The walls were of heavy timbers stained just
+enough to bring out the beautiful grain. But some of the dressed
+deerskins were still hanging and there were festoons of wampum,
+curiously made bead and shell curtains interspersed with gun racks,
+great moose horns and deer heads, and antlers. Tables and chairs
+curiously made and a great couch big enough for a bed.
+
+But the adjoining room was the real workroom of the Sieur. Here were his
+books, he brought a few more every time he came from France; shelves of
+curiosities, a wide stone fireplace, with sundry pipes of Indian make on
+the ledges. A great table occupied the centre of the room and all about
+it were strewn papers,--maps in every state,--plans for the city, plans
+of fortifications, diagrams of the unsuccessful settlements, and the new
+project of Mont Real. Notes on agriculture and the propagation of
+fruits, for none better than the Sieur understood that the colony must
+in some way provide its own food, that it could not depend upon
+sustenance from the mother country. For his ambition desired to make New
+France the envy of the nations who had tried colonizing. He ordered
+crops of wheat and rye and barley sown, and often worked in his own
+field when the moon shone with such glory that it inspired him. And
+though he had all the ardor of an explorer, he meant to turn the profits
+of trade to this end, but to further it settlements were necessary, and
+he bent much of his energy to the duller and more trying task of
+building colonies. Though the route to the Indies fired his ambition he
+was in real earnest to bring this vast multitude of heathens within the
+pale of the Church, and to do that he must be friendly with them as far
+as they could be trusted, but there were times when he almost lost
+faith.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+SUMMER TIME
+
+
+The child sat in a dream on a rude, squarely-built settle with a coarse
+blanket on it of Indian make and some skins thrown over the back, for
+often at sundown the air grew cool and as yet women were not spinning or
+weaving as in old France. A few luxuries had been brought thither, but
+the mother government had a feeling that the colonists ought mostly to
+provide for themselves, and was often indifferent to the necessary
+demands.
+
+Mere Dubray went out to the kitchen and began to prepare supper. There
+was a great stone chimney with a bench at each side, and for a fireplace
+two flat stones that would be filled in with chunks of wood. When the
+blaze had burned them to coals the cooking began. Corn bread baked on
+both sides, sometimes rye or wheaten cakes, a kettle boiled, though the
+home-brewed beer was the common drink in summer, except among those who
+used the stronger potions. The teas were mostly fragrant herbs, thought
+to be good for the stomach and to keep the blood pure.
+
+Mere Dubray dressed half a dozen birds in a trice. It was true that in
+the summer they could live on the luxuries of the land in some
+respects. Fish and game of all kinds were abundant, and as there were
+but few ways of keeping against winter it was as well to feast while one
+could. They dried and smoked eels and some other fish, and salted them,
+but they had learned that too much of this diet induced scurvy.
+
+The birds were hung on an improvised spit, with a pan below to catch the
+drippings with which they were basted. Between whiles the worthy woman
+unexpectedly bolted out to the garden with a switch in her hand and laid
+it about the two Indian boys, who did not bear it with the stoicism of
+their race, as they learned the greater the noise the shorter their
+punishment.
+
+The little girl did not heed the screams or the shrill scolding, or even
+the singing of the birds that grew deliciously tender toward nightfall.
+She often watched the waving branches as the wind blew among them until
+it seemed as if they must be alive, bending over caressing each other
+and murmuring in low tones. If she could only know what they said. Of
+course they must be alive; she heard them cry piteously in winter when
+they were stripped of their covering. Why did God do it? Why did He send
+winter when summer was so much better, when people were merry and happy
+and could hunt and fish and wander in the woods and fight Indians? She
+had not had much of an idea of God hitherto only as a secret charm
+connected with Mere Dubray's beads, but now it was some great power
+living beyond the sky, just as the Indians believed. You could only go
+there by growing cold and stiff and being put in the ground. She shrank
+from that thought.
+
+Something new had come in her life now. There was a vague, confused idea
+of gods and goddesses, that she had gathered from the Latin verses that
+she no more understood than the language. And this must be one that
+descended upon her this afternoon. The soft, sweet voice still lingered
+in her ears, entrancing her. The graceful figure that was like some
+delicate swaying branch, the attire the like of which she had never even
+dreamed of. How could she indeed, when the finest things she had seen
+were the soldiers' trappings?
+
+And this beautiful being had kissed her. Only once she remembered being
+kissed, but Catherine's lips were so cold that for days when she thought
+of it she shuddered and connected it with that mysterious going away,
+that horrid, underground life. This was warm and sweet and strange, like
+the nectar of flowers she had held to her lips. Oh, would the lovely
+being come again? But M'sieu Ralph had said so, and what he promised
+came to pass. There was a sudden ecstasy as if she could not wait, as if
+she could fly out of the body after her charmer. Whither was she going?
+Oh, M'sieu Ralph would know. But could she wait until to-morrow?
+
+Into this half-delirious vision broke the strong, rather harsh voice
+that filled her for an instant with a curious hate so acute that if she
+had been large enough, strong enough, she would have thrust the woman
+out of doors.
+
+"Oh, have you been asleep? Your eyes look wild. And your cheeks! Is it
+the fever coming back again? That chatter went through my head. And to
+be gowned as if she were going to have audience with the Queen! I don't
+know about such things. There is a King always--I suppose there must be
+a Queen."
+
+The child had recovered herself a little and the enraptured dream was
+slipping by.
+
+"And here is your supper. Such a great dish of raspberries, and some
+juice pressed out for wine. And the birds broiled to a turn. Here is a
+little wheaten cake. The Sieur sent the wheat and it is a great rarity.
+And now eat like a hungry child."
+
+She raised her up and put a cushion of dried hay at her back. The food
+was on a small trencher with a flat bottom, and was placed on the settle
+beside her.
+
+"No, no, the tea first," she said, holding a birch-bark cup to her lips.
+
+Rose made a wry face, but drank it, nevertheless. Then she took the
+raspberry juice, which was much pleasanter.
+
+"Yes, a great lady, no doubt. We have few of them. This is no place for
+silken hose and dainty slippers, and gowns slipping off the shoulders,
+and my lady will soon find that out. I wondered at M. Destournier. The
+saints forbid that we should import these kind of cattle to New
+France."
+
+"She is very sweet"--protestingly.
+
+"Oh, yes. So is the flower sweet, and it drops off into withered leaves.
+And her eyes looked askance at M'sieu Ralph, yet she hath a husband.
+Come, eat of thy bird and bread, and to-morrow maybe thou wilt run about
+lest thy limbs stiffen up to a palsy."
+
+"Mistress, mistress," called Pani--"here is a man to see thee."
+
+She went through both rooms. The man stood without, rather rough,
+unkempt, with buckskin breeches, fringed leggings, an Indian blanket, a
+grizzled beard hanging down on his breast, and his tousled hair well
+sprinkled with white; his face wrinkled with the hardships he had passed
+through, but the gray-blue eyes twinkled.
+
+"Ha! ha!" A coarse, but not unfriendly laugh finished the greeting as he
+caught both hands in an impetuous embrace. "Lalotte, old girl, has thy
+memory failed in two years? Or hast thou gotten another husband?"
+
+The woman gave a shriek of mingled surprise and delight. "The saints be
+praised, it is Antoine. And how if thou hast taken some Indian woman to
+wife? Braves do not consort with white women who cannot be made into
+slaves," she answered, with spirit.
+
+"Lalotte, thou wert hard to win in those early days. But now a dozen
+good kisses with more flavor in them than Burgundy wine, and I will
+prove to you I am the same old Antoine. And then--but thy supper smell
+is good to a hungry man. And a dish of shallots. It takes a man back to
+old Barbizon."
+
+Stout and strong as was Madame Dubray, her husband almost kissed the
+breath out of her body in his rapturous embrace.
+
+"But I had no word of your coming----"
+
+"How could you, pardieu! But you knew the traders were coming in. And a
+man can't send messengers hundreds of miles."
+
+"I looked last year----"
+
+"Pouf! There are men who stay five or ten years, and have left a wife in
+France. You can't blame them for taking a new one when you are invited
+to. It is a wild, hard life, but not worse than a soldier's. And when
+you are your own master the hardships are light. But some of this good
+supper."
+
+"Out with you," she said to the Indian boys, who had snatched a piece of
+the broiled fish. Then she put down a plate, took up two birds that
+dripped delicious gravy, and a squirrel browned to a turn. From the
+cupboard beside the great stone chimney, so cunningly devised that no
+one would have suspected it, she brought forth a bottle of wine from the
+old world, her last choice possession, that she had dreamed of saving
+for Antoine, and now her dream had come true.
+
+There was much to tell on both sides, though her life had been
+comparatively uneventful. He related incidents of his wilder experiences
+far away from civilization that he had grown to enjoy in its perfect
+freedom that often lapped over into lawlessness. And he ate until
+squirrel, fish, and the cakes, both of rye and corn, had disappeared.
+The slave boys fared ill that night.
+
+Rose had eaten her supper more daintily. The great pile of raspberries
+was a delight; large, luscious; melting in one's mouth without the aid
+of sugar, and being picked up with the fingers. She had been startled at
+the sudden appearance of the husband she had heard talked of, but of
+course not seen. His loud voice grated on her ears, made more sensitive
+by illness, and when, a long while after, the pine torch that was
+flaring in the kitchen defined his brawny frame as he stood in the
+doorway, she wanted to scream.
+
+"Oh--what have you here--a ghost?" he asked.
+
+"A child who was left here more than a year ago. Jean Arlac lost his
+wife, and not knowing what to do with her--she was not his own
+child--left her here. He went out with the fur-hunters."
+
+"Jean Arlac!" Antoine scratched among his rough locks as if to assist
+his memory. "Yes. And on the way he picked up a likely Indian girl who
+has given him a son. And he saddled her on you?"
+
+"Oh, the Sieur will look after her--perhaps take her back to France,"
+she answered, indifferently.
+
+"The best place for her, no doubt. She looks a frail reed. And women
+need strength in this new world. A little infusion of Indian blood will
+do no harm. I wouldn't mind a son myself, but a girl--pouf!"
+
+The child was glad he would not want her. She turned her face to the
+wall. She had not known what loneliness was before, but now she felt it
+through all her body, like a great pain.
+
+On the opposite side of the room was another settle, part of which
+turned over and was upheld by drawing out two rounds of logs. Mere
+Dubray made up the wider bed now, and soon Antoine was snoring lustily.
+At first it frightened the child, though she was used to the screech of
+the owl that spent his nights in the great walnut tree inside the
+palisade.
+
+Was it a dream, she wondered the next morning. She slept soundly at last
+and late and found herself alone in the house. She put on her simple
+frock and went to the doorway. Ah, what a splendid glowing morning it
+was! The sunshine lay in golden masses and fairly gilded the green of
+the maize, the waving grasses, the bronze of the trees, and the river
+threw up lights and shadows like birds skimming about.
+
+No one was in the garden. The table had been despoiled to the last
+crumb. Even the cupboard had been ransacked and all that remained was
+some raw fish. She was not hungry and the fragrant air was reviving. It
+seemed to speed through every pulse. Why, she suddenly felt strong
+again.
+
+She wandered out of the enclosure and climbed the steps, sitting down
+now and then and drawing curious breaths that frightened her, they came
+so irregularly. There were workmen building additional fortifications
+around the post, there were houses going up. It was like a strange
+place. She reached the gallery presently and looked over what was
+sometime to be the city of Quebec. The long stretch was full of tents
+and tepees and throngs of men of every description, it would seem;
+Indians, swarthy Spaniards who had roamed half round the world, French
+from the jaunty trader, with a certain air of breeding, down to the
+rough, unkempt peasant, who had been lured away from his native land
+with visions of an easily-made fortune and much liberty in New France,
+and convicts who had been given a choice between death and expatriation.
+Great stacks of furs still coming in from some quarter, haranguing,
+bargaining, shouting, coming to blows, and the interference of soldiers.
+Was it so last summer when she sometimes ran out with Pani, though she
+had been forbidden to?
+
+It was growing very hot up here. The sun that looked so glorious through
+the long stretches of the forest and played about the St. Lawrence as if
+in a game of hide-and-seek with the boats, grew merciless. All the air
+was full of dancing stars and she was so tired trying to reach out to
+them, as if they were a stairway leading up to heaven, so that one need
+not be put in the dark, wretched ground. Oh, yes, she could find the
+way, and she half rose.
+
+It seemed a long journey in the darkness. Then there was a coolness on
+her brow, a soft hand passed over it, and she heard some murmuring,
+caressing words. She opened her eyes, she tried to rise.
+
+"Lie still, little one," said the voice that soothed and somehow made it
+easy to obey. She was fanned slowly, and all was peace.
+
+"Did you climb up to the gallery all alone? And yesterday you seemed so
+weak, so fragile."
+
+"I wanted--some one. They had all gone----"
+
+"Quebec looks like a besieged camp. Laurent, that is my husband," with a
+bright color, "said I could see it from the gallery, and that it
+resembled a great show. I went out and found you. At first I thought you
+were dead. But the Indian woman, Jolette is her Christian name, but I
+should have liked Wanamee better, carried you in here and after a while
+brought you to. But I thought sure you were dead. Poor little white
+Rose! Truly named."
+
+"But once I had red cheeks," in a faint voice.
+
+"Then thou wouldst have been a red Rose."
+
+She sang a delicious little chanson to a red rose from a lover. The
+child sighed in great content.
+
+"Were they good to you down there? That woman seemed--well, hard. And
+were you left all alone?"
+
+Rose began to tell the story of how the husband came home, and Madame
+Giffard could see that she shrank from him. "And when she woke they had
+all gone away. There was nothing to eat."
+
+"Merci! How careless and unkind!" But Madame Giffard could not know the
+little slave boys had ransacked the place.
+
+"I was not hungry. And it was so delightful to walk about again. Though
+I trembled all over and thought I should fall down."
+
+"As you did. Now I have ordered you some good broth. And you must lie
+still to get rested."
+
+"But it is so nice to talk. You were so beautiful yesterday I was
+afraid. I never saw such fine clothes."
+
+Madame Giffard was in a soft gray gown to-day that had long wrinkled
+sleeves, a very short waist, and a square neck filled in with ruffles
+that stood up in a stiff fashion. She looked very quaint and pretty,
+more approachable, though the child felt rather than understood.
+
+"Are there no women here, and no society? Merci! but it is a strange
+place, a wilderness. And no balls or dinners or excursions, with gay
+little luncheons? There is war all the time at home, but plenty of
+pleasure, too. And what is one to do here!"
+
+"The Indians have some ball games. But they often fight at the end."
+
+The lady laughed. What a charming ripple it was, like the falls here and
+there, and there were many of them.
+
+"Not that kind," she said, in her soft tone that could not wound the
+child. "A great room like a palace, and lights everywhere, hundreds of
+candles, and mirrors where you see yourself at every turn. Then festoons
+of gauzy things that wave about, and flowers--not always real ones, they
+fade so soon. And the men--there are officers and counts and marquises,
+and their habiliments are--well, I can't describe them so you would
+understand, but a hundred times finer than those of the Sieur de
+Champlain. And the women--oh, if I had worn a ball dress yesterday, you
+would have been speechless."
+
+She laughed again gayly at the child's innocence. And just then Wanamee
+came in with the broth.
+
+"Madame Dubray's husband has come," nodding to the child.
+
+"Yes, yesterday, just at night."
+
+"He has great stores, they say. He is shrewd and means to make money.
+But there will be no quiet now for weeks. And it will hardly be safe to
+venture outside the palisades."
+
+Jolette had been among the first converts, a prisoner taken in one of
+the numerous Indian battles, rescued and saved from torture by the Sieur
+himself, and though she had been a wife of one of the chiefs, she had
+been beaten and treated like a slave. Champlain found her amenable to
+the influences of civilization, and in some respects really superior to
+the emigrants that had been sent over, though most of them were eagerly
+seized upon as wives for the workmen. Frenchwomen were not anxious to
+leave their native land.
+
+Madame Giffard fed her small _protegee_ in a most dainty and enticing
+manner. The little girl would have thought herself in an enchanted
+country if she had known anything about enchantment. But most of the
+stories she had heard were of Indian superstition, and so horrid she
+never wanted to recur to them. Madame Dubray was much too busy to allow
+her thoughts to run in fanciful channels, and really lacked any sort of
+imagination.
+
+After she had been fed she leaned back on the pillow again. Madame soon
+sang her to sleep. The child was very much exhausted and in the quietude
+of slumber looked like a bit of carving.
+
+"Her eyelashes are splendid," thought her watcher, "and her lips have
+pretty curves. There is something about her--she must have belonged to
+gentle people. But she will grow coarse under that woman's training."
+
+She sighed a little. Did she want the child, she wondered. If Laurent
+could make a fortune here in this curious land where most of the
+population seemed barbarians.
+
+She drew from a work-bag a purse she was knitting of silken thread, and
+worked as she watched the sleeping child. Once she rose, but the view
+from the window did not satisfy her, so she went out on the gallery. A
+French vessel was coming up into port, with its colors at half mast and
+its golden lilies shrouded with crape. Some important personage must be
+dead--was it the King?
+
+She heard her husband's voice calling her and turned, took a few steps
+forward. "Oh, what has happened?" she cried.
+
+"The King! Our heroic Bearnese! For though we must always regret his
+change of religion, yet it was best for France and his rights. And a
+wretched miscreant stabbed him in his carriage, but he has paid the
+penalty. And the new King is but a child, so a woman will rule. There is
+no knowing what policies may be overturned."
+
+"Our brave King!" There were tears in her eyes.
+
+"They are loading vessels to return. Ah, what a rich country, even if
+they cannot find the gold the Spaniards covet. Such an array of choice
+furs bewilders one, and to see them tossed about carelessly makes one
+almost scream with rage. Ah, my lady, you shall have in the winter what
+the Queen Mother would envy."
+
+"Then you mean to stay"--uncertainly.
+
+"Yes, unless there should be great changes. I have not seen the Sieur
+since the news came. He was to go to Tadoussac the first of the week,
+and I had permission to go with him. One would think to-day that Quebec
+was one of the most flourishing of towns, and it is hard to believe the
+contrary. But every soldier is on the watch. They trust no one. What
+have you been doing, _ma mie_?"
+
+"Oh, I have something to show you. Come."
+
+She placed her finger to her lips in token of silence and led him back
+to the room she had left. The child was still sleep.
+
+"What an angel," he murmured. "Is it--how did it come here? I thought
+you said the little girl was ill."
+
+"She was, and is. Doesn't she look like a marvellous statue? But no one
+seems to regard her beauty here."
+
+"She is too delicate."
+
+"But she was well and strong and daring, and could climb like a deer, M.
+Destournier says. She will be well again with good care. I want to keep
+her."
+
+"She will be a good plaything for thee when I am away. Though this may
+change many plans. The Sieur is bent on discoveries, and now he has
+orders to print his book. The maps are wonderful. What a man! He should
+be a king in this new world. France does not understand the mighty
+empire he is founding for her."
+
+"Then you do not mind--if I keep the child? She has crept into the empty
+niche in my heart. I must have been directed by the saints when I felt
+the desire to go out. She would have died from exhaustion in the
+broiling sun."
+
+"Say the good Father, rather."
+
+"And yet we must adore the saints, the old patriarchs. Did not the
+disciples desire to build a memento to them?"
+
+"They were not such men as have disgraced the holy calling by fire and
+sword and persecution. And if one can draw a free breath in this new
+land. The English with all their faults allow freedom in religion. It is
+these hated Jesuits. And I believe they are answerable for the murder of
+our heroic King."
+
+Wanamee summoned them to the midday repast. The plain walnut boards
+that formed the table had been polished until the beautiful grain and
+the many curvings were brought out like the shades of a painting. If the
+dishes were a motley array, a few pieces of silver and polished pewter
+with common earthenware and curious cups of carved wood as well as
+birch-bark platters, the viands were certainly appetizing.
+
+"One will not starve in this new country," he said.
+
+"But it is the winter that tries one, M. Destournier says."
+
+"There must be plenty of game. And France sends many things. But a
+colony must have agricultural resources. And the Indian raids are so
+destructive. We need more soldiers."
+
+He was off again to plunge in the thick of business. It was supposed the
+fur company and the concessions ruled most of the bargain-making, but
+there were independent trappers who had not infrequently secured skins
+that were well-nigh priceless when they reached the hands of the Paris
+furrier. And toward night, when wine and whiskey had been passed around
+rather freely, there were broils that led to more than one fatal ending.
+Indian women thronged around as well, with curious handiwork made in
+their forest fastnesses.
+
+The child slept a long while, she was so exhausted.
+
+"Why, the sun is going over the mountains," she began, in vague alarm.
+"I must go home. I did not mean to run away."
+
+She sprang up on her feet, but swayed so that she would have fallen had
+not Madame caught her.
+
+"Nay, nay, thou art not well enough to run away from me, little one. I
+will send word down to the cabin of Mere Dubray. She has her husband,
+whom she has not seen for two years, and will care naught for thee.
+Women are all alike when a man's love is proffered," and she gave a gay
+little laugh.
+
+"My head feels light and swims around as if it was on the rapid river.
+But I must go home, I----"
+
+"Art afraid? Well, I promise nothing shall harm thee. Lie down again. I
+will send Wanamee with the word. Will it make thee happy--content?"
+
+The child looked at her hostess as if she was studying her, but her
+intellect had never been roused sufficiently for that. There was a vague
+delight stealing over her as slumber does at times, a confusion of what
+might have been duty if she had understood that even, in staying away
+from what was really her home. Mere Dubray would be angry. She would
+hardly beat her, she had only slapped her once during her illness, and
+that was to make her swallow some bitter tea. And something within her
+seemed to cry out for the adjuncts of this place. She had been in the
+room before, she had even peered into the Sieur's study. He always had a
+kindly word for her, she was different from the children of the workmen,
+and looked at one with sober, wondering eyes, as if she might fathom
+many things.
+
+"You do not want to go back?"--persuasively.
+
+Was it the pretty lady who changed the aspect of everything for her?
+
+"Oh, if I could stay here always!" she cried, with a vehemence of more
+years than had passed over her head. "It is better than the beautiful
+world where I sit on the rocks and wonder, and dream of the great beyond
+that goes over and meets the sky. There are no cruel Indians then, and I
+want to wander on and on and listen to the voices in the trees, the
+plash of the great river, and the little stream that plays against the
+stones almost like the song you sung. If one could live there always and
+did not get hungry or cold----"
+
+"What a queer, visionary child! One would not look for it in these
+wilds. The ladies over yonder talk of them because it is a fashion, but
+when they ride through the parks and woods they want a train of
+admirers. And with you it is pure love. Could you love any one as you do
+nature? Was any one ever so good to you that you could fall down at
+their feet and worship them? Surely you do not love Madame Dubray?"
+
+"M'sieu Ralph has been very kind. But you are like a wonderful flower
+one finds now and then, and dares not gather it lest the gods of the
+woods and trees should be angry."
+
+"But I will gather you to my heart, little one," and she slipped down
+beside the couch, encircling the child in her arms, and pressing kisses
+on brow and legs and pallid cheeks, bringing a roseate tint to them.
+
+"And you must love me, you must want to stay with me. Oh, there was a
+little one once who was flesh of my flesh, on whom I lavished the
+delight and tenderness of my soul, and the great Father took her. He
+sent nothing in her place, though I prayed and prayed. And now I shall
+put you there. Surely the good God cannot be angry, for you have no
+one."
+
+She had followed a sudden impulse, and was not quite sure it was for the
+best. Only her mother heart cried out for love.
+
+The child stared, motionless, and it dampened her ardor for the moment.
+She could not fathom the eyes.
+
+"Are you not glad? Would you not like to live with me?"
+
+"Oh, oh!" It was a cry of rapture. She caught the soft white hands and
+kissed them. The joy was so new, so unexpected, she had no words for
+it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A HUSBAND
+
+
+Lalotte Dubray had had the gala day of her life. Her peasant wedding had
+been simple enough. The cure's blessing after the civil ceremony, the
+dance on the green, the going home to the one room in the small thatched
+hut, the bunk-like bed along the wall, the two chests that answered for
+seats, a kitchen table, two shelves for a rude dresser, with dishes that
+had been earned by the hardest toil, but they were better off than some,
+for there was a pig grunting and squealing outside, and a little garden.
+
+Times had grown harder and harder. Antoine had been compelled to join
+the army and fight for he knew not what. Then he had decamped, and
+instead of being shot had been sent to New France. Lalotte was willing
+enough to go with him.
+
+Hard as it was, it bettered their fortunes. He had gone out once as a
+sort of servant and handy man to the company. Then he had struck out for
+himself. He was shrewd and industrious, and did not mind hard work, nor
+hardships.
+
+Now he was in the lightest of spirits. He had some choice furs that were
+eagerly snapped up. The Indian women had been shrewd enough to arrange
+tempting booths, where frying fish and roasted birds gave forth an
+appetizing fragrance. There were cakes of ground maize baked on hot
+stones, and though Champlain had used his best efforts to keep some
+restraint on spirituous liquors, there were many ways of evading.
+
+Lalotte was fairly stupefied with amazement at her husband's prosperity.
+
+"Why, you are rich with that bag of money," she cried. "I never saw so
+much."
+
+He laughed jovially. "Better than standing up to be shot--he! he!
+Jacques Lallemont had the idea, and they wanted emigrants for New France
+bad enough. Why don't they send more? The English understand better.
+_Sacre!_ But it is a great country. Only Quebec stays little, when it
+should be a great place. Why can they not see?"
+
+Lalotte could venture no explanation of that. She seemed to be in a maze
+herself.
+
+Vessels were taking on cargoes of furs as soon as they were inspected.
+The river as far as Tadoussac looked thriving enough. Antoine met old
+friends, but he was more level-headed than some, and did not get tipsy.
+Lalotte held her head higher than ever.
+
+When it was getting rather too rough they made their way out.
+
+"Oh, the child!" she exclaimed, with a sudden twinge of conscience. "And
+those wretched slave boys. If your back is turned they are in league
+with the evil one himself. Baptism does not seem to drive it out.
+Whether the poor thing had her breakfast."
+
+"Let that alone. It was mighty cool in Jean Arlac to foist her on thee.
+And now that we have left the crowd behind and are comfortable in the
+stomach."
+
+"But the cost, Antoine. I could have gotten it for half!"
+
+"A man may treat his wife, when he has not seen her for two years," and
+he gave a short chuckling laugh. "There has been a plan in my head,
+hatched in the long winter nights up at the bay. Why should man and wife
+be living apart when they might be together? Thou hast a hot temper,
+Lalotte, but it will serve to warm up the biting air."
+
+"A hot temper!" resentfully. "Much of it you have taken truly! Two years
+soldiering--months in prison, and now two years again----"
+
+He laughed good-humoredly, if it was loud enough to wake echoes.
+
+"The saints know how I have wished for the sound of your voice. Indian
+women there are ready enough to be a wife for six months, and then
+perhaps some brave steals in at night and pouf! out goes your candle."
+
+"The sin of it!"--holding up both hands.
+
+"Sins are not counted in this wild land. But there are no old memories,
+no talks with each other. Oh, you cannot think how the loneliness almost
+freezes up one's very vitals. And I said to myself--I will bring
+Lalotte back with me. Why should we not share the same life and live
+over together our memories of sunny France?--not always sunny, either."
+
+"To--take me with you"--gasping.
+
+"Yes, why not? As if a man cannot order his wife about!" he exclaimed
+jocosely, catching her around the waist and imprinting half a dozen
+kisses with smacks that were like an explosion. "Yes--I have sighed for
+thee many a night. There are high logs for firing, there are piles of
+bearskins, thick and fleecy as those of our best sheep at home. There is
+enough to eat at most times, and with thy cookery, _ma mie_, a man would
+feast. It is a rough journey, to be sure, but then thou wilt not refuse,
+or I shall think thou hast a secret lover."
+
+"The Virgin herself knows I shall be glad to go with thee, Antoine," and
+the tears of joy stood in her eyes. "There is nothing in all Quebec to
+compare with thee. And heaven knows one sometimes grows hungry of a
+winter night, when food is scarce and one depends upon sleep to make it
+up. No, I should be happy anywhere with thee."
+
+They jogged along in a lover-like fashion, but they were not quite out
+of hearing of the din. At nightfall all dickering was stopped and guards
+placed about. But in many a tent there were drinking and gambling, and
+more than one affray.
+
+They came to the small unpretentious cabin. The door stood wide open,
+and the shaggy old dog was stretched on the doorstep, dozing. No soul
+was to be seen.
+
+"Where is the child, Britta? Why, she must have been carried off. She
+could not walk any distance."
+
+The dog gave a wise look and flicked her ear. Lalotte searched every
+nook.
+
+"Where could she have gone?" in dismay.
+
+"Let the child alone. What is she to us? Does Jean Arlac stay awake
+nights with trouble in his conscience about her? She was not his wife's
+child and so nothing to him. What more is she to us? Come, get some
+supper; I've not tasted such fried fish in an age as yours last night."
+
+"The fish about here has a fine flavor, that is true. Those imps of
+boys, and not a stick of wood handy. Their skins shall be well warmed;
+just wait until I get at them."
+
+"Nay, I will get some wood. I am hungry as a bear in the thaw, when he
+crawls out."
+
+But Lalotte, armed with a switch, began a survey of the garden. The work
+had been neglected, that was plain. There under a clump of bushes lay
+Pani, sleeping, with no fear of retribution on his placid face. And
+Lalotte put in some satisfactory work before he even stirred.
+
+But he knew nothing of his compeer, only they had been down to the river
+together. As for the child, when he returned she was gone.
+
+"Let the child alone, I say!" and Antoine brought his fist heavily down
+on the table. "Next thing you will be begging that we take her. Since
+the good Lord in His mercy has refrained from giving us any mouths to
+feed, we will not fly in His face for those who do not concern us. And
+the puling thing would die on the journey and have to be left behind to
+feed the wolves. Come! come! Attend to thy supper."
+
+The slim Indian convert was coming up the path. She was one of the
+Abenaqui tribe, and she had mostly discarded the picturesque attire.
+
+"The lady Madame Giffard sent me to say the girl is safe with her and
+will not be able to return to-night."
+
+"So much the better," growled Antoine, looking with hungry eyes on the
+fish browning before the coals.
+
+"Did she come and take her? I went with my husband to see the traders."
+
+"She has been very poorly, but is much better now. And miladi
+thought----"
+
+"Oh, yes, it is all right. Yes, I am glad," nodding definitely, as if
+the matter was settled. She did not want to quarrel with Antoine about a
+child that was no kin to them, when he was so much like her old lover.
+He seemed to bring back the hopes of youth and a certain gayety to which
+she had long been a stranger.
+
+After enjoying his meal he brought out his pipe and stretched himself in
+a comfortable position, begging her to attend to him and let the slave
+boy take the fragments. He went on to describe the settlement of the
+fur merchants and trappers at Hudson Bay, but toned down much of the
+rudeness of the actual living. A few of the white women, wives of the
+leaders and the men in command, formed a little community. There was
+card-playing and the relating of adventures through the long winter
+evenings, that sometimes began soon after three. Dances, too, Indian
+entertainments, and for daylight, flying about on snowshoes, and
+skating. There was a short summer. The Indian women were expert in
+modelling garments--everything was of fur and dressed deerskins.
+
+Few knew how to read at that day among the seekers of fortune and
+adventurers, but they were shrewd at keeping accounts, nevertheless.
+There were certain regulations skilfully evaded by the knowing ones.
+
+No, it would never do to take the child. She had no real mother love for
+it, yet she often wondered whose child it might be, since it was not
+Catherine Arlac's? Strange stories about foundlings often came to light
+in old France.
+
+The death of the King rather disorganized matters, for no one quite knew
+what the new order of things would be. The Sieur de Champlain sorrowed
+truly, for he had ever been a staunch admirer of Henry of Navarre.
+Demont had not had his concession renewed and to an extent the fur trade
+had been thrown open. Several vessels were eagerly competing for stores
+of Indian peltries, as against those of the company. Indeed it was a
+regular carnival time. One would think old Quebec a most prosperous
+settlement, if judged only by that. But none of the motley crew were
+allowed inside the palisades. The Sieur controlled the rough community
+with rare good judgment. He had shown that he could punish as well as
+govern; fight, if need be, and then be generous to the foe. Indeed in
+the two Indian battles he had won much prestige, and had frowned on the
+torture of helpless prisoners.
+
+Madame Giffard besought her husband that evening to consent to her
+taking the care of little Rose, at least while they remained in Canada,
+the year and perhaps more.
+
+"And that may unfit her for her after life. You will make a pet and
+plaything of her, and then it would be cruel to return her to this woman
+to whom it seems she was given. She may be claimed some day."
+
+"And if we liked her, might we not take her home with us? There seems no
+doubt but what she came from France. Not that I could put any one quite
+in the place of my lost darling, but it will afford me much interest
+through the winter, which, by all accounts, is dreary. I can teach her
+to read--she hardly knows a French letter. M. Destournier has taken a
+great interest in her. And she needs care now, encouragement to get
+well."
+
+"Let us do nothing rash. The Sieur may be able to advise what is best,"
+he returned gently. He felt he would rather know more of the case before
+he took the responsibility.
+
+"She is so sweet, so innocent. She did not really know what love was,"
+and Madame laughed softly. "This Catherine Arlac must have been a maid,
+I think. Yes, I am sure she must have come from gentle people. She has
+every indication of it."
+
+"Well, thou canst play nurse a while and it will interest thee, and fill
+up thy lonely hours, for I have much to do and must take some journeys
+quite impossible for a woman. And then we will decide, if this woman is
+ready to part with her. _Ma mie_, thou knowest I would not refuse thee
+any wish that was possible."
+
+"That is true, Laurent," and she kissed him fondly.
+
+Destournier had been busy every moment of the day and had been closeted
+with the Sieur until late in the evening. Champlain felt now that he
+must give up an exploring expedition, on which his heart was set, and
+return to France, where large interests of the colony were at stake.
+There was much to be arranged.
+
+So it was not until the next morning that he found his way to the Dubray
+house, and then he was surprised at the tidings. Lalotte was almost a
+girl again in her interest in the new plans. As soon as a sufficient
+number had sold their wares to make a journey safe from marauders they
+would start for Hudson's Bay, while the weather was pleasant. Of course
+the child must be left behind. She had no real claim on them; neither
+could she stand the journey. She was now with Madame Giffard.
+
+Thither he hurried. Little Rose had improved wonderfully, though she was
+almost transparently thin, and her eyes seemed larger and softer in
+their mysterious darkness. Already love had done much for her.
+
+He told his story and the plans of the Dubrays.
+
+"Then I can stay here," she cried with kindling eyes, reaching out her
+small hand as if to sign her right in Madame's.
+
+Madame's eyes, too, were joyous as she raised them in a sort of
+gratitude to her visitor.
+
+"How strange it comes about," she cried. "And now, M. Destournier, will
+you learn all you can about this Catherine Arlac; where she came from in
+France, and if she was any sort of a trustworthy person? It may some day
+be of importance to the child."
+
+"Yes, anything I can do to advance her interest you may depend on. Are
+you happy, little one?"
+
+"I could fly like a bird, I am so light with joy. But I would not fly
+away from here. Oh, then I shall not have to go back! I was frightened
+at M. Dubray."
+
+"I don't wonder. Yet these are the kind of men New France needs, who are
+not afraid of the wilderness and its trials. The real civilization
+follows on after the paths are trodden down. Did you go out yesterday?"
+to the lady.
+
+"Only on the gallery."
+
+"That was safest. Such a crowd was fit only for Indian women, and some
+of them shrank from it, I noticed. You heard the news about the King?"
+
+"The sad, sad news. Yes."
+
+"And the Sieur feels he must go back to France."
+
+"What is Quebec to do? And if there is an Indian raid? Oh, this new land
+is full of fears."
+
+"And think of the strifes and battles of the old world! Ah, if peace
+could reign. Yet the bravest of men are in the forefront."
+
+Then he came over to the child.
+
+"Who brought you here yesterday?" he asked, with a smile.
+
+"I was all alone. I had nothing to eat. I wanted to get out in the
+sunshine. I walked, but presently I shook so, I crawled up on the
+gallery. And then----"
+
+She looked wistfully at miladi, who took up the rest of the journey.
+
+"You were a brave little girl. But what if Madame had not chanced to
+come out? Why, you might have died."
+
+The dark eyes grew humid. "It does not hurt to die," she said slowly.
+"Only if you did not have to be put in the ground."
+
+"Don't talk of such things," interposed Madame, with a half shudder.
+"You are going to get well now, and run about and show me the places you
+love. And we can sail up to the islands and through the St. Charles,
+that looks so fascinating and mysterious, can we not?" smiling up at
+Destournier.
+
+"Oh, yes, a month will finish the trading, for the ships will want to
+start with their freight, while the weather is fine. True, the Indians
+and many of the _coureurs de bois_ will loiter about until the last
+moment. There is to be a great Indian dance, I hear. They generally
+break up with one that has a good deal of savagery in it, but this early
+one is quite mild, I have understood, and gives one an opportunity to
+see them in their fine feathers and war paint."
+
+"Oh, it must be interesting. Would it be safe to go?" she inquired.
+
+"With a bodyguard, yes. Your husband and myself, and we might call in
+the services of the Dubrays. Madame is a host in herself. And they are
+glad, it seems, to shift the care of the child on some one else,"
+lowering his voice.
+
+"You will not forget to inquire----"
+
+"Why, there must be a record here. The Sieur has the name and addresses
+of all the emigrants, I think. There have not been many shiploads of
+women."
+
+"She has no indication of peasant parentage. There is a curious delicacy
+about her, but _merci!_ what wonderful and delightful ignorance. It is
+like a fallow field. Mere Dubray seems to have sown nothing in it. Oh, I
+promise myself rare pleasure in teaching her many things."
+
+"She has a quick and peculiar imagination. I am glad she has fallen into
+other hands. Settling a new country is a great undertaking, especially
+when one has but a handful of people and you have to uproot other habits
+of life and thought. I wonder if one can civilize an Indian!" and he
+laughed doubtfully.
+
+"But it is to save their souls, I thought!"
+
+"Yet some of them worship the same God that we do, only He is called the
+Great Manitou. And they have an hereafter for the braves at least, a
+happy hunting ground. But they are cruel and implacable enemies with
+each other. And we have wars at home as well. It is a curious muddle, I
+think. You come from a Huguenot family, I believe."
+
+"My mother did. But she went with my father. There were no family
+dissensions. Does it make so much difference if one is upright and
+honest and kindly?"
+
+"Kindly. If that could be put in the creed. 'Tis a big question," and he
+gave a sigh. "At least you are proving that part of the creed," and he
+crossed over to the child, chatting with her in a pleasant manner until
+he left them.
+
+That evening there was a serious discussion in the Sieur's study.
+Captain Chauvin was to return also, and who was most trustworthy to be
+put in command of the infant colony was an important matter. There had
+been quite an acreage of grain sown the year before, maize was
+promising, and a variety of vegetables had been cultivated. Meats and
+fish were dried and salted. They had learned how to protect themselves
+from serious inroads of the scurvy. The houses in the post were being
+much improved and made more secure against the rigors of the long
+winter.
+
+An officer who had spent the preceding winter at the fort was put in
+command, and the next day the garrison and the workmen were called in
+and enjoined to render him full obedience.
+
+Destournier and Gifford were to undertake some adventures in a northerly
+direction, following several designated routes that Champlain had
+expected to pursue. Their journeys would not be very long.
+
+As for Rose, she improved every day and began to chatter delightfully,
+while her adoration of Madame Giffard was really touching, and filled
+hours that would otherwise have been very tedious.
+
+They had brought with them a few books. Madame was an expert at
+embroidery and lace-making, but was aghast when she realized her slender
+stock of materials, and that it would be well-nigh a year before any
+could come from France.
+
+"But there is bead work, and the Indian women make threads out of
+grasses," explained Wanamee. "And feathers of birds are sewed around
+garments and fringes are cut. Oh, miladi will find some employment for
+her fingers."
+
+Mere Dubray made no objection to accompanying them to the Indian dance.
+She had been to several of them, but they were wild things that one
+could not well understand; nothing like the village dances at home. "But
+what would you? These were savages!"
+
+"I wish I could go, too," the child said wistfully. "But I could not
+climb about nor stand up as I used. When will I be able to run around
+again?"
+
+She was gaining every day and went out on the gallery for exercise. She
+was a very cheerful invalid; indeed miladi was so entertaining she was
+never weary when with her, and if her husband needed her, Wanamee came
+to sit with the child. Rose knew many words in the language, as well as
+that of the unfortunate Iroquois.
+
+All they had been able to learn about Catherine Arlac was that she had
+come from Paris to Honfleur, a widow, with a little girl. And Paris was
+such a great and puzzling place for a search.
+
+"But she is a sweet human rose with no thorns, and I must keep her,"
+declared miladi.
+
+Laurent Giffard made no demur. He was really glad for his wife to have
+an interest while he was away.
+
+The party threaded their way through the narrow winding paths that were
+to be so famous afterward and witness the heroic struggle, when the
+lilies of France went down for the last time, and the heritage that had
+cost so much in valiant endeavor and blood and treasure was signed away.
+
+There were flaming torches and swinging lanterns and throngs wending to
+the part beyond the tents. The dance was not to pass a certain radius,
+where guards were stationed. Already there was a central fire of logs,
+around which the braves sat with their knees drawn up and their chins
+resting upon them, looking as if they were asleep.
+
+"A fire this warm night," said miladi, in irony.
+
+"We could hardly see them without it," returned her husband.
+
+At the summons of a rude drum that made a startling noise, the braves
+rose, threw down their blankets and displayed their holiday attire of
+paint, fringes, beads, and dressed deerskins with great headdresses of
+feathers. Another ring formed round them. One brave, an old man, came
+forward, and gesticulating wildly, went through a series of antics. One
+after another fell in, and the slow tread began to increase. Then shrill
+songs, with a kind of musical rhythm, low at first, but growing louder
+and louder, the two or three circles joining in, the speed increasing
+until they went whirling around like madmen, shouting, thrusting at each
+other with their brawny arms, until all seemed like a sudden frenzy.
+
+"Oh, they will kill each other!" almost shrieked Madame.
+
+"_Non, non_, but small loss if they did," commented Madame Dubray.
+
+They paused suddenly. It seemed like disentangling a chain. The
+confusion was heightened by the cries and the dancing feather
+headdresses that might have been a flock of giant birds. But presently
+they resolved into a circle again, and began to march to a slow chant.
+One young fellow seized a brand from the fire and began a wild gyration,
+pointing the end to the circle, at random, it seemed. Then another and
+another until the lights flashed about madly and there was a scent of
+burning feathers. The circle stood its ground bravely, but there were
+shrieks and mocking laughter as they danced around, sometimes making a
+lunge out at the spectators, who would draw back in affright, a signal
+for roars of mirth.
+
+"They will burn each other up," cried Madame. "Oh, let us go. The noise
+is more than I can bear. And if they should attack us. Do you remember
+what M. du Parc was telling us?"
+
+"I think we have had enough of it," began M. Giffard. "They are said to
+be very treacherous. What is to hinder them from attacking the whites?"
+
+"The knowledge that they have not yet received any pay, and their
+remaining stock would be confiscated. They are not totally devoid of
+self-interest, and most of them have a respect for the fighting powers
+of the Sieur and his punishing capacity, as well."
+
+As they left the place the noise seemed to subside, though it was like
+the roar of wild animals.
+
+"Am I to remain here all winter with these savages? Can I not return
+with M. de Champlain?" pleaded Madame Giffard.
+
+"Such a time would be almost a Godsend in the winter," declared
+Destournier. "But they will be hundreds of miles away, and the near
+Indians are sometimes too friendly, when driven by hunger to seek the
+fort. Oh, you will find no cause for alarm, I think."
+
+"And how long will they keep this up?" she asked, as they were ascending
+the parapet from which they could still see the moving mass and the
+flashing lights, weird amid the surrounding darkness.
+
+"They will sit in a ring presently and smoke the pipe of peace and
+enjoyment, and drop off to sleep. And for your satisfaction, not a few
+among those were fur-hunters and traders, white men, who have given up
+the customs of civilized life and enjoy the hardships of the wilderness,
+but who will fight like tigers for their brethren when the issue comes.
+They are seldom recreant to their own blood."
+
+"I do not want to see it again, ever," she cried passionately. "I shall
+hardly sleep for thinking of it and some horrible things a sailor told
+on shipboard. I can believe them all true now."
+
+"And we have had horrible battles, cruelty to prisoners," declared her
+husband. "These poor savages have never been taught anything better, and
+are always at war with each other. But for us, who have a higher state
+of civilization, it seems incredible that we should take a delight in
+destroying our brethren."
+
+It was quiet and peaceful enough inside the fort. The Sieur was still
+engrossed with his papers, marking out routes and places where lakes and
+rivers might be found and where trading posts might be profitably set,
+and colonies established. It was a daring ambition to plant the lilies
+of France up northward, to take in the mighty lakes they had already
+discovered and to cross the continent and find the sure route to India.
+There were heroes in those days and afterwards.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CHANGING ABOUT
+
+
+"If you are ready for your sail and have the courage----"
+
+Laurent Giffard kissed his pretty wife as she sat with some needlework
+in her hand, telling legendary tales, that were half fairy
+embellishments, to the little Rose, who was listening eager-eyed and
+with a delicious color in her cheeks. The child lived in a sort of fairy
+land. Miladi was the queen, her gowns were gold and silver brocade, but
+what brocade was, it would have been difficult for her to describe. She
+was very happy in these days, growing strong so she could take walks
+outside the fort, though she did not venture to do much climbing. The
+old life was almost forgotten. Mere Dubray was very busy with her own
+affairs, and her husband was as exigent as any new lover. Her cookery
+appealed to him in the most important place, his stomach.
+
+"And to think I have done without thee these two years," he would moan.
+
+When she saw her, the little girl had a strange fear that at the last
+moment they would seize her and take her up to the fur country with
+them. Pani was to go; he was of some service, if you kept a sharp eye
+on him, and had a switch handy.
+
+"I'll tell you," he said to Rose when he waylaid her one day, "because
+you never got me into trouble and had me beaten. I shall have to start
+with them and I will go two days' journey, so they won't suspect. Then
+at night I'll start back. I like Quebec, and you and the good gentleman
+who throws you a laugh when he passes, instead of striking you. And I'll
+hunt and fish, and be a sailor. I'll not starve. And you will not tell
+even miladi, who is so beautiful and sweet. Promise."
+
+Rose promised. And now they were to go down the river.
+
+"The courage, of course," and Madame glanced up smilingly. "We take the
+child for the present."
+
+"I shall soon be jealous, _ma mie_, but it is a pleasure to see a bright
+young thing about that can talk with her eyes and not chatter shrilly.
+_Mon dieu!_ what voices most of the wives have, and they are
+transmitting them to their children. Yes; we will start at noon, and be
+gone two days. Destournier has some messages to deliver. Put on thy
+plainest frock, we are not in sunny France now."
+
+She had learned that and only dressed up now and then for her husband's
+sake, or to please the child. And she had made her some pretty frocks
+out of petticoats quite too fine for wear here.
+
+Rose was overjoyed. Wanamee was to accompany them. When they were ready
+they were piloted down to the wharf by Monsieur, and there was M. Ralph
+to welcome them. The river was brisk with boats and canoes and shallops.
+The sun glistened on the naked backs of Indian rowers bending with every
+stroke of the paddles to a rhythmic sort of sound, that later on grew to
+be regular songs. There were squaws handling canoes with grace and
+dexterity. One would have considered Quebec a great _entrepot_.
+
+But the river with its beautiful bank, its groves of trees that had not
+yet been despoiled, its frowning rocks glinting in the sunshine, its
+wild flowers, its swift dazzle of birds, its great flocks of geese,
+snowy white, in the little coves that uttered shrill cries and then
+huddled together, the islands that reared grassy heads a moment and were
+submerged as the current swept over them.
+
+"Why are they not drowned?" asked Rose. "Or can they swim like the
+little Indian boys?"
+
+M. Giffard laughed--he often did at her quaint questions.
+
+"They are like the trees; they have taken root ever so far down, and the
+tide cannot sweep them away."
+
+"And is Quebec rooted that way? Do the rocks hold fast? And--all the
+places, even France?"
+
+"They have staunch foundations. The good God has anchored them fast."
+
+A puzzled look wavered over her face. "Monsieur, it is said the great
+world is round. Why does not the water spill out as it turns? It would
+fall out of a pail."
+
+"Ah, child, that once puzzled wiser heads than thine. And years must
+pass over thy head before thou canst understand."
+
+"When I am as big as miladi?"
+
+"I am afraid I do not quite understand myself, though I learned it in
+the convent, I am quite sure. And I could not see why we did not fall
+off. Some of the good nuns still believed the world was flat," and
+miladi laughed. "Women's brains were not made for over-much study."
+
+"Is it far to France?"
+
+"Two months' or so sail."
+
+"On a river?"
+
+"Oh, on a great ocean. We must look at the Sieur's chart. Out of sight
+of any land for days and days."
+
+"I should feel afraid. And if you did not know where the land was?"
+
+"But the sailor can tell by his chart."
+
+What a wonderful world it was. She had supposed Quebec the greatest
+thing in it. And now she knew so much about France and the beautiful
+city called Paris, where the King and Queen lived, and ladies who went
+gowned just like Madame, the first time she saw her. And there was an
+England. M. Ralph had been there and seen their island empire, which
+could not compare with France. She had a vague idea France was all the
+rest of the world.
+
+What days they were, for the weather was unusually fine. Now and then
+they paused to explore some small isle, or to get fresh game. As for
+fish, in those days the river seemed full of them. So many small streams
+emptied into the St. Lawrence. Berries were abundant, and they feasted
+to their hearts' content. The Indians dried them in the sun for winter
+use.
+
+Tadoussac was almost as busy as Quebec. As the fur monopoly had been in
+part broken up, there were trappers here with packs of furs, and several
+Indian settlements. It was Champlain's idea which Giffard was to work
+up, to enlist rival traders to become sharers in the traffic, and
+enlarge the trade, instead of keeping in one channel.
+
+Madame and the little girl, piloted by Wanamee, visited several of the
+wigwams, and the surprise of the Indian women at seeing the white lady
+and the child was great indeed. Rose was rather afraid at first, and
+drew back.
+
+"They take it that you are the wife of the great father in France, that
+is the King," translated Wanamee, "because you have crossed the ocean.
+And you must not blame their curiosity. They will do you no harm."
+
+But they wanted to examine my lady's frock and her shoes, with their
+great buckles that nearly covered her small foot. Her sleeves came in
+for a share of wonder, and her white, delicate arms they loaded with
+curious bracelets, made of shells ground and polished until they
+resembled gems. Then, too, they must feast them with a dish of Indian
+cookery, which seemed ground maize broken by curiously arranged
+millstones, in which were put edible roots, fish, and strips of dried
+meat, that proved quite too much for miladi's delicate stomach. The
+child had grown accustomed to it, as Lalotte sometimes indulged in it,
+but she always shook her head in disdain and frowned on it.
+
+"Such _pot au feu_ no one would eat at home," she would declare
+emphatically.
+
+They were loaded with gifts when they came away. Beautifully dressed
+deerskins, strips of work that were remarkable, miladi thought, and she
+wondered how they could accomplish so much with so few advantages.
+
+The child had been a great source of amusement to all on shipboard. Her
+utter ignorance of the outside world, her quaint frankness and innocence
+tempted Giffard to play off on her curiosity and tell wonderful tales of
+the mother country. And then Wanamee would recount Indian legends and
+strange charms and rites used by the sages of the Abenaquis in the time
+of her forefathers, before any white man had been seen in the country.
+
+Then their homeward route began, the pause at the Isle d'Orleans, the
+narrowing river, the more familiar Point Levis, the frowning rocks, the
+palisades, and the fort. All the rest was wildness, except the clearing
+that had been made and kept free that no skulking enemy should take an
+undue advantage and surprise them by a sudden onslaught.
+
+The Sieur de Champlain came down to meet them. Rose was leaping from
+point to point like a young deer. It was no longer a pale face, it had
+been a little changed by sun and wind.
+
+"Well, little one, hast thou made many discoveries?"
+
+"Oh, yes, indeed. I would not mind going to France now. And we have
+brought back some such queer things; beautiful, too. But we did not like
+some of the cooking, miladi and I, and Quebec is dearer, for it is
+home," and her eyes shone with delight.
+
+"Home! Thanks, little maid, for your naming it on this wise," and he
+smiled down in the eager face as he turned to greet Madame.
+
+She was a little weary of the wildness and loneliness of dense woods and
+great hills and banks of the river, that roared and shrieked at times as
+if ghost-haunted. Wanamee's stories had touched the superstitious
+threads of her brain.
+
+M. Giffard took the Sieur's arm and drew him a trifle aside. Destournier
+offered his to the lady and assisted her up the rocky steep. Many a
+tragedy would pass there before old Quebec became new Quebec, with
+famous and heroic story.
+
+She leaned a little heavily on his arm. "The motion of the ship is still
+swaying my brain," she remarked, with a soft laugh. "So, if I am
+awkward, I crave your patience. Oh, see that child! She will surely
+fall."
+
+Rose was climbing this way and that, now hugging a young tree growing
+out of some crevice, then letting it go with a great flap, now
+snatching a handful of wild flowers, and treading the fragrance out of
+wild grapes.
+
+"She is sure-footed like any other wild thing. I saw her first perched
+upon that great gray rock yonder."
+
+"The daring little monkey! I believe they brave every danger. I wonder
+if we shall ever learn anything about her. The Sieur has so much on
+hand, and men are wont to drop the thread of a pursuit or get it tangled
+up with other things, so it would be too much of a burthen to ask him.
+And another year I shall go to Paris myself. If she does not develop too
+much waywardness, and keeps her good looks, I shall take her."
+
+"Then I think you may be quite sure of a companion."
+
+Wanamee had preceded them and thrown open the room to the slant rays of
+western sunshine. Madame sank down on a couch, exhausted. The Indian
+girl brought in some refreshments.
+
+"Stay and partake of some," she said, with a winsome smile. "I cannot be
+bereft of everybody."
+
+But the child came in presently, eager and full of news that was hardly
+news to her, after all.
+
+"Pani is here," she exclaimed. "Madame Dubray and her husband have gone
+with the trappers. They took Pani. He said he would run away. They kept
+him two days, and tied him at night, but he loosened the thongs and ran
+nearly all night. Then he has hidden away, for some new people have
+taken the house. And he wants to stay here. He will be my slave."
+
+She looked eagerly at my lady.
+
+"Thou art getting to be such a venturesome midge that it may be well to
+have so devoted an attendant. Yet I remember he left thee alone and ill
+and hungry not so long ago."
+
+Rose laughed gayly.
+
+"If he had not left me I could not have taken the courage to crawl out.
+And no one else might have come. He wanted to see the ships. And Madame
+Dubray whipped him well, so that score is settled," with a sound of
+justice well-paid for in her voice.
+
+"We will see"--nodding and laughing.
+
+"Then can I tell him?"
+
+"The elders had better do that. But there will be room enough in Quebec
+for him and us, I fancy," returned miladi.
+
+Rose ran away. Pani was waiting out on the gallery.
+
+"They will not mind," she announced. "But you must have some place to
+sleep, and"--studying him critically from the rather narrow face, the
+bony shoulders, and slim legs--"something to eat. Mere Dubray had
+plenty, except towards spring when the stores began to fail."
+
+"I can track rabbits and hares, and catch fish on the thin places in the
+rivers. Oh, I shall not starve. But I'm hungry."
+
+The wistful look in his eyes touched her.
+
+"Let us find Wanamee," she exclaimed, leading the way to the culinary
+department.
+
+Miladi had been surprised and almost shocked at the rough manner of
+living in this new France. The food, too, was primitive, lacking in the
+delicacies to which she had been used, and the manners she thought
+barbarous. But for M. Destournier and the courtesy of the Sieur she
+would have prayed to return at once.
+
+"Wait a little," pleaded Laurent. "If there is a fortune to be made in
+this new world, why should we not have our share? And I can see that
+there is. Matters are quite unsettled at home, but if we go back with
+gold in our purses we shall do well enough."
+
+Then the child had appealed to her. And it was flattering to be the only
+lady of note and have homage paid to her.
+
+So the children sought Wanamee, and while Pani brought some sticks and
+soon had a bed of coals, Wanamee stirred up some cakes of rye and maize,
+and the boy prepared a fish for cooking. He was indeed hungry, and his
+eyes glistened with the delight of eating.
+
+"It smells so good," said Rose. "Wanamee, bring me a piece. I can always
+eat now, and a while ago I could not bear the smell of food."
+
+"You were so thin and white. And Mere Dubray thought every morning you
+would be dead. You wouldn't like to be put in the ground, would you?"
+
+"Oh, no, no!" shivering.
+
+"Nor burned. Then you go to ashes and only the bones are left."
+
+"That is horrid, too. Burning hurts. I have burned my fingers with
+coals."
+
+"But my people don't mind it. They are very brave. And you go to the
+great hunting grounds way over to the west, where the good Manitou has
+everything, and you don't have to work, and no one beats you."
+
+"The white people have a heaven. That is above the sky. And when the
+stars come out it is light as day on the other side, and there are
+flowers and trees, and rivers and all manner of fruit such as you never
+see here."
+
+"I'd rather hunt. When I get to be a man I shall go off and discover
+wonderful things. In some of the mountains there is gold. And out by the
+great oceans where the Hurons have encamped there are copper and silver.
+The company talked about it. Some were for going there. And there were
+fur animals, all the same."
+
+Rose had been considering another subject.
+
+"Pani," she began, with great seriousness, "you are not any one's slave
+now."
+
+"No"--rather hesitatingly. "The Dubrays will never come back, or if they
+should next summer, with furs, I will run away again up to the Saguenay,
+where they will not look. But there are Indian boys in plenty where the
+tribes fight and take prisoners."
+
+"You shall be my slave."
+
+The young Indian's cheek flushed.
+
+"The slave of a girl!" he said, with a touch of disdain.
+
+"Why not? I should not beat you."
+
+"Oh, you couldn't"--triumphantly.
+
+"But you might be miladi's slave," suggested Wanamee, "and then you
+could watch the little one and follow her about to see that nothing
+harmed her."
+
+"There shouldn't anything hurt her." He sprang up. "You see I am growing
+tall, and presently I shall be a man. But I won't be a slave always."
+
+"No, no," said the Indian woman.
+
+"That was very good, excellent," pointing to the two empty birch-bark
+dishes, which he picked up and threw on the coals, a primitive way to
+escape dish washing. "I will find you a heap more. I will get fish or
+berries, and oh, I know where the bees have stored a lot of honey in a
+hollow tree."
+
+"You let them alone for another month," commanded Wanamee. "Honey--that
+will be a treat indeed."
+
+Miladi had missed the sweets of her native land, though there they had
+not been over-plentiful, since royalty must needs be served first. They
+bought maple sugar and a kind of crude syrup of the Abenaqui women, who
+were quite experts in making it. When the sun touched the trees in the
+morning when the hoarfrost had disappeared, they inserted tubes of bark,
+rolled tightly, and caught the sap in the troughs. Then they filled
+their kettles that swung over great fires, and the fragrance arising
+made the forests sweet with a peculiar spiciness. It was a grand time
+for the children, who snatched some of the liquid out of the kettle on a
+birch-bark ladle, and ran into the woods for it to cool. Pani had often
+been with them.
+
+"Let us go down to the old house," exclaimed Rose. "Do you know who is
+there?"
+
+"Pierre Gaudrion. He gets stone for the new walls they are laying
+against the fort. And there are five or six little ones."
+
+"It must be queer. Oh, let us go and see them."
+
+She was off like a flash, but he followed as swiftly. Here was the
+garden where she had pulled weeds with a hot hatred in her heart that
+she would have liked to tear up the whole garden and throw it over in
+the river. She glanced around furtively--what if Mere Dubray should come
+suddenly in search of Pani.
+
+Three little ones were tumbling about on the grass. The oldest girl was
+grinding at the rude mill, a boy was making something out of birch
+branches, interlaced with willow. A round, cheerful face glanced up from
+patching a boy's garment, and smiled. Madame Gaudrion's mother had been
+a white woman left at the Saguenay basin in a dying condition, it was
+supposed, but she had recovered and married a half-breed. One daughter
+had cast in her lot with a roving tribe. Pierre Gaudrion had seen the
+other in one of the journeys up to Tadoussac and brought her home.
+
+The Sieur did not discourage these marriages, for the children
+generally affiliated with the whites, and if the colony was to prosper
+there must be marriages and children.
+
+Rose stopped suddenly, rather embarrassed, for all her bravado.
+
+"I used to live here," as if apologizing.
+
+"Yes. But Mere Dubray was not your mother."
+
+"No. Nor Catherine Arlac."
+
+The woman shook her head. "I know not many people. We live on the other
+side. And the babies come so fast I have not much time. But Pierre say
+now we must have bigger space and garden for the children to work in. So
+we are glad when Mere Dubray go up to the fur country with her man. You
+were ill, they said. But you do not look ill. Did you not want to go
+with her?"
+
+"Oh, no, no. And I live clear up there," nodding to the higher altitude.
+"M'sieu Hebert is there and Madame. And a beautiful lady, Madame
+Giffard. I did not love Mere Dubray."
+
+"If I have a child that will not love me, it would break my heart. What
+else are little ones for until they grow up and marry in turn?"
+
+"But--I was not her child."
+
+"And your mother."
+
+"I do not know. She was dead before I could remember. Then I was brought
+from France."
+
+Suddenly she felt the loss of her mother. She belonged to no one in the
+world.
+
+"Poor _petite_." She made a sudden snatch at her own baby and hugged it
+so tightly that it shrieked, at which she laughed.
+
+"Some day a man will hug thee and thou wilt not scream," she said in
+good humor.
+
+Pani came from round the corner and then darted back. The boy left his
+work and came forward.
+
+"Who was that?" he asked. "My father said 'get an Indian boy to work in
+the garden.' I am making a chair for the little one. And I can't tell
+which are weeds. Yesterday I pulled up some onions and father was angry,
+but he could set them out again."
+
+Rose laughed at that, and thought it remarkable that his father did not
+beat him.
+
+"Pani might show you a little. He belongs to me now. We both used to
+work in the garden. Mere Dubray was always knitting and cooking."
+
+Pani emerged again. "Yes, let us go," and Rose led the way, but she
+would have liked to throw herself down among the babies, who seemed all
+arms and legs.
+
+"Can you read?" the boy said suddenly. "We have a book and I can read
+quite well. My father knows how. And I want to be a great man like the
+Sieur, and some of the soldiers. I want to know how to keep accounts,
+and to go to France some time in the big ships."
+
+Rose colored. "I am going to learn to read this winter, when we have to
+stay in. But it is very difficult--tiresome. I'd rather climb the rocks
+and watch the birds. I had some once that would come for grains and bits
+of corn cake. And the geese were so tame down there by the end of the
+garden."
+
+The rows of corn stood up finely, shaking out their silken heads,
+turning to a bronze red. Then there were potatoes. These were of the
+Dubrays' planting, as well as some of the smaller beds.
+
+"M'sieu Hebert gave father some of these plants. He knows a great deal,
+and he can make all kinds of medicine. It is very fine to know a great
+deal, isn't it?"
+
+"But it must be hard to study so much," returned Rose, with a sigh.
+
+"I don't think so. I wish I had ever so many books like the Sieur and M.
+Hebert. And you can find out places--there are so many of them in the
+world. And do you know there are English people working with all their
+might down in Virginia, and Spanish and Dutch! But some day we shall
+drive them all out and it will be New France as far as you can go. And
+the Indians----"
+
+"You can't drive the Indians out," exclaimed Pani decisively. "The whole
+country is theirs. And there are so many of them. There are tribes and
+tribes all over the land. And they know how to fight."
+
+"They are fighting each other continually. M. Hebert says they will
+sweep each other off after a while. And they are very cruel. You will
+see the French do not fight the French."
+
+Alas, young Pierre Gaudrion, already Catholic and Huguenot were at war:
+one fighting for the right to live in a certain liberty of belief, the
+other thinking they did God a service by undertaking their
+extermination.
+
+The argument rather floored Pani, whose range of knowledge was only wide
+enough to know that many tribes were at bitter enmity with each other.
+
+"Do you want to work in the garden? There are weeds enough to keep you
+busy," said Pierre presently.
+
+"No," returned Pani stoutly.
+
+"And Pani belongs to me," declared Rose.
+
+Pierre turned to look at the girl. Her beauty stirred him strangely.
+Sometimes, when his father sang the old songs of home, the same quiver
+went through every pulse.
+
+"I'm sorry," he said, in a gentler tone. "Now I must go back to my
+chair."
+
+"Is it to be a chair?"
+
+"I can't weave the grasses just right, though some one showed me, only I
+was thinking of other things."
+
+"Let's see." Pani was a little mollified.
+
+They went back to the boy's work.
+
+"I'm only making a little one for Marie. Then I shall try a larger one.
+There are two in the room."
+
+Yes, Rose knew them well. The place was about the same, with the great
+bunk on one side and the smaller one on the other. Mere Dubray's bright
+blankets were gone, with the pictures of the Virgin, and the high
+candlestick, that was alight on certain days. Little mattresses filled
+with dried grass were piled on top of the bunk. It looked like, and yet
+unlike. Rose was glad she did not live here.
+
+Pani inspected the boy's work.
+
+"Oh, you haven't it right. You must put pegs in here, then you can pull
+it up. And this is the way you go."
+
+Pani's deft fingers went in and out like a bit of machinery. It was
+forest lore, and he was at home in it.
+
+"You make it beautiful," exclaimed Pierre. "Oh, go slower, so I can
+understand."
+
+Pani smiled with the praise and put in a word of explanation now and
+then. The boys were fast becoming friends.
+
+"Maman," Pierre cried, "come and see how fine the boy does it. If he
+would come and live with us!"
+
+"I might come a little while and look after the garden. And I could
+catch fish and I know the best places for berries, and the grapes will
+soon be ripening. And the plums. I can shoot birds with an arrow. But I
+belong to mam'selle."
+
+"If she will let you come now and then," wistfully.
+
+"Yes, I might," with an air of condescension.
+
+"Thou art a pretty little lady," was Mere Gaudrion's parting benison to
+the little girl, and Rose smiled. "Come again often."
+
+When they were out of the narrow passageway she said, "Now let us have a
+race. I am glad Mere Dubray is there no longer, are you not? But what a
+funny pile of children!"
+
+They had their race, and a climb, and on the gallery they found miladi
+looking for them, and they told over their adventure.
+
+"Yes," she said smilingly. "I think we can find a place for Pani, and
+between us all I fancy we can keep him so well employed he will not want
+to run away."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+FINDING AMUSEMENTS
+
+
+About the middle of August the Sieur de Champlain and Captain Francois
+de Pontgrave sailed from Tadoussac for France. The Giffards,
+Destournier, and several others accompanied them to the port, and were
+then to survey some of the places that had advantages for planting
+colonies. They did not return until in September. The season was
+unusually fine and warm, and there had been an abundance of everything.
+The colonists had been busy enough preparing for winter. They had
+learned ways of drying fruit, of smoking meats and fish, of caring for
+their grains. There had been no talk of Indian raids, indeed the
+villages about were friendly with the whites, and friendly with several
+of the outlying tribes. Some had gone on raids farther south.
+
+Madame Giffard would have found time hanging heavy on her hands but for
+the child. She began to teach her to read and to play checkers. Rose did
+not take kindly to embroidery, but some of the Indian work interested
+her. With Pani and Wanamee's assistance she made baskets and curious
+vase-like jars. Pierre Gaudrion came up now and then, and miladi
+considered him quite a prodigy in several ways.
+
+When they were dull and tired miladi gave Rose dancing lessons. The
+child was really fascinated with the enjoyment. Miladi would dress up in
+one of her pretty gowns to the child's great delight, and they would
+invent wonderful figures. Sometimes the two men would join them, and
+they would keep up the amusement till midnight.
+
+Pani was growing rapidly and he was their most devoted knight. And when
+the snows set in there were great snowballing games; sometimes between
+the Indians alone, at others, the whites would take a hand.
+
+It was splendid entertainment for the children to slide about on the
+snowy crust, that glistened in the sunlight as if sprinkled with gems.
+The Indian women often participated in this amusement. And miladi looked
+as bewitching in her deerskin suit, with its fringes and bright
+adornments of feather borders, and her lovely furs, as in her Paris
+attire. She often thought she would like to walk into some assembly and
+make a stir in her strange garments.
+
+What is the Sieur doing? Making new bargains, persuading colonists to
+join them, getting concessions to the profit of New France. Alas! Old
+France was a selfish sort of stepmother. She wanted furs, she wanted
+colonies planted, she wanted explorations, and possessions taken in
+every direction, to thwart English and Dutch, who seemed somehow to be
+prospering, but the money supplies were pared to the narrowest edge.
+
+The little girl would have been much interested in one step her dear
+Sieur was taking, though she did not hear of it until long afterward.
+This was his betrothment and marriage to Marie Helene, the daughter of
+Nicolas Boulle, private secretary to the young King. A child of twelve,
+and the soldier and explorer who was now forty or over, but held his
+years well and the hardships had written few lines on his kindly and
+handsome face. That he was very much charmed with the child, who was
+really quite mature for her age, was true, though it is thought the
+friendship of her father and her dowry had some weight. But she adored
+her heroic lover, although she was to be returned to the convent to
+finish her education. Then the Sieur made his will and settled a part of
+the dowry on his bride, and the income of all his other property, his
+maps and books, "in case of his death in voyages on the sea and in the
+service of the King."
+
+If the autumn had been lovely and long beyond expectations, winter
+lingered as well. And the travellers had a hard time on their return.
+Lofty bergs floated down the Atlantic, and great floes closed in around
+the vessel, and the rigging was encased in glittering ice. Sometimes
+their hearts failed them and the small boats were made ready, but
+whither would they steer? Captain Pontgrave kept up his courage, and
+"when they brought their battered craft into the harbor of Tadoussac
+they fired a cannon shot in joyous salute," says history. Seventy-four
+days had their journey lasted.
+
+The country was still white with snow, although it was May. Already some
+trading vessels were bidding for furs, but the Montagnais had had a hard
+winter as well, and the Bay traders would have perished on the way.
+
+Champlain pushed on to Quebec, though his heart was full of fears.
+
+Rose was out on the gallery, that Pani was clearing from the frequent
+light falls of snow. A canoe was being rowed by some Indians and in the
+stern sat the dearly-loved Commander. "They have come! they have come!"
+shouted Rose, and she ran in to spread the joyful news. Destournier and
+Giffard were at a critical point in a game of chess, but both sprang up.
+The bell pealed out, there was a salute, and every one in the fort
+rushed out with exclamations of joy. For the sake of the little girl he
+had left, the Sieur stooped and kissed Rose.
+
+Du Parc was in the best of spirits, and had only a good account. There
+had been no sickness, no Indian troubles, and provisions had lasted
+well. All was joy and congratulations. Even the Indian settlements near
+by built bonfires and beat their drums, dancing about with every
+indication of delighted welcome.
+
+He had brought with him the young Indian Savignon, while Etienne Brule
+had wintered with the Ottawas, perfecting himself in their language. He
+was a fine specimen of his race, as far as physique went, and his winter
+in civilization had given him quite a polish.
+
+There was a great feast. Miladi was in her glory ordering it, and
+Savignon paid her some compliments that quite savored of old times in
+her native land. She was fond of admiration, and here there was but
+small allowance of it.
+
+He was to restore the young brave to his tribe, and Destournier was to
+accompany him. He saw that with trade open to rivals there must be some
+stations. It was true no men could be spared to form a new colony, and
+the few he had induced to emigrate would do better service in the old
+settlement. In Cartier's time there had been the village of Hochelega.
+It was a great stretch of open fertile land, abounding in wild fruits
+and grapes, so he pre-empted it in the name of the King, put up a stout
+cross, and built two or three log huts, and planted some grain seeds
+that might in turn scatter themselves around. And so began Montreal. The
+river was dotted with islands; the largest, on which the wild iris, the
+fleur-de-lis, grew abundantly, he named St. Helene, in remembrance of
+his little betrothed.
+
+They pushed on beyond the rapids and here he met the Algonquins and
+restored their young brave to them, and was glad to find Etienne Brule
+in good health and spirits. But Savignon bade him farewell ruefully,
+declaring life in Paris was much more agreeable, and spoiled one for the
+wilderness.
+
+Various bands of Hurons and Algonquins came to meet the great white
+Sagamore, and he secured much trade for the coming season. But the fur
+business was being greatly scattered, and Demont's finances were at a
+rather low ebb, so there could not be the necessary branching out.
+
+Destournier had some schemes as well. He had come to the new world
+partly from curiosity and the desire to mend his fortunes. He saw now
+some fine openings, if he could get a concession or grant of land. His
+old family seat might be disposed of, he had not Laurent Giffard's aim
+to make a fortune here and go back to France and spend it for show.
+
+Madame Giffard was deeply disappointed at this prospect, and Rose was
+inconsolable.
+
+"Who will read to us in the long evenings and the days when the driving
+snow makes it seem like night. And oh, M'sieu, who will dance with me
+and tell me those delightful stories, and laugh at my sayings that come
+like birds' flights across my mind and go their way?"
+
+"You will have miladi. And there are the Gaudrion children. Pierre has a
+heart full of worship for you. And books that the Governor brought. The
+time will pass quickly."
+
+"To you. There will be so many things. But the long, long days. And
+miladi says there are so many pretty girls in Paris, whose dancing and
+singing are marvellous, and who would laugh at a frock of deerskin. Oh,
+you will forget me, and all the time I shall think of you. You will not
+care."
+
+Her beautiful eyes were suffused with tears, the brilliance of her cheek
+faded, and her bosom heaved with emotion. What a girl she would be a few
+years hence. His dear Sieur had married a child--was he really in love
+with her? But his regard was fatherly, brotherly.
+
+"See," he began, "we will make a bargain. When the first star comes out
+you will watch for it and say, 'M'sieu Ralph is looking at it and
+thinking of me.' And I will say--'the little Rose of Quebec is turning
+toward me,' and we will meet in heart. Will not this comfort thee?"
+
+"Oh, I shall hug it to my heart. The star! the star! And when the sky is
+thick with clouds I shall remember you told me the stars were always
+there. And I will shut my eyes and see you. I see strange things at
+times."
+
+"So you must not be unhappy, for I shall return," and he took her
+throbbing fingers in his.
+
+She raised her lovely eyes. What a charming coquette she would make, if
+she were not so innocent. But the long fringe of lashes was beaded with
+tears.
+
+It was odd, he thought, but with all the admiration of her husband
+miladi made as great a time as the child. What should she do in this
+horrible lonely place, shut up in the fort all winter, with no company
+but an Indian woman and a child whose limited understanding took in only
+foolish pleasures. What miladi needed was companionship. Ah! if she
+could return to France. If Laurent would only consent. But now he
+thought only of fortune-making.
+
+"And a return at the end. He is not taking root here. I am. I like the
+boundless freedom of this new country," said Destournier.
+
+"You will marry. There is some demoiselle at home on whom your heart is
+set. And the old friendship will go for naught. You have been--yes, like
+a brother," and she flushed.
+
+"No, I am not likely to marry," he returned gravely.
+
+"But--you will not return," in a desperate kind of tone. "You will be
+won by Paris."
+
+"I shall return. All my interests are here. And as I said--I shall leave
+my heart in this new country."
+
+Then she smiled, a little secure in the thought that she had no rival.
+
+So again the Sieur de Champlain set sail for France, and many a
+discourse he held with Ralph Destournier on the future of Quebec, that
+child of his dreams and his heart. It would be fame enough, he thought,
+to be handed down to posterity as the founder of Quebec, the explorer of
+the great inland seas that joining arms must lead across the continent.
+
+Miladi was very capricious, Rose found, although she did not know the
+meaning of the word. What she wanted to-day she scouted to-morrow.
+Rose's reading was enough to set one wild. Sure she was not
+French-born, or she would know by intuition. Sometimes she would say
+pettishly, "Go away, child, you disturb me," and then Rose would play
+hide-and-seek with Pani, or run down to the Gaudrions. Marie was quite
+an expert in Indian embroidery, the children were gay and frolicsome,
+and there was a new baby. Pierre was very fond of her; a studious
+fellow, with queer ideas that often worked themselves out in some useful
+fashion. They read together, stumbling over words they could not
+understand.
+
+"And I shall build a boat of my own and go out to those wonderful
+rapids. At one moment it feels as if you would be submerged, then you
+ride up on top with a shout. Cubenic said the Sieur stood it as bravely
+as any Indian. Why--if your boat was overturned you could swim."
+
+"But there's a current that sucks you in. And there's a strange woman, a
+windigo, who haunts the rapids and drags you down and eats you."
+
+"I don't believe such nonsense. In one of the Sieur's books there is a
+story of some people who believed there was a spirit in everything.
+There were gods of the waters, of the trees, of the winds, and the
+Indians are much like them. I've never found any of their gods, have
+you?"
+
+"No"--rather reluctantly. "But Wanamee has. And sometimes they bring
+back dead people."
+
+"Then they don't always eat them," and the boy laughed.
+
+She had meant to tell miladi of her tryst and beg her to come out and
+see the star, but when she found her not only indifferent, but fretful,
+she refrained and was glad presently that she had this delicious secret
+to herself. But there was a great mystery. Sometimes the star was
+different. Instead of being golden, it was a pale blue, and then almost
+red. Was it that way in France, she wondered.
+
+She came to have a strange fondness for the stars, and to note their
+changes. Was it true that the old people M'sieu Ralph had read about,
+the Greeks, had seen their gods and goddesses taken up to the sky and
+set in the blue? There were thrones mounted with gems, there were
+figures that chased each other; to-night they were here, to-morrow night
+somewhere else. But the star that came out first was hers, and she sent
+a message across the ocean with it. And the star said in return, "I am
+thinking of you."
+
+He did think of her, and tried to trace out some parentage. Catherine
+Defroy had gone from St. Malo, a single woman. Then by all the accounts
+he could find she must have spent two years in Paris. Clearly she was
+not mother of the child.
+
+After all, what did it matter? Rose would probably spend her life in New
+France. If it was never proven that she came of gentlefolks, Laurent
+Giffard would hardly consent to his wife's mothering her. He had a good
+deal of pride of birth.
+
+The winter passed away and this year spring came early, unchaining the
+streams and sending them headlong to the rivers; filling the air with
+the fragrant new growth of the pines, hemlocks, and cedars, the young
+grasses, and presently all blossoming things. The beauty touched Rose
+deeply. No one understood, so she only talked of these strange things to
+the trees and the stars at night. Often she was a merry romp, climbing
+rocks, out in a canoe, which she had learned to manage perfectly, though
+sometimes Pani accompanied her, sometimes Pierre Gaudrion, who was
+growing fast and making himself very useful to Du Parc.
+
+As for the Sieur, he found much to engross his attention. There was a
+new trading company that had the privilege of eleven years. There was
+another volume of voyages and discoveries, the maps and illustrations
+finely engraved. Then he had laid before the secretary of the King the
+urgent need of some religious instruction. Acadia had quite a thriving
+Jesuit mission. This order was not in high favor with Champlain, who
+deprecated their narrowness. The Sieur Houel recommended the Recollets,
+and four willing missionaries were finally chosen. The company had
+fitted up a large vessel and were taking all the stores they could
+purchase or beg, and quite a number of emigrants of a better class than
+heretofore.
+
+They were all warmly welcomed, and found the colonists in very good
+order. The enthusiastic priest startled them by kneeling on the soil and
+devoutly consecrating it to God, and giving thanks that He had called
+them to this new and arduous field of labor. The coarse gray cassock
+girt at the waist with a bit of rope, the pointed hood, which often hung
+around their necks and betrayed the shaven crown, their general air of
+poverty and humility attracted attention, but did not so much appeal to
+the colonists or the Indians. They were fearful of the new order of
+things.
+
+Quebec had enlarged her borders somewhat. The one-roomed hut had spread
+out into two or three apartments. The gardens had increased. Some roads
+had been made, the workmen taking the stone quarried to add to their own
+houses. Still they received the fathers with a certain degree of
+cordiality.
+
+Champlain set aside ground for their convent, and they first erected an
+altar and celebrated Mass. Pere Dolbeau was the officiating priest. The
+people, most of whom came from curiosity, knelt around on the earth,
+while cannon from the ramparts announced the mystic services. The
+Giffards joined in them reverentially, but Rose was full of wonderment.
+Indeed, her joy was so great at seeing Destournier again that she could
+give thanks for nothing else.
+
+Then they erected a rude hut and discussed the work that lay before
+them. Le Caron would go to the Hurons, Dolbeau to the Montagnais, Jamay
+and Du Plessis would take charge of Quebec and the outlying provinces,
+and planned to build a chapel.
+
+Destournier had been successful with his grant. He bad been made
+seignior of a large tract outside of the town, which was destined one
+day to be a part of it. Here he settled some friendly Indians, and
+several of the new-comers, who were to till the soil under his
+directions, and raise different crops to ward off the scarcity of
+rations in the winter. He would build a house for himself and live among
+them.
+
+"But why not remain in the fort?" asked miladi. "What charm can you find
+with those ignorant people? Though perhaps peas and beans, radishes and
+cabbages may console one for more intellectual pursuits."
+
+"I shall only spend the days with them at present," he returned, with a
+smile.
+
+And now again came the influx of the fur-traders. It had been a good
+season and from the new settlement of Montreal to Tadoussac, vessels
+were packing away the precious freight. Champlain had gone with a body
+of soldiers to help defend a town the Iroquois had threatened to attack.
+The missions thus far had borne no fruit. Indeed the new teaching of the
+Recollets in its severity was not pleasant. The Hurons were seized with
+a panic after losing several of their leaders and the Sieur was wounded.
+All winter the people at Quebec waited anxiously for their leader, and
+parties set out to see if they could find any tidings. At last they were
+sighted, and great was the joy at finding their beloved chieftain well
+and unharmed. But he was not allowed to remain long in his pet
+settlement. There were disputes and altercations, and he was summoned to
+France.
+
+"Another year we shall go ourselves," announced Laurent Giffard to his
+wife. "We have enough now to make ourselves comfortable, and I doubt if
+the company can weather through. At all events I shall be glad to be
+well out of it. Art thou glad of the prospect?"
+
+"There is great commotion with the King and his mother, and between
+Huguenot and Catholic," she made answer slowly. "Does the Sieur
+Destournier throw up his schemes in disgust as well?"
+
+"Ah, I think he is wedded to the soil. The Governor trusts everything to
+him, and Du Parc, and both are capable men. But truth to tell I have
+lost faith in the colony. I hear the Virginians and the Bostonnais are
+doing much better. France cannot, or will not, spend the money, nor send
+the men to put the place on a sure foundation. The Indians grow more
+troublesome. They hate being meddled with by the priests. They take
+wives when they want them, and send them away when they are tired of
+them. They torture prisoners--some day the priests will have a taste of
+it themselves."
+
+"They are all horrible," she said, with a shiver.
+
+"And we will go back to La Belle France. I fancy I can manage a sort of
+preferment with Dubissay, who has the ear of the Queen mother at
+present. At all events I am tired of this turmoil, and thou, _ma mie_,
+art wasting thy beauty in this savage land."
+
+He stooped and kissed her. If he had been ready last year, she would
+have hailed the prospect with delight. Why did it not seem so attractive
+now?
+
+"And the child?" she asked presently, her eyes fixed on the floor.
+
+Was the tone indifferent?
+
+"How much dost thou love her, _ma mie_? At first thy heart was sore for
+the loss of our own, but time heals all such wounds. Destournier left no
+stone unturned to discover her parentage, and failed. I think she has
+been some one's love child. True we could give her our name, and with a
+good dowry she could marry well. But she will want some years of convent
+training to tone her down."
+
+"And if we should leave her here? Though they say Miladi de Champlain
+comes over soon, and there may be a court with maids of honor."
+
+He laughed. "What I fancy is this, though I am no seer. Destournier is
+fond of her, fatherly now, but she is shooting up into a tall girl.
+There will not be so many years between them as the Sieur and
+Mademoiselle Boulle. And some day he will take her to wife. 'Twere a
+pity to spoil the romance. She adores him."
+
+Miladi bit her lip hard, and drew her brow into a sharp frown.
+
+"What nonsense!" she made answer.
+
+"Destournier is a fine fellow, and will be a rich one some day."
+
+"The more need that he should marry in his own station."
+
+"But there is talk of reproducing home titles in this new land. And
+Baron Destournier can raise his wife to his own station. If the child
+should not be amenable to training, or develop some waywardness, there
+might be sorrow, rather than joy or satisfaction in thine heart."
+
+"There will be time enough to consider," she returned.
+
+He left the room. She went out on the shady side of the gallery, and
+looked down over the town. The two under discussion a moment ago were
+climbing the steep rocks instead of taking the path where steps were
+cut. The wind blew her shining hair about, her face was filled with
+ripples of laughter. He took her arm and she would have no help, but
+sprang like a deer from point to point, then turned to throw her
+merriment at him.
+
+"Yes, miladi would take her to France. What if some day he should
+follow?"
+
+The Governor spent a month in intense satisfaction, enlarging the
+borders of his pet garden, talking with M. Hebert, who had been watching
+the growth of some fine fruit trees imported from northern France, that
+had blossomed and were perfecting a few specimens of fruit. He thought
+sometimes it would be a joy to give up all cares and rest in cultivating
+the soil. If the summers were short everything grew abundantly. There
+were several rare plants, also, that they had acclimated.
+
+"Bring thy wife over and be content," advised M. Hebert, in a cordial
+tone, "and enjoy the governorship."
+
+M. de Champlain laughed. But presently he said: "Friend, you little know
+the delights of an explorer who brings new countries to light, who
+builds cities that may continue after him. The route to India has not
+yet been located. The fields of gold and silver have not been
+discovered. The lilies of France have not been planted over there,"
+nodding his head. "We must go before the Spaniard gets a foothold. Yet
+there are delights I must confess that even Horace longed for--a
+garden."
+
+But if he longed for it at times he found the restless current hurrying
+him on. Some disaffected members of the company were bringing charges
+against him, desiring to depose him from the governorship. But Conde,
+who had again come into power, knew there was not another man who would
+work so untiringly for the good of New France, or make it bring in such
+rich returns.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+JOURNEYING TO A FAR COUNTRY
+
+
+The colony passed a very fair winter. It was in the latter part of April
+that one night an alarm was given and the big bell at the fort rang out
+its call to arms.
+
+The messenger had trudged through the snow and was breathless.
+
+"An Indian attack. The Iroquois are burning the settlement, and
+murdering our people. To arms! to arms!"
+
+There had been no Indian raid for a long while. Destournier had tried to
+fortify the back of his plantation. There were Montagnais and Algonquins
+of the better type living there peaceably. It was not altogether
+cupidity. An Iroquois woman had been found cruelly murdered, and the
+wandering band laid it at once to the settlement. It took only a brief
+while to work themselves up to a frenzy.
+
+It did not take long to plan revenge. There was no chief at the head;
+indeed, in these roving bands it was every brave for himself. And now
+after a powwow, since they were not large enough in numbers to attack
+the fort, and they found some of the Indian converts were in the new
+settlement, they determined on an onslaught.
+
+The barricade at the back was high and strong. It was not so well
+fortified on the side toward the fort, and they pushed through a weak
+place at the end, lighted their torches, and commenced a treacherous
+assault. Roused from their slumbers, and terrified to the last degree,
+the air was soon filled with shrieks, and bursting in doors, the houses
+were set on fire. They were wary enough to guard their loop-hole for
+escape, but they found themselves outnumbered, and in turn had to fight
+for their own lives. The blazing huts lighted up the snow in a weird
+fashion; the shrieks and cries and jargon of the Iroquois added to the
+frightfulness. Yet the struggle was brief. The enemy, finding themselves
+on the losing side, began to fly, pursued by the soldiers, and indeed,
+many of the inhabitants.
+
+Destournier roused at the first alarm, and Du Parc gave orders that were
+speedily obeyed. The citadel was in a glow of light and wild commotion.
+
+Giffard ran down the stone steps with his musket. Destournier barred his
+way.
+
+"Some of us have no wives," he said briefly. "Go back and keep guard
+until we see what the dastardly attack means."
+
+"There are wives and children in the settlement," was the reply, but he
+paused while Destournier ran on. When he was out of sight, Giffard
+followed.
+
+The soldiers pursued the flying band, but they presently plunged into
+the woods and crept on stealthily, while the pursuers returned. The gray
+morning began to dawn on the smoking ruin and the fitful blazes that the
+men were trying hard to extinguish with the snow. Destournier went from
+one to another. A few huts had not been disturbed, and crying women and
+children were crowding in them. Some bodies lay silent on the
+blood-stained snow. Destournier had taken great pride in the surprise he
+had thought to give the Governor on his return, and here lay most of his
+hopes in ruins.
+
+He gave orders that the wounded should be taken to the fort for
+treatment. It was a gratification to find two Iroquois dead, and when a
+soldier despatched a wounded one he made no comment. It was pitiful when
+the sun rose over the scene of destruction.
+
+"Still there could not have been a large body, or the carnage would have
+been more complete," he said, with some comforting assurance.
+
+"You had better come in for some breakfast," an officer remarked. "You
+look ghastly, and you are blood-stained."
+
+He glanced down at his garments. "Yes," he said, "I will take your
+advice. I want something hot to drink. And we must send some food over
+there."
+
+Rose came flying in as he was demolishing a savory slice of venison.
+
+"Where is M. Giffard?" she cried. "Miladi is so frightened. She wants
+him at once. Oh, wasn't it dreadful! Thank the saints you are safe!"
+
+"Giffard!" He had caught two or three glimpses of him in the melee. "He
+may be attending to the wounded. He is a brave fellow in an emergency. I
+must find him."
+
+He swallowed the brandy and water and rushed down to the improvised
+hospital. A dozen or more were being fed and nursed by Wanamee and two
+other Indian women. The priest, too, was kindly exhorting courage and
+patience. Giffard was not here. No one had seen him. He ran over the
+crusty, but trodden-down snow, stained here and there with blood. The
+sun had risen gorgeously, and there was a decided balminess in the air.
+He glanced at the insides of the huts. The furry skins had not been good
+conductors of flames, and the snow on the roofs had saved them. Beside
+the two dead Iroquois there was an Abenaqui woman and her child. In the
+huts that were intact, the frightened women and children had huddled.
+Some of the men were already appraising possible repairs.
+
+"They went this way," announced an Algonquin, in his broken French. He
+had been employed about the fort and found trusty.
+
+The path was marked with blood and fragments of clothing, bags of maize,
+that they had dropped in their flight--finding them a burthen. Here lay
+an Iroquois with a broken leg, who was twisting himself along. The
+Algonquin hit him a blow over the head with the stout club he carried.
+
+"He will not get much further," he commented, as the Indian dropped over
+motionless.
+
+"Have you seen M. Giffard?" Destournier asked.
+
+"_Non, non_. The men came back."
+
+"He is not at the fort."
+
+"Shall we follow on?"
+
+Destournier nodded.
+
+They heard a step crunching over the snow and waited breathlessly.
+
+It was Jacques Roleau they saw as he came in sight, one of the workmen
+at the fort. He gestured to them that all was right.
+
+"They have fled, what was left of them," he explained. "I despatched two
+wounded Iroquois that they had left behind. There are two of our men
+that they must have made prisoners, the M'sieu at the fort who has the
+pretty wife, and young Chauvin"--and he paused, as if there was more to
+say.
+
+"Wounded?"
+
+He shook his head sadly.
+
+"Dead?" Destournier's breath came with a gasp.
+
+"Both dead, M'sieu, but strange, neither has been scalped."
+
+"Let us push on," exclaimed Destournier sadly.
+
+They followed the trail. After a short distance a body had been dragged
+evidently. Roleau led the way through a tortuous path until they came in
+sight of a small vacant spot where sometime Indians had camped, as they
+could tell by the scorched and blackened trees. A nearly nude body had
+been fastened to one and a few dead branches gathered, evidently for a
+fire.
+
+Destournier stood speechless. The head hung down, the face was unmarred,
+save for a few scratches, and he gave thanks for that. But his heart was
+heavy within him. The poor body had been stabbed and cut, yet it had not
+bled much, it seemed.
+
+He would have felt relieved if he had known the whole story. Two
+stalwart bucks had seized Giffard just beyond the settlement and hurried
+him along at such a pace that he could hardly breathe. They fastened his
+arms behind, each man grasping an elbow, and fairly galloped, until one
+of them caught his foot in a fallen tree and went down. In the fall
+Giffard's temple struck against a stone that knocked him senseless. He
+might have revived, but he was hurried along by a stout leathern thong
+slipped under the armpits, and was then dragged a dead weight. They had
+stopped for a holocaust and bound him to a tree, while they despatched
+the younger man. But there was difficulty in finding anything dry enough
+to burn, so they had amused themselves by gashing the dead body. Then
+suddenly alarmed they had plunged farther into the forest, leaving one
+of their own wounded that Roleau had finished.
+
+Giffard had been captured in a moment of incautiousness, but the sights
+and the wantonness had fired his blood and roused a spirit of
+retaliation.
+
+They had nearly stripped both bodies, and carried off the garments.
+
+"If you can manage, M'sieu," exclaimed their guide, "I will take the
+young fellow." He stooped, picked him up, and threw him over his
+shoulder.
+
+"You will find him a heavy burthen," as the man staggered a little.
+
+"I can carry. Do not fear," nodding assurance.
+
+Destournier took off his fur coat and wrapped it about the poor body.
+Each took hold of the improvised litter and they commenced their
+melancholy journey. How could Madame Giffard stand it, for she really
+did love him. The man's heart ached with the sincerest pity.
+
+They laid down their burthens inside the settlement in one of the partly
+destroyed cabins. Du Parc came thither to meet them.
+
+"Ah," he exclaimed, "that fine young fellow who was going to be a great
+success. The company wanted him back in France. And his poor wife! The
+blow will kill her."
+
+"I wished him to remain within for her sake. He was no coward, either. I
+would give the whole settlement if it would restore him to life. The
+Governor thought it an excellent, but venturesome plan. But we must have
+colonists if ever we are to make a town that will be an honor to New
+France."
+
+"It is not such a complete ruin. We have lost two men, one woman, and
+three children. Five Iroquois bodies have been found and two are badly
+wounded."
+
+"And two more out in the woods. They had better be buried, so as to stir
+up no more strife. It could not have been a large party, or we would
+have suffered more severely."
+
+"The English have had many of these surprises. I think we have been
+fortunate, even if we have fewer in numbers. And it would have been
+worse if there had been growing crops."
+
+"I shall have the fortifications strengthened. And perhaps it would be
+well to keep guard."
+
+They left Roleau in charge of the bodies and turned to the fort. The
+wounded had been made comfortable.
+
+Rose sprang down the steps to meet Destournier.
+
+"Oh, have you found him? Miladi is almost dead with grief and anxiety.
+She is sure they have killed M. Giffard."
+
+"Poor wife! How will we tell her?"
+
+"Oh, then he is dead?" The child's face was blanched with terror.
+
+"Yes, he has been killed by the cruel savages. But we have brought home
+his body. Who is with her?"
+
+"Wanamee and Madawando, who is saying charms over her. She is the
+medicine woman who brought back the Gaudrion baby when he was dead. Oh,
+can you not make her bring back M. Giffard? Miladi will surely die of
+grief. Couldn't they put some one in his place? Wouldn't the great God
+listen to the priest's prayers?" and she raised her humid, beseeching
+eyes.
+
+"My child, you loved him dearly."
+
+"Sometimes. Then he made me feel--well, as if I could run away. He was
+never cross. Oh, I think it was because he loved Miladi so very much,
+there was no room for any one else. And that is why I love you
+so--because you have no one belonging to you."
+
+"We are alike in that," he made answer.
+
+He saw Wanamee presently.
+
+"She goes from one dying fit to another. Madawando brings her back. But
+if he is dead, M'sieu, why should they not let her join him?"
+
+Would she be happier in that great unknown land with him. What was there
+here for her?
+
+And some way he felt in part responsible. He had risked his life to save
+Destournier's property.
+
+There were sad days in the fort. The weather came off comparatively
+pleasant, and the half-ruined huts were repaired, the wounded healed,
+the losses made good, as far as possible. The dead Iroquois were put in
+a trench, but better sepulture was provided for the colonists, and the
+services over the body of M. Giffard were in a degree military. The two
+Recollet priests were kindness and devotion personified, and they said
+prayers every hour in their rude little chapel, where a candle was kept
+burning before the altar.
+
+They frowned severely on what they termed the mummeries of Madawando.
+Even the Indian converts, and they were few enough, lapsed into charms
+and incantations in times of trouble. They willingly had their children
+baptized, as if this was one of the charms to ward off danger. But the
+priests labored with unabated courage.
+
+Miladi seemed to hover a long while between the two worlds, it was
+thought, but the real spring was coming on, and all nature was reviving.
+She had never quite wanted to die, so at the lowest ebb she seemed to
+will herself back to life by some occult power.
+
+Rose meanwhile had run quite wild, but she had been Destournier's
+companion in his walks, in his canoe journeys; sometimes with Marie
+Gaudrion, she was in and out of the settlement, and as she understood a
+little of the several Indian languages, she was quite a favorite; but
+Destournier felt troubled about her at times. She was very fearless,
+very upright, and detected the subterfuges of the children of the
+wilderness, condemning them most severely. But they never seemed angry
+with her.
+
+Sometimes he thought he would send her to France and begin her education
+in a convent. But could the wild little thing who skipped and danced and
+sung, climbed rocks and trees, managed a canoe, tamed birds that came
+and sang on her shoulder, endure the dull routine of convent life? She
+could read French quite fluently. She had taken an immense fancy to
+Latin, and caught the lines so easily when Destournier read them from
+musical Horace, or the stirring scenes of the Odyssey, the only two
+Latin books he owned. And her head was stuffed full of wild Indian
+tales.
+
+"I wonder," she said one day, as she sat on the rocks, leaning against
+Destournier's knee, the soft wind playing through the silken tendrils of
+her hair--"I wonder if you should die whether I could be like miladi,
+and want the room dark and have every one go in the softest moccasins,
+and have headaches and the sound of any one's voice pierce through you
+like a knife. It would be terrible."
+
+"Why do you think of that?"
+
+"Because I love you best of everybody. The Governor is very nice, but he
+is in France so much and you are here. Then we can climb rocks together
+and sit in the forests and hear the trees talk. I go to M. Giffard's
+grave and say over the spells Madawando taught me, to bring him back,
+but he does not come. If he could, miladi would be bright and gay again,
+and we would dance and sing, and have merry times. If you died I should
+want to die, too."
+
+He was touched by the child's simple devotion.
+
+"I am not going to die. Your Madawando told me I should live to be very
+old. There were some curious lines in my hand."
+
+"I am so glad," she said simply.
+
+"But you had better not tell the good priest that you are trying to
+bring M. Giffard back to life in this Indian fashion. They think it a
+sin."
+
+"I do not like the priests, in their dirty gray gowns, and their heads
+looking as if they had been scalped. Only when they read in their book.
+It sounds like those great people in the wars of Troy."
+
+And this was a little Christian girl. Were not the priests also praying
+that the souls in purgatory might be lightened of their burden? and he
+smiled.
+
+But somehow miladi pressed heavily upon his conscience. M. Giffard had
+come to _his_ assistance, to save his property, as well as to save human
+lives. He lost sight of the great brotherhood of mankind, of the heroism
+of a truly noble soul. Was there anything he could do to lighten her
+burthen?
+
+At last she expressed a desire to see him. He had looked to find her
+wasted away with grief, changed so that it would be sorrow to look upon
+her. She was pale, but, it seemed, more really beautiful than he had
+ever known her. Her gown was white, and she had a thin black scarf
+thrown around her shoulders which enhanced her fairness. There could be
+no shopping for mourning in this benighted country.
+
+"I thought I should go to him," she said in her soft, half-languid
+voice. "But the good Pere believes there is something for me to do and
+that I must be content to remain, and thankful to live. But all is so
+changed. Sometimes I make myself believe that Laurent has gone back to
+France to settle matters. He counted so on our return. And that he will
+come again for me."
+
+"You would like to go to friends?"
+
+"Alas, there are not many. Some have gone to England, some to Holland,
+not liking the new King's policy. And some are dead. I should have no
+one to make a home for me. A woman's loneliness is intense. She cannot
+turn to business, nor go out and find friends."
+
+That was true enough. He pitied her profoundly.
+
+"Is it true our Governor is bringing his new wife to Quebec?" she asked
+presently.
+
+"So the trading vessels have said. They are already loading up with
+furs, and trade seems brisk. Of course it brings great confusion. I have
+taken charge of M. Giffard's bales that came in last week. They had
+better be sent as usual. The Paris firm is eager for them. They are a
+fine lot. What is your pleasure?"
+
+"Oh, relieve me of all care that you can. I am so helpless. Laurent did
+everything. Women were never meant for business, he thought. I am no
+wiser than a child."
+
+She looked so helpless, so sweet, so dependent.
+
+"I shall be glad to do what I can. Yes, it would be no place for a
+woman. She could not manage matters. And if you like to trust me----"
+
+"I would trust you in all things. Laurent thought your judgment
+excellent. He cared so much for you. Oh, if you will take charge----"
+
+She looked up with sweet, appealing eyes. Did he not owe her some
+protection and care? He was pondering silently.
+
+"You have relieved me of such a burthen. I think I shall get well now.
+I hardly knew whether I wanted most to live or die."
+
+"Life is best, sweetest." It would be for her. He uttered the sentence
+involuntarily.
+
+"You make it so." Her eyes were bewitchingly downcast and a faint color
+fluttered over her face, while her pretty hands worked nervously.
+
+He paced the gallery afterward in the twilight, when the stars were
+slowly finding their way through the blue vault overhead, and the river
+plashed by with its monotone of music. She might desire to return to
+France; this life in the wilderness did not appeal to delicate women.
+Yet she had taken it very cheerfully, he thought.
+
+If she decided to stay--there was one way in which he could befriend
+her, perhaps make her happy again. Marriage was hardly considered the
+outcome of love in that period, many other considerations entered into
+it. There were betrothals where the future husband and wife saw each
+other for the first time. And they did very well. His ideas of married
+life were a sort of good-fellowship and admiration, if the woman was
+pretty; good cooking and a desire to please among the commoner ones. At
+four and twenty he had not given the matter much consideration. Madame
+Giffard was full thirty, but she looked like a girl in her lightness and
+grace. And he owed the memory of M. Giffard something. This step would
+make amends and allay a troublesome sort of conscience in the matter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+WHAT ROSE DID NOT LIKE
+
+
+Eustache Boulle, the Governor's brother-in-law, had been not a little
+surprised when his sister was helped off the vessel at Tadoussac. He
+greeted her warmly.
+
+"But I never believed you would come to this wild country," he
+exclaimed, with a half-mischievous smile. "I am afraid the Sieur has let
+his hopes of the future run riot in his brain. He can see great things
+with that far gaze of his."
+
+"But a good wife follows her husband. We have had a rather stormy and
+tiresome passage, but praised be the saints, we have at last reached our
+haven."
+
+"I hope you will see some promise in it. We on the business side do not
+look for pleasure alone."
+
+"It is wild, but marvellously fine. The islands with their frowning
+rocks and glowing verdure, the points, and headlands, the great gulf and
+the river are really majestic. And you--you are a man. Two years have
+made a wondrous change. I wish our mother could see you. She has
+frightful dreams of your being captured by Indians."
+
+He laughed at that.
+
+"Are the Indians very fierce here?" she asked timidly.
+
+"Some tribes are, the Hurons. And others are very easily managed if you
+can keep fire-water away from them."
+
+"Fire"--wonderingly.
+
+"Rum or brandy. You will see strange sights. But you must not get
+frightened. Now tell me about our parents."
+
+The Sieur was quite angry when he heard some boats had been up the
+river, and bartered firearms and ammunition for peltries. It was their
+desire to keep the white man's weapons away from the savages.
+
+Pontgrave had left a bark for the Governor, and Eustache joined them as
+they went journeying on to Quebec. It was new and strange to the young
+wife, whose lines so far had been cast in civilized places. The wide,
+ever-changing river, the rough, unbroken country with here and there a
+clearing, where parties of hunters had encamped and left their rude
+stone fireplaces, the endless woods with high hills back of them, and
+several groups of Indians with a wigwam for shelter, that interested her
+very much. Braves were spread out on the carpet of dried leaves, playing
+some kind of game with short knives and smoking leisurely. Squaws
+gossiping and gesticulating with as much interest as their fairer
+sisters, their attire new and strange, and papooses tumbling about. They
+passed great tangles of wild grapes that scented the air, here and there
+an island shimmering with the bloom of blueberries.
+
+Then the great cliff of Quebec came in sight. Latterly it had taken on
+an aspect of decay that caused the Governor to frown. The courtyard was
+littered with rubbish from a building that had actually fallen down, and
+a new one was being erected. And though some of the houses were quite
+comfortable within, the exterior was very unattractive, from the
+different materials, like patches put on to add warmth in winter.
+
+The cannon rang out a salute, and the lilies of France floated in the
+brilliant sunshine. Officers and men had formed a sort of cordon, and
+from the gallery several ladies looked down and waved handkerchiefs. The
+Heberts, with their son and daughter, a few other women, a little above
+the peasant rank, had joined them and Madame Giffard, who still essayed
+a role of delicacy.
+
+The Sieur took formal possession again in the name of the new Governor
+General, the Duke of Montmorency. Then they repaired to the little
+chapel, where the priest held a service of thanksgiving for their safe
+arrival.
+
+The Recollets had chosen a site on the St. Charles river, some distance
+from the post, and had begun the erection of a church and convent, for
+headquarters. Madame Champlain was pleased to hear this and held quite a
+lengthy talk with Pere Jamay, who was glad to find the new wife took a
+fervent interest in religion, for even among the French women he had not
+awakened the influence he had hoped for, in his enthusiasm.
+
+Eustache began a tour of observation. Perched on a rock with a great
+hemlock tree back of her, he saw a small human being that he was quite
+sure was not an Indian girl. She was talking to something, and raised
+her small forefinger to emphasize her words. What incantation was she
+using?
+
+As he came nearer he saw it was a flock of pigeons. She had been feeding
+them berries and grains of rye. They arched their glossy necks and cooed
+in answer. He watched in amaze, drawing nearer. What sprite of the
+forest was this?
+
+Did she feel the influence that invaded her solitude? She glanced up
+with wide startled eyes at the intruder, and looked at first as if she
+would fly.
+
+"Do not be afraid, I will not harm you," said a clear, reassuring voice.
+"Are you charming the wild things of the forest? Your incantation was in
+French--do they understand the language?"
+
+"They understand me."
+
+There was a curious dignity in her reply.
+
+"You are French, Mam'selle?"
+
+"I came from France a long while ago, so long that I do not remember."
+
+"Was it in another life? Are you human, or some forest nymph? For you
+are not out of childhood."
+
+"I do not understand."
+
+"But you must belong to some one----"
+
+"No," she said proudly. "I have never really belonged to any one. M'sieu
+Destournier is my good friend, and miladi took me when the Dubrays went
+to the fur country. But she has been ill, and she does not like me as
+she used."
+
+"But you must have a home----"
+
+"I live at the post, mostly with Wanamee. Some days my lady sends for
+me. But I like out-of-doors, and the birds, and the blue sky, and the
+voice of the falling waters that are always going on, and the great gray
+rocks, where I find mossy little caves with red bloom like tiny
+papooses, and the tall grasses that shake their heads so wisely, as if
+they knew secrets they would never tell. And the birds--even some of the
+little lizards with their bright black eyes. They are dainty, not like
+the snakes that go twisting along."
+
+"Are you not afraid of them?"
+
+"I do not molest them," calmly.
+
+"You should have been down at the post. The Governor's wife has come."
+
+"Yes, I saw her. And I did not like her. But the Sieur was always kind
+to me. He used to show me journeys on the maps, and the great lakes he
+has seen. He has been all over the world, I believe."
+
+"Oh, no. But I think he would like to. Why do you not like Madame de
+Champlain?"
+
+She studied him with a thoughtful gaze.
+
+"M'sieu Ralph told me when he went to France he was betrothed to a
+pretty little French girl, and that some day he would bring her here to
+be his wife. I was glad of the little girl. I like Marie Gaudrion, but
+she has to care for the babies and--she does not understand why I love
+the woods and the rocks. And I thought this other little _girl_----"
+
+She was so naive that he smiled, but it was not the smile to hurt one.
+
+"She was a little girl then. But every one grows. Some day you will be a
+woman."
+
+"No, I will not. I shall stay this way," and she patted the ground
+decisively with her small foot, the moccasin being little more than a
+sandal, and showed the high arch and shapely ankle that dimpled with the
+motion.
+
+"I am afraid you cannot. But I think you will like Madame when you know
+her. I am her brother, though I have not seen her for over two years."
+
+She studied him attentively. The birds began to grow restless and
+circled about her as if to warn off the intruder. Then she suddenly
+listened. There was a familiar step climbing the rock.
+
+M'sieu Destournier parted the hemlock branches.
+
+"I thought I should find you here. Why did you run away? Ah, M. Boulle,"
+but the older man frowned a little.
+
+"She left the company because my sister was grown up and not the little
+girl she imagined. Is she a product of the forest? Her very ignorance is
+charming."
+
+"I am not ignorant!" she returned. "I can read a page in Latin, and that
+miladi cannot do."
+
+"She is a curious child," explained Destournier, "but a sweet and noble
+nature, and innocent is the better word for it. The birds all know her,
+and she has a tame doe that follows her about, except that it will not
+venture inside the palisade. I'm not sure but she could charm a wolf."
+
+"The Loup Garou," laughed the younger man. "I think nothing would dare
+harm her. But I should like my sister to see her. Oh, I am sure you will
+like her, even if she is a woman grown."
+
+"Come," said Destournier, holding out his hand.
+
+The pigeons had circled wider and wider, and were now purplish shadows
+against the serene blue. Rose sprang up and clasped Destournier's hand.
+But she was silent as they took their way down.
+
+"Whatever bewitched my august brother-in-law about this place I cannot
+see. Except that the new fort will sweep the river and render the town
+impregnable from that side. It will be the key of the North. But
+Montreal will be a finer town at much less cost."
+
+Rose was fain to refuse at the last moment, but M'sieu Ralph persuaded.
+The few women of any note were gathered in the room miladi had first
+occupied. Rose looked curiously at the daughter of M. Hebert--she was so
+much taller than she used to be, and her hair was put up on her head
+with a big comb.
+
+"Thou art a sweet child," said Madame de Champlain. "And whose daughter
+may she be?"
+
+It was an awkward question. Destournier flushed unconsciously.
+
+"She is the Rose of Quebec," he made answer, with a smile. "Her parents
+were dead before she came here."
+
+"Ah, I remember hearing the Governor speak of her, and learned that
+there were so few real citizens in Quebec who were to grow up with the
+town as their birthright. It is but a dreary-looking place, yet the wild
+river, the great gulf, the magnificent forests give one a sense of
+grandeur, yet loneliness. And my husband says it is the same hundreds of
+miles to the westward; that there are lakes like oceans in themselves.
+And such furs! All Paris is wild with the beauty of them. Yet they lie
+around here as if of no value."
+
+"You would find that the traders appraise them pretty well," and he
+raised his brows a trifle, while a rather amused expression played about
+his eyes.
+
+"Is there always such a turmoil of trade?"
+
+"Oh, no. The traders scatter before mid-autumn. The cold weather sets in
+and the snow and ice are our companions. The small streams freeze up.
+But the Sieur has written of all these things in his book."
+
+He looked inquiringly at her for a touch of enthusiasm, but her sweet
+face was placid.
+
+"Monsieur my husband desired that I should be educated in his religion
+in the convent. We do not take up worldly matters, that is not
+considered becoming to girls and women. We think more of the souls that
+may be saved from perdition. The men go ahead to discover, the priests
+come to teach these ignorant savages that they have souls that must be
+returned to God, or suffer eternally."
+
+There spoke the devotee. Destournier wondered a little how the Sieur had
+come to choose a devote for a wife. For he was a born explorer, with a
+body and a will of such strength that present defeat only spurred him
+on. But where was there a woman to match him, to add to his courage and
+resolve! Perhaps men did not need such women. Destournier was not an
+enthusiast in religious matters. He had been here long enough to
+understand the hold their almost childish superstitions had on the
+Indians, their dull and brutish lack of any high motive, their brutal
+and barbarous customs. They were ready to be baptized a dozen times over
+just as they would use any of their own charms, or for the gain of some
+trifle.
+
+Madame seemed to study the frank face of the little girl. How beautiful
+her eyes were; her eager, intelligent, spirited face; the fine skin that
+was neither light nor dark, and withstood sun and wind alike, and lost
+none of its attractive tints. But she was so different from the little
+girls sent to the nuns for training. They never looked up at you with
+these wide-open eyes that seemed to question you, to weigh you.
+
+"There is no convent here where you can be taught?" addressing herself
+to the child.
+
+"The fathers are building one. But it is only for the men. The women
+cook and learn to dress deerskins until they are like velvet. They must
+make the clothing, for not a great deal comes from France. And it would
+only do for ladies like you and Madame Giffard."
+
+"But there must be some education, some training, some prayers," and the
+lady looked rather helpless.
+
+She was very sweet and beautiful in her soft silken dress of gray, that
+was flowered in the same color, and trimmed with fur and velvet. From
+her belt depended a chain of carved ivory beads and a crucifix, from
+another chain a small oval looking-glass in a silver frame. Her flaring
+collar of lace and the stomacher were worked in pearls. Many Parisians
+had them sewn with jewels.
+
+"I can read French very well," said Rose, after a pause. "And some
+Latin."
+
+"Oh, the prayers, and some of the old hymns----"
+
+"No, it isn't prayers exactly--except to their gods. There are so many
+gods. Jove was the great one."
+
+"Oh, my child, this is heresy. There is but one God and the Holy Virgin,
+and the saints to whom you can make invocation."
+
+"Well, then I think you have a number of gods. Do you pray to them all?
+And what do you pray for?"
+
+"For the wicked world to be converted to God, for them to love Him, and
+serve Him."
+
+"And how do they serve Him?" inquired the child. "If He is the great God
+Father Jamay teaches He can do everything, have everything. It is all
+His. Then why does He not keep people well, so they can work, and not
+blight the crops with fierce storms. Sometimes great fields of maize are
+swept down. And the little children die; the Indians kill each other,
+and at times the white men who serve them."
+
+"Oh, child, you do not understand. There must be convents in this new
+world for the training of girls. They must be taught to pray that God's
+will may be done, not their own."
+
+"How would I know it was God's will?" asked the irreverent child,
+decisively, yet with a certain sweetness.
+
+"The good Father would tell you."
+
+"How would he know?"
+
+"He lives a holy life in communion with God."
+
+"What is the convent like?" suddenly changing her thoughts.
+
+"It is a large house full of little ones, the sisters' cells, the
+novices' cells----"
+
+"There are some at the post. They put criminals in them. They are filthy
+and dark," with a kind of protesting vehemence.
+
+"These are clean, because they are whitewashed, and you scrub the floor
+twice a week. There is a little pallet on which you sleep, a
+_prie-dieu_----"
+
+"What is that?" interrupted the child.
+
+"A little altar, with a stone step on which you kneel. And a crucifix at
+the top, a book of prayer and invocation. Many of the sisters pray an
+hour at midnight. All pray an hour in the morning, then breakfast and
+the chapel for another hour, with prayers and singing. After that the
+classes. The little girls are taught the catechism and manners, if they
+are to go out in the world, sewing and embroidery. At noon prayers again
+and a little lunch, then work out of doors for an hour, and running
+about for exercise, catechising again, singing, supper and a chapel
+hour, and then to bed. But the nuns spend the evening in prayer, so do
+the devout."
+
+"Madame, I shall never go in a convent, if the Fathers build one for
+girls. I like the big out-of-doors. And if God made the world He made it
+for some purpose, that people should go out and enjoy it. I like the
+wilderness, the great blue sky, the sun and the stars at night, the
+trees and the river, and the birds and the deer and the beautiful wild
+geese, as they sail in great flocks. If I was shut up in a cell I should
+beat my head against the stones until it was a jelly, and then I should
+be dead."
+
+Madame de Champlain looked at the child in amaze. In her decorous life
+she had known nothing like it.
+
+"And I wish there were no women. I do not like women any more. Men are
+better because they live out of doors and do not pray so much. Except
+the priests. And they are dirty."
+
+Then she turned away and went out on the gallery, with a curiously
+swelling heart. Oh, why was not Marie Gaudrion different? What made
+people so unlike. If there was some one----
+
+"Ha, little maid, where are you running to so fast?" exclaimed a
+laughing voice. "Have you seen my sister yet?"
+
+Eustache Boulle caught her arm, but she shook him off, and stood up
+squarely, facing him. What vigor and resolution there was in her small
+bewitching face.
+
+"Hi, hi! thou art a plucky little _fille_, ready for a quarrel by the
+looks of thy flashing eyes. What have I done to thee, that thou shouldst
+shake me off as a viper?"
+
+"Nothing! I am not to be handled roughly. I am going my way, and I think
+it will not interfere with thine."
+
+A pleasant smile crossed his face which made him really attractive, and
+half disarmed her fierceness.
+
+"My way is set in no special lines until I return to Tadoussac. Hast
+thou seen my sister?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Every one loves her. She is as good as she is beautiful. And she will
+charm thee," in a triumphant tone, gathering that the interview had not
+already done this.
+
+"I am not to be charmed in that fashion. Yes, she is beautiful, but she
+would like me to be put in a convent. And I would throw myself in the
+river first."
+
+"There are no convents, little one. And but few people to put into them.
+In a new country it is best that they marry and have families. When
+there are too many women then convents play a useful part."
+
+"Let me pass," she cried disdainfully, but not trying to push aside.
+
+"Tell me where you go!"
+
+"To Mere Gaudrion's to see that soft-headed Marie. I wish she had some
+ideas, but she is good and cheerful, and does as she is told."
+
+"You are not very complimentary to your friend."
+
+"But if I said she had a bad temper, and told what was not true, and
+slapped her little brothers and sisters, that would be a falsehood. And
+if I said she understood the song of the birds and the sough of the wind
+among the trees, and the running, tumbling little streams that are
+always saying 'oh! let me get to the gulf as soon as possible, for I
+want to see what a great ocean is like,' it would not be true either. I
+like Marie," calmly.
+
+"Thou art a curious little casuist. I am glad you like her. It shows
+that you are human. There are strange creatures in the woods and wilds
+of this new world."
+
+"There is the Loup Garou, but I have not seen him. He gets changed from
+a man to a fierce dog, and if you kill the dog, the man dies. There is
+the Windigo, and the old medicine woman can call strange things out of a
+sick person who has been bewitched, and then he gets well. But M.
+Destournier laughs at these stories."
+
+The young man had been backing slowly toward the steps and she had
+followed without taking note.
+
+Now he said--"Let me help you down."
+
+"I am not lame, M'sieu, neither am I blind."
+
+"Will you take me to see Marie Gaudrion?"
+
+"You would laugh at her, I see it in your eyes."
+
+"Are my eyes such telltales?"
+
+He had not the placid fairness of his sister, and his chestnut hair
+curled about his temples. His cheeks were red enough for a girl.
+
+"Why should you want to see her?"
+
+"I want to see all there is in Quebec. I want to know how the colony
+progresses. I may put it in a book."
+
+"Like the Governor. But you could not make maps out of people," with an
+air of triumph.
+
+"I'm not so sure. See here."
+
+He drew from his pocket a roll and held one of the leaves before her
+eyes.
+
+"Oh, that is old Temekwisa sitting out by the hut. And, M'sieu, he looks
+half drunken, as he nearly always is. And that is Jacques Barbeau
+breaking stone. Why, it is wonderful. And who else have you?"
+
+There were several Indians in a powwow around the fire, there was a
+woman with a papoose on her back, and a few partly done.
+
+"And the Sieur--and your sister?" eagerly.
+
+"I have tried dozens of times and cannot please myself. The Indians have
+about the same salient points, and that lack of expression when they are
+tranquil. They are easy to do. And I can sometimes catch the fierce
+anger. At home I would have a teacher. Here I have to go by myself, try,
+and tear up. Then I am busy with many other things."
+
+Her resentment had mostly subsided. His gift, if it could be called
+that, fascinated her. She had reproduced wonderful pictures in her
+brain, but to do them with her hand would be marvellous, like the Sieur
+writing his books.
+
+They had reached the garden of the Gaudrions. Pierre was employed
+regularly now and was studying the plans of the new fort. Marie was
+seated on the grass, cutting leather fringe for garments and leggings.
+You could use up otherwise useless bits that way. The Mere was farther
+down pulling weeds from the carrot bed, and directing the labors of two
+children, at whom she shook a switch now and then. Marie had a baby on
+each side of her, tumbling about in the grass.
+
+She looked up and nodded, while a heavy sort of smile settled about her
+lips, the upper one protruding a little, on account of two prominent
+teeth. Eustache had seen the peasant type at home, the low forehead, the
+deep-set eyes, the short nose, flattened at the base, the wide mouth and
+rather broad, unmeaning countenance, the type of women who bear burthens
+without complaining and do not resent when they are beaten. Marie had an
+abundance of blue-black hair, a clear skin, and a soft color in her
+cheeks.
+
+Boulle glanced from one to the other, the lithe figure, the spirited
+face, the eyes that could flash and soften and sparkle with mirth almost
+in a minute, it seemed. What a distance lay between them.
+
+"Marie, this is"--then Rose paused and flushed, and glanced at her
+unbidden companion.
+
+"I am Eustache Boulle and my sister is the wife of the Governor de
+Champlain. And though I have been up and down the river I have never
+really visited Quebec before."
+
+Marie nodded and went on cutting fringe.
+
+"And he has done pictures--Temekwisa, that you would know in a minute.
+He did them with a pencil. Show them to her," she ordered, in a pretty
+peremptory manner, as with a graceful gesture of the hand she invited
+him to be seated on the grass, deftly rolling one baby over, who stared
+an instant, and then fell to sucking his fist.
+
+Marie's heavy face lighted up with a kind of cheerful surprise.
+
+"Why did you not go up and see them come in? And after the service of
+thanks, almost everybody went to see our dear Sieur's wife. She is
+beautiful in the face and wears a silken gown, and a little cap so fine
+you can see her hair through it. And she has small hands that look like
+snow, but not many rings, like Madame Giffard."
+
+"_Ma mere_ went to the prayers, but we could not both go. I saw the line
+of boats and heard the salute. And your sister will live here with the
+Governor?"
+
+Eustache wanted to laugh, but commanded his countenance.
+
+"Yes, though 'tis a dreary place to live in after gay France. I long to
+go back."
+
+"They are to build a new fort. My father will work on it, and my
+brother, Pierre. And he wonders that you do not come oftener, Rose."
+
+"There has not been a moonlight in a long while. I cannot come in the
+dark. And now he wants his own way in all the plans and I like mine. He
+has grown so big he is not amusing any more."
+
+"But he likes you just as well," the girl said naively.
+
+Eustache glanced. Rose did not change color at this frank admission.
+
+Then the gun boomed out to announce the day's work for the government
+was over.
+
+Rose sprang up. "It will soon be supper time," she said.
+
+"Stay and have it with us. There are some cold roasted pigeons, with
+spiced gravy turned over them. You shall have a whole one."
+
+"You are very good, Marie, but there are so many men about who have been
+drinking too much, that M. Destournier would read me a long lecture."
+
+"But Pierre would walk up with thee."
+
+Eustache had gathered up his pictures. They had only been an excuse to
+prolong his interview with Rose.
+
+"I will see that no harm comes to your friend. Adieu, Mam'selle," and he
+bowed politely, at which Marie only stared.
+
+"We are very good friends, are we not?" as he was parting with the
+pretty child.
+
+"But I might not like you to-morrow," archly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+ABOUT MARRIAGES
+
+
+The new fort was begun on the summit of the cliff, almost two hundred
+feet above the water, and the guns would command it up and down. A good
+deal of stone was used. New houses were being reared in a much better
+fashion, the crevices thickly plastered with mortar, the chimneys of
+stone, with generous fireplaces. Destournier had repaired his small
+settlement and added some ground to the cultivated area.
+
+"The only way to colonize," declared the Sieur. "If we could rouse the
+Indians into taking more interest. Civilization does not seem to attract
+them, though the women make good wives, and they are a scarce commodity.
+The English and the Dutch are wiser in this respect than we. When
+children are born on the soil and marry with their neighbors, one may be
+sure of good citizens."
+
+The church, too, was progressing, and was called Notre Dame des Anges.
+Madame de Champlain was intensely religious, and used her best efforts
+to further the plans. She took a great interest in the Indian children,
+and when she found many of the women were not really married to the
+laborers around the fort, insisted that Pere Jamay should perform the
+ceremony. The women were quite delighted with this, considering it a
+great mark of respect.
+
+She began to study the Algonquin language, which was the most prevalent.
+She had brought three serving women from France, but they were not
+heroic enough to be enamored of the hardships. There was so little
+companionship for her that but for her religion she would have had a
+lonely time. The Heberts were plain people and hardly felt themselves on
+a par with the wife of their Governor, though Champlain himself, with
+more democratic tastes, used often to drop in to consult the farmer and
+take a meal.
+
+Madame Giffard was not really religious. She was fond of pleasure and
+games of cards, and really hated any self-denial, or long prayers,
+though she went to Mass now and then. But between her and the earnest,
+devoted Helene there was no sympathy.
+
+The new house was ready by October. Helene would fain have had it made
+less comfortable, but this the Governor would not permit. It would be
+hung with furs when the bitter weather came in.
+
+No one paid much attention to Rose, who came and went, and wandered
+about at her own sweet will. Eustache Boulle was fairly fascinated with
+her, and followed her like a shadow when he was not in attendance on his
+sister. He persuaded her to sit for a picture, but it was quite
+impossible to catch her elusive beauty. She would turn her head, change
+the curve of her pretty lips, allow her eyes to rove about and then let
+the lids drop decorously in a fashion he called a nun's face; but it was
+adorable.
+
+"I shall not be a nun," she would declare vehemently.
+
+"No, Mam'selle, thou art the kind to dance on a man's heart and make him
+most happy and most wretched. No nun's coif for that sunny, tangled mop
+of thine."
+
+He would fain have lingered through the winter, but a peremptory message
+came for him.
+
+"I shall be here another summer and thou wilt be older, and understand
+better what life is like."
+
+"It is good enough and pleasant enough now," she answered perversely.
+
+"I wonder--if thou wilt miss me?"
+
+"Why, yes, silly! The splendid canoeing and the races we run, and I may
+be big enough next summer to go to Lachine. I would like to rush through
+the rapids that Antoine the sailor tells about, where you feel as if you
+were going down to the centre of the world."
+
+"No woman would dare. It would not be safe," he objected.
+
+"Men are not always lost, only a few clumsy ones. And I can swim with
+the best of them."
+
+"M. Destournier will not let you go."
+
+"He is not my father. I belong just to myself, and I will do as I
+like."
+
+She stamped her foot on the ground, but she laughed as well. He was not
+nineteen yet, but a man would be able to manage her.
+
+She did miss him when he was gone. And it seemed as if Marie grew more
+stupid and cared less for her. And that lout of a Jules Personeau would
+sit by her on the grass, or help her pick berries or grapes and open
+them skilfully, take out the seeds or the pits of plums, and place them
+on the flat rocks to dry. He never seemed to talk. And Rose knew that M.
+Destournier scolded because he was not breaking stone.
+
+He was building a new house himself, and helping the Sieur plan out the
+path from the fort up above to the settlement down below. They did not
+dream that one day it would be the upper and the lower town, and that on
+the plain would be fought one of the historic battles of the world,
+where two of the bravest of men would give up their lives, and the
+lilies of France go down for the last time. Quebec was beginning to look
+quite a town.
+
+Destournier's house commanded his settlement, which was more strongly
+fortified with a higher palisade, over which curious thorn vines were
+growing for protection. He had a fine wheat field, and some tobacco. Of
+Indian corn a great waving regiment planted only two rows thick so as to
+give no chance for skulking marauders.
+
+The house of M. Giffard was falling into decay. Miladi had sent to
+France early in the season for many new stuffs and trinkets, and the
+settlement of some affairs, instead of turning all over to Destournier.
+The goods had come at an exorbitant price, but there had been a great
+tangle in money matters, and at his death his concessions had passed
+into other hands.
+
+"They always manage to rob a woman," he thought grimly.
+
+"I supposed you were to leave things in my hands," he said, a little
+upbraidingly, to her.
+
+"I make you so much trouble. And you have so much to do for the Governor
+and your settlement, and I am so weak and helpless. I have never been
+strong since that dreadful night. I miss all the care and love. Oh, if
+you were a woman you would know how heart-breaking it was. I wish I were
+dead! I wish I were dead!"
+
+"And you do not care to go back to France?"
+
+"Do not torment me with that question. I should die on the voyage. And
+to be there without friends would be horrible. I have no taste for a
+convent."
+
+A great many times the vague plan had entered his mind as a sort of
+duty. Now he would put it into execution.
+
+"Become my wife," he said. He leaned over and took her slim hands in his
+and glanced earnestly into her eyes, and saw there were fine wrinkles
+setting about them. What did it matter? She needed protection and care,
+and there was no woman here that he could love as the romances
+described. He was too busy a man, too practical.
+
+She let her head drop on his broad breast. She had dreamed of this and
+used many little arts, but had never been sure of their effect. There
+were the years between, but she needed his strength and devotion more
+than a younger woman.
+
+"Oh, ought I be so happy again?" she murmured. "There is so much that is
+strong and generous to you that a woman could rest content in giving her
+whole life to you, her best love."
+
+He wished she had not said that. He would have been content that her
+best love should lie softly in the grave, like an atmosphere around the
+sleeping body of Laurent Giffard, whom he had admired very much, and who
+had loved his wife with the fervor of youth. He drew a long breath of
+pity for the man. It seemed as if he was taking something away from him.
+
+"Is it true?" she asked, in a long silence.
+
+"That I shall care for you, yes. That you will be my wife." Then he
+kissed her tenderly.
+
+"I am so happy. Oh, you cannot think how sad I have been for months,
+with no one to care for me," and her voice was exquisitely pathetic.
+
+"I have cared for you all this while," he said. "You were like a sister
+to whom I owed a duty."
+
+"Duty is not quite love," in her soft murmurous tone, touching his cheek
+caressingly.
+
+He wondered a little what love was like, if this tranquil half pity was
+all. Madame de Champlain was like a child to her husband, the women
+emigrants thus far had not been of a high order, and the marriages had
+been mostly for the sake of a helpmeet and possible children. The
+Governor had really encouraged the mixed marriages, where the Indian
+women were of the better sort. A few of them were taking kindly to
+religion, and had many really useful arts in the way of making garments
+out of dressed deerskins. He chose rather some of those who had been
+taken prisoners and had no real affiliation with the tribes. They felt
+honored by marrying a white man, and now Pere Jamay performed a legal
+and religious ceremony, so that no man could put away his wife.
+
+"Oh, what do you think!" and Rose sprang eagerly to Destournier,
+catching him by the arm with both hands and giving a swing, as he was
+pacing the gallery, deep in his new plans. "It is so full of amusement
+for me. And I can't understand how she can do it. Jules Personeau is
+such a stupid! And that great shock of hair that keeps tumbling into his
+eyes. It is such a queer color, almost as if much sitting in the sun was
+turning it red."
+
+"What about Jules? He is very absent-minded nowadays, and does not
+attend to his work. The summer will soon be gone."
+
+"Oh, it isn't so much about Jules. Marie Gaudrion is going to marry
+him."
+
+"Why, then I think it is half about Jules," laughing down into the eager
+face. "A girl can't be married alone."
+
+"Well, I suppose you would have to go and live with some one," in a
+puzzled tone. "But Jules has such rough, dirty hands. He caught me a few
+days ago and patted my cheek, and I slapped him. I will not have rough
+hands touch me! And Marie laughs. She is only thirteen, but she says she
+is a woman. I don't want to be a woman. I won't have a husband, and be
+taken off to a hut, and cook, and work in the garden. M'sieu, I should
+fly to the woods and hide."
+
+"And the poor fellow would get no dinner." He laughed at her vehemence.
+"I suppose Jules is in love and we must excuse his absent-mindedness.
+Will it be soon?"
+
+"Why, yes, Jules is getting his house ready. Barbe is to help her mother
+and care for the babies. I like Marie some," nodding indecisively, "but
+I wish there was a girl who liked to run and play, and climb trees, and
+talk to the birds, and oh, do a hundred things, all different from the
+other."
+
+She gave a little hop and a laugh of exquisite freedom. She was full of
+restless grace, as the birds themselves; her blooming cheeks and shining
+eyes, the way she carried her head, the face breaking into dimples with
+every motion, the mouth tempting in its rosy sweetness. He bent and
+kissed her. She held him a moment by the shoulders.
+
+"Oh, I like you, I like you," she cried. "You are above them all, you
+have something,"--her pretty brow knit,--"yet you are better than the
+Sieur even, the best of them all. If you will wait a long while I might
+marry you, but no other, no other," shaking her curls.
+
+He laughed, yet it was not from her naive confession. She did not
+realize what she was saying.
+
+"How old am I?" insistently.
+
+"About ten, I think."
+
+"Ten. And ten more would be twenty. Is that old?"
+
+"Oh, no."
+
+"And Madame de Champlain was twelve when she was married in France.
+Well, I suppose that is right. And--two years more! No, M'sieu, I shall
+wait until I am twenty. Maybe I shall not want to climb trees then, nor
+scramble over rocks, nor chase the squirrels, and pelt them with nuts."
+
+"Thou wilt be a decorous little lady then."
+
+"That is a long way off."
+
+"Yes. And Wanamee is calling thee."
+
+"The priest says we must call her Jolette, that is her Christian name.
+Must I have another name? Well, I will not. Good-night," and away she
+ran.
+
+He fell into rumination again. What would she say to his marriage? He
+had a misgiving she would take it rather hardly. She had not been so
+rapturously in love with miladi of late, but since the death of her
+husband, the rather noisy glee of the child had annoyed her. She would
+be better now. Of course they would keep the child, she had no other
+friends, nor home.
+
+Marie Gaudrion's marriage was quite a mystery to Rose. That any one
+could love such an uncouth fellow as Jules, that a girl could leave the
+comfortable home and pretty garden, for now the fruit trees had grown
+and were full of fragrant bloom in the early season, and the ripening
+fruit later on, and go to that dismal little place under the rocks.
+
+"You see it will be much warmer," Jules had said. It was built against
+the rock. "This will shield us from the north wind and the heavy snows,
+and another year we will take a place further down in the allotment. I
+will lay in a store of things, and we will be as happy as the squirrels
+in their hollow tree."
+
+Marie and her mother cleared it up a bit. The floor was of rough planks
+filled in with mortar, and skins were laid down for carpet. There was
+but one window looking toward the south, and the door was on that side
+also. Then a few steps and a sort of plateau. Inside there was a box
+bunk, where the household goods were piled away inside. A few shelves
+with dishes, a table, and several stools completed the furnishing.
+
+So on Sunday they went up to the unfinished chapel on the St. Charles,
+where a Mass was said, and the young couple were united. It was a lovely
+day, and they rowed down in the canoes to the Gaudrions, where a feast
+was given and healths drank to the newly-wedded couple, in which they
+were wished much happiness and many children. The table was spread
+luxuriously; the Mere had been two days cooking. Roasts and broils, game
+and fish, and many of the early fruits in preserve and just ripened.
+Sunday was a day for gorging in this primitive land, while summer
+lasted. No one need starve then.
+
+Afterward the young couple were escorted home.
+
+Rose sat out in the moonlight thinking of the strangeness of it all. How
+could Marie like it? Mere Gaudrion had said, "Jules will make a good
+husband, if he is clumsy and not handsome. He will never beat Marie, and
+now he will settle to work again, and make a good living, since courting
+days are over."
+
+The child wondered what courting days were. Several strange ideas came
+into her mind. It was as if it grew suddenly and there were things in
+the world she would like to know about. Perhaps M. Ralph could tell her.
+Miladi said she was tiresome when she asked questions, and there was
+always a headache. Would her head ache when she was grown up? And she
+stood in curious awe of Madame de Champlain, who would only talk of the
+saints and martyrs, and repeat prayers. She was very attractive to the
+children, and gathered them about her, letting them gaze in her little
+mirror she carried at her belt, as was the fashion in France. They liked
+the touch of her soft hand on their heads, they were sometimes allowed
+to press their tawny cheeks against it. Then she would try to instruct
+them in the Catechism. They learned the sentences by rote, in an eager
+sort of way, but she could see the real understanding was lacking.
+
+"It seems an almost hopeless task," she said one day to Pere Jamay. "And
+though the little girls in the convent seemed obtuse, they did
+understand what devotion was. These children would worship me. When I
+talk of the blessed Virgin they are fain to press their faces to the hem
+of my gown, taking it to mean that I am our dear Lady of Sorrows.
+Neither do they comprehend penance, they suppose they have offended me
+personally."
+
+"'Tis a curious race that God has allowed to sink to the lowest ebb,
+that His laborers should work the harder in the vineyard. I do not
+despair. There will come a glorious day when every soul shall bow the
+knee to our blessed Lord. The men seem incapable of any true discernment
+of holy things. But we must not weary in well-doing. Think what a
+glorious thing it would be to convert this nation to the true faith."
+
+The lady sighed. Many a day she went to her _prie-dieu_ not seven times,
+but twice that, to pray for their conversion.
+
+"We must win the children. They will grow up with some knowledge and
+cast aside their superstitions. We must be filled with holy zeal and
+never weary doing our Master's will."
+
+She had tried to win Rose, as well as some of the more intelligent
+half-breeds. But prayers were wearisome to the child. And why should you
+ask the same thing over and over again? Even M. Destournier, she had
+noticed, did not like to be importuned, and why then the great God, who
+had all the world to care for, and sent to His creatures what He thought
+best.
+
+The child looked out on the wide vault so full of stars, and her heart
+was thrilled with the great mystery. What was the beautiful world beyond
+that was called heaven? What did they know who had never seen it? The
+splendor of the great white moon--moving majestically through the
+blue--touched her with a sort of ecstasy. Was it another world? And how
+tenderly it seemed to touch the tree tops, silvering the branches and
+deepening the shadows until they were haunts of darkness. Did not other
+gods dwell there, as those old people in the islands on the other side
+of the world dreamed? Over the river hung trailing clouds of misty
+sheen, there was a musical lapping of the waves, the curious vibration
+of countless insects--now the shrill cry of some night bird, then such
+softness again that the world seemed asleep.
+
+"_Ma fille, ma fille_," and the half-inquiring accent of Wanamee's voice
+fell on her ear.
+
+"I am here. It is so beautiful. Wanamee, did you ever feel that you must
+float away to some other world and learn things that seem to hover all
+about you, and yet you cannot grasp?"
+
+"You cannot, child, until you are admitted to the company of the saints.
+And this life is very comfortable, to some at least. Thou hast no
+trouble, little one. But it is time for the bed."
+
+"Why can I not sleep out here? The Indians sleep under the tree. So has
+M'sieu Ralph, and the Governor. Oh, I should like to and have just that
+great blue sky and the stars over me."
+
+"They would not show under the tree branches. And there are wolves and
+strollers that it would not be safe to see at this time of the year,
+when there are so many drunken traders. So come in, child."
+
+She rose slowly. A little room in the end of the Giffard house was
+devoted to her and Wanamee. Two small pallets raised a little above the
+floor, a stand with a crucifix, that the Governor's wife insisted was
+necessary, a box, in which winter bedding was stored, and that served
+for a seat, completed the simple furniture.
+
+Rose knelt before the stand. There were two or three Latin prayers she
+often said aloud, but to-night her lips did not move. This figure on the
+cross filled her with a kind of horror just now.
+
+"Mam'selle," said the waiting Wanamee.
+
+The child rose. "You must pray for yourself to-night," she said in a
+soft voice, throwing her pliant body on the pallet. "I do not understand
+anything about God any more. I do not see why He should send His Son to
+die for the thousands of people who do not care for Him. The great
+Manitou of the Indians did not do it."
+
+"_Ma fille_, ask the priest. But then is it necessary to ask God when we
+have only to believe?"
+
+"I am afraid I don't even believe," was the hesitating reply.
+
+"Surely thou art wicked. There will be penance for thee."
+
+"I will not do penance either. You are cruel if you torture dumb
+animals, and it is said they have not the keen feeling of humans. I am
+not sure. But where one thinks of the pain or punishment he is bearing
+it is more bitter. And what right has another to inflict it upon you?"
+
+Wanamee was silent. She would ask the good priest. But ah, could she
+have her darling punished?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+MILADI AND M. DESTOURNIER
+
+
+"But what are you to do with this nice house? Why, the Governor's is
+hardly better. Will you live here and not at the post? And how pretty
+the furnishings are?"
+
+Rose's face was wreathed in smiles, and the dimples played hide-and-seek
+in a most entrancing manner.
+
+"Yes, I am to live here. And you, and Wanamee, and Nugava, and----"
+
+She clapped her hands and jumped up and down, she pirouetted around with
+grace and lightness that would have enchanted the King of La Belle
+France. Where did she get this wonderful harmony of movement. His eyes
+followed her in admiration. She paused. "And what part is to be given to
+me?"
+
+"This. And Wanamee will have the room between, to be within call."
+
+His cheek flushed. How was he to get his secret told?
+
+"And this will be yours, M'sieu. I know it on account of the books. And
+I can come in here and you shall teach me to read some of the new
+things. I have been very naughty and lazy, have I not. But in the
+winter one cannot roam about. Oh, how delightful it will be!"
+
+She looked up out of such clear, happy eyes. How could he destroy her
+delight--he knew it would.
+
+"There will be some one else here," he began.
+
+"Not Pere Jamay. He is with Madame a good deal. I do not like his sour
+face when he frowns upon me. And--oh, you will not have me sent to
+France and put in a convent. I would kill myself first."
+
+"No, no. It is not the priest. I am not over in love with him myself. It
+is some one sweet and pretty, and that you love----"
+
+"That I love"--wonderingly.
+
+He took both her hands in his.
+
+"Rose," with tender gravity, "I am going to marry Madame Giffard."
+
+She stiffened up and looked straight at him, the glow on her cheek
+fading to marble paleness.
+
+"_Petite_, you did love her dearly. You will love her again for my sake.
+No, you shall not go away in this angry mood. Do you not wish me to be
+happy?"
+
+"Miladi belongs to her husband, who is dead. When she goes to heaven he
+will be there, and you two--well, one must give up. Do you not remember
+that Osaka murdered his wife because she went away from him and married
+another brave?"
+
+He was amused at her passion.
+
+"I will give her up then. It is only for this life. And she needs some
+one to care for her. Why are you so opposed to it, when you used to
+love her? She will be like a mother to you."
+
+"I do not want any mother," proudly. "And she does not love me now. Oh,
+one can feel it just like a blast of unfriendly wind. And when she has
+you she will not care for any one else."
+
+"But I can care for you both. You know you belong to me. And sometime,
+when new people cross the ocean, some brave, fine young fellow will love
+you and want to marry you."
+
+"I will not marry him."
+
+"Oh, my little girl, be reasonable. We shall all be happy here together.
+And you will grow up to womanhood and learn many things that will please
+you and be of great service. And will go to France some day----"
+
+"I will not go anywhere with her. Unclasp my hands. I do not belong to
+you any more, to no one, I am----"
+
+She burst into a passion of weeping. In spite of her struggles he
+clasped her to his heart and kissed the throbbing temples, that seemed
+as if they would burst.
+
+"Oh, Rose, my little one, whom I love as a child, and always shall love,
+listen to me and be comforted."
+
+"She will not let you love me. She will want me to be sent to France and
+be put in a convent. Father Jamay said that was what I needed. Oh, you
+will see!"
+
+The sobs seemed to rend her small body. He could feel the beating of her
+heart and all his soul was moved with pity, although he knew her grief
+was unreasonable.
+
+"And you are willing to make me very unhappy, to spoil all my pleasure
+in the new home. Oh, my child, I hardly thought that of you."
+
+She made another struggle and freed herself. She stood erect, it seemed
+as if she had grown inches. "You may be happy with her," she said, with
+a dignity that would have been amusing if it had not been sad, and then
+she dashed out of the room.
+
+He sat down and leaned his elbow on the table, his head on his hand. He
+had gathered from several things miladi had suggested, that she was
+rather indifferent to the child, but he did not surmise that Rose had
+felt and understood it. No one had a better right than he, since in all
+probability her parentage would remain unknown. He would not relinquish
+her. She should be a daughter to him. He realized that he had a curious
+love for the child, that she had attracted him from the first. In the
+years to come her beauty and winsomeness would captivate a husband, with
+the dowry he could give her.
+
+For several days he saw very little of her. He was busy and miladi was
+exigent. Rose wandered about, sometimes to the settlement, watching the
+busy women dressing skins, making garments, cutting fringes, and
+embroidering wampum for the braves. The tawny children played about, the
+small papooses, strapped in their cases of bark, blinked and
+occasionally uttered wearisome cries. Or she rowed about in her canoe,
+often with Pani, for the river current was rather treacherous. Then she
+scudded through the woods like a deer, winding in and out of the stately
+columns that were here silver-gray, there white; beech and birch, dark
+hemlocks, that not having space to branch out, grew up tall with a head
+almost like a palm. Insects hummed and shrilled, or whirred like a tiny
+orchestra. Now and then a bird flung out a strain of melody, squirrels
+ran about, and the doe came and put its nose in her hand. She had tied a
+strip of skin, colored red, about its neck, that no one might shoot it.
+The rich, deep moss cushioned the ground. Occasionally an acorn fell.
+She would sit here in dreamy content by the hours, often just enjoying,
+sometimes puzzling her brains over all the mysteries that in the years
+to come education would solve. So few could read, indeed books were only
+for the few.
+
+Then she ran up and down the rocks, hid in the nooks, came out again in
+dryad fashion. She had been wont to laugh and make echoes ring about,
+but now her heart, in spite of all she could do, was not light enough
+for that. Wanamee was sore troubled by her reticence, for she was too
+proud to make any complaint. Indeed, she did not know what to complain
+of. In her childish heart everything was vague, she could not reason,
+she could only feel that something had been snatched out of her life and
+set in another's. She would henceforth be lonely.
+
+"Miladi wants to see you," said Wanamee one morning. "She wonders why
+you do not run in as you used. And she has something joyful to tell
+you."
+
+Rose shut her lips tightly together and stamped on the floor.
+
+"Oh, _ma petite_, you have guessed then! Or, perhaps M'sieu told you.
+Miladi is to marry him, and they are to go to the nice new house he is
+building. They are to take you and me and Pani. And he will have the two
+Montagnais, who have been his good servants. We shall get out of this
+old, tumble-down post station, and be near the Heberts. Then M'sieu is
+getting such a nice big wheat field and garden."
+
+Rose was drawing long breaths. She would not cry or utter a complaint.
+Wanamee approached her, holding out both hands.
+
+"Do not touch me," she entreated, in a passionate tone. "Do not say
+anything more. When I am a little tranquil I will go and see her. I know
+what she wants me to say--that I am glad. There is something just here
+that keeps me from being glad," and she pressed her hands tightly over
+her heart. "I do not know what it is."
+
+"Surely you are not jealous of miladi? They are grown-up people. And
+M'sieu told her yesterday--I heard them talking--that you were to be a
+child to them, that they would both love you. Miladi has been irritable,
+and not so gay as she used, but she is better now, and will soon be her
+olden self. She was very nice and cheerful this morning, and laughed
+with the joy of other days. Oh, child, do not disturb it by any
+tempers."
+
+Wanamee's eyes were soft and entreating.
+
+"Oh, you need not fear," the child exclaimed, proudly. "Now I will go."
+
+She tapped at miladi's door, and a very sweet voice said--"Come, little
+stranger."
+
+She opened it. Miladi was sitting by the small casement window, in one
+of her pretty silken gowns, long laid by. There was a dainty rose flush
+on her cheek, but the hand she held out was much thinner than of yore,
+when in the place of knuckles there were dimples.
+
+"Where have you been all these days when I have not seen you, little
+maid? Come here and kiss me, and wish me joy, as they do in old France.
+For I am going to take your favorite as a husband, and you are to be our
+little daughter."
+
+Rose lifted up her face. The kiss was on her forehead.
+
+"Now, kiss me," and she touched the small shoulder with something like a
+shake, as she offered her cheek.
+
+It was a cold little kiss from lips that hardly moved. Miladi laughed
+with a pretty, amused ripple.
+
+"In good sooth," she said merrily, "some lover will teach you to kiss
+presently. Thou art growing very pretty, Rose, and when some of the
+gallants come over from Paris, they will esteem the foundling of Quebec
+the heroine of romance."
+
+The child did not flush under the compliment, or the sting, but glanced
+down on the floor.
+
+"Come, thou hast not wished me joy."
+
+"Madame, as I have not been to France I do not know how they wish joy."
+
+"Oh, you formal little child!" laughing gayly. "Do you not know what it
+is to be happy? Why, you used to be as merry as the birds in singing
+time."
+
+"I can still be merry with the birds."
+
+"But you must be merry for M. Destournier. He wishes you to be happy,
+and has asked me to be a mother to you. Why, I fell in love with you
+long ago, when you were so ill. And surely you have not forgotten when I
+found you on the gallery, in a dead faint. You were grateful for
+everything then."
+
+Had she loved miladi so much? Why did she not love her now? Why was her
+heart so cold? like lead in her bosom.
+
+"I am grateful for everything."
+
+"Then say you are glad I am going to marry M. Ralph, who loves me
+dearly."
+
+"Then I shall be glad you are to marry him. But I am sorry for M.
+Giffard, in his lonely grave."
+
+"Oh, horrors, child! Do you think I ought to be buried in the same
+grave? There, run away. You give me the shivers."
+
+Rose made a formal little courtesy, and walked slowly out of the room,
+with a swelling heart.
+
+Miladi told of the scene to her lover daintily, and with some
+embellishments, adding--"She is a jealous little thing. You will be
+between two fires."
+
+"The fires will not scorch, I think," smiling. "She will soon outgrow
+the childish whim."
+
+In his secret heart there was a feeling of joy that he had touched such
+depths in the little girl's soul. Miladi was rather annoyed that he had
+not agreed to send her to some convent in France, as she hoped. But in a
+year or two she might choose it for herself.
+
+They went up to the chapel to be married. The Governor gave the bride
+away. She was gowned just as Rose had seen her that first time, only she
+was covered with a fine deerskin cloak, that she laid aside as they
+walked up the aisle, rather scandalizing the two Recollet fathers. She
+looked quite like a girl, and it was evident she was very happy.
+
+Then they had a feast in the new house, and it was the first occasion of
+real note there had been in Quebec. Rose was very quiet and reserved
+among the grown folks, though M. de Champlain found time to chat with
+her, and tell her that now she had found real parents.
+
+After this there was a busy season preparing for the winter, as usual,
+drying and preserving fruits, taking up root vegetables and storing
+them, gathering nuts, and getting in grains of all kinds. Now they kept
+pigs alive until about midwinter, and tried to have fresh game quite
+often. The scurvy was practically banished.
+
+As for Rose, the marriage made not so much difference. She was let very
+much alone, and rambled about as she listed, until the snows came.
+Occasionally she visited Marie, but everything was in a huddle in the
+small place, and the chimney often smoked when the wind was east. But
+Marie seemed strangely content and happy. Or she went to the Gaudrions,
+which she really liked, even if the babies did tumble over her.
+
+She went sometimes to the classes the Governor's wife was teaching, and
+translated to the Indian children many things it was difficult for them
+to understand.
+
+Madame de Champlain would say--"Child, thou ought to be in the service
+of the good God and His Virgin Mother. He has given thee many
+attractions, but they are to be trained for His work, not for thy own
+pleasure. We are not to live a life of ease, but to deny ourselves for
+the sake of the souls of those around us."
+
+"I think oftentimes, Madame, they have no souls," returned the daring
+girl. "They seem never able to distinguish between the true God and
+their many gods. And if they are ill they use charms. Their religion, I
+observe, makes them very happy."
+
+"There are many false things that please the carnal soul. That is what
+we are to fight against. Oh, child, I am afraid the evil one desires
+thee strongly. Thou shouldst go to confession, as we do at home, and
+accept the penances the good priests put upon thee."
+
+Confession had not made much headway with these children of the new
+world. Father Jamay, to his great disgust, found they would tell almost
+anything, thinking to please him with a multitude of sins, and they went
+off to forget their penance. So it was not strongly insisted upon.
+
+Madame de Champlain was a devote. In her secret heart she longed for the
+old convent life. Still she was deeply interested in the plans of the
+Recollet fathers, who were establishing missions among the Hurons and
+the Nipissings, and learning the languages. She gave generously of her
+allowance, and denied herself many things; would, indeed, have given up
+more had her husband allowed it.
+
+Captain Pontgrave came in to spend the winter, brave and cheerful,
+though he had lost his only son. While the men exchanged plans for the
+future, and smoked in comfort, Madame was often kneeling on a flat stone
+she had ordered sent to her little convent-like niche, praying for the
+salvation of the new world to be laid at the foot of God's throne, and
+to be a glory to old France. But the court of old France was revelling
+in pleasure and demanding furs for profit.
+
+Destournier occasionally joined the conclave. His heart and soul were in
+this new land and her advancement, but his wife demanded his company
+most of his evenings. She sat in her high-backed chair wrapped in furs
+listening to his reading aloud or appearing to, though she often drowsed
+off. But there was another who drank in every word, if she did not quite
+understand. The wide stone chimney gave out its glowing fire of great
+logs, sometimes hemlock branches that diffused a grateful fragrance
+around the room. On a sort of settle, soft with folds of furs, Rose
+would stretch out gracefully, or curl up like a kitten, and with
+wide-open eyes turn her glance from the fascinating fire to the reader's
+face, repeating in her brain the sentences she could catch. Sometimes it
+was poetry, and then she fairly revelled in delight.
+
+After a few weeks she seemed to accept the fact of the marriage with
+equanimity, but she grew silent and reserved. She understood there was a
+secret animosity between herself and miladi, even if they were outwardly
+agreeable. She had gathered many pretty and refined ways from Madame de
+Champlain, or else they were part of the unknown birthright. She had
+turned quite industrious as well, the winter day seemed dreary when one
+had no employment. She read a good deal too, she could understand the
+French, and occasionally amused herself translating.
+
+When the spring opened the Governor and several others went to the new
+trading post and town, Mont Real. There really seemed more advantages
+here than at Quebec. There was a long stretch of arable land, plenty of
+fruit trees, if they were wild; a good port, and more ease in catching
+the traders as they came along. There, too, stray Indians often brought
+in a few choice furs, which they traded for various trifles, exchanging
+these again for rum.
+
+Rose drew a long breath of delight when the spring fairly opened, and
+she could fly to her olden haunts. Oh, how dear they were! Though now
+she often smuggled one of M. Ralph's books and amused herself reading
+aloud until the woods rang with the melodious sounds.
+
+Miladi liked a sail now and then on the river, when it was tranquil. She
+did not seem to grow stronger, though she would not admit that she was
+ill. She watched Rose with a curious half-dread. She was growing tall,
+but her figure kept its lithe symmetry. Out in the woods she sometimes
+danced like a wild creature. Miladi had been so fond of dancing in M.
+Giffard's time, but now it put her out of breath and brought a pain to
+her side. She really envied the bright young creature in the grace and
+rosiness of perfect health.
+
+This summer a band of Jesuits came to the colony. They received a rather
+frigid welcome from the colonists, but the Recollets, convinced that
+they were making very slow advance in so large a field, opened their
+convent to them, and assisted them in getting headquarters of their own.
+And the church in Quebec began to take shape, it was such a journey to
+the convent services at the St. Charles river.
+
+There followed a long, cold winter. Miladi was housed snug and warm, but
+she grew thinner, so that her rings would not stay on her slim fingers.
+There had been troubles with the Indians and at times M. Destournier was
+obliged to be away, and this fretted her sorely.
+
+There was a great conclave at Three Rivers, to make a new treaty of
+peace with several of the tribes. A solemn smoking of pipes, passing of
+wampum, feasts and dances. And then, as usual, the influx of traders.
+
+Madame de Champlain desired to return to France with her husband, who
+was to sail in August. The rough life was not at all to her taste.
+
+"Oh," said miladi, eagerly, when she heard this, "let us go, too. I am
+tired of these long, cold winters. I was not made for this kind of life.
+If M. Giffard had lived a year longer he would have had a competency;
+and then we should have returned home. Surely you have made money."
+
+"But mine is not where I can take it at a month's notice. I have been
+building on my plantation, weeding out some incompetent and drunken
+tenants, and putting in others. Pontgrave is going. Du Pare is much at
+the new settlement at Beaupre. It would not be possible for me to go,
+but you might."
+
+"Go alone?" in dismay.
+
+"It would not be alone. Madame de Champlain would be glad of your
+company."
+
+"A woman who has no other thought but continual prayers, and anxieties
+for the souls of the whole world."
+
+"Another year----"
+
+"I want to go now"--impatiently.
+
+She was like a fretful child. He looked in vain now for the charms she
+had once possessed.
+
+"I could not possibly. It would be at a great loss. And I am not
+enamored of the broils and disputes. How do I know but some charge may
+be trumped up against me? The fur company seize upon any pretext. And
+even a brief absence might ruin some of my best plans. Marguerite, I am
+more of a Canadian than a Frenchman. The Sieur has promised to interest
+some new emigrants. I see great possibilities ahead of us."
+
+"So you have talked always. I am homesick for La Belle France. I want no
+more of Canada, of Quebec, that has grown hateful to me."
+
+Her voice was high and tremulous, and there burned a red spot on each
+cheek.
+
+"Then let me send you. You should stay a year to recuperate, and I may
+come for you."
+
+"I will take Rose."
+
+"If she wishes. But I will not have her put in a convent."
+
+"She is like a wild deer. Do you mean to marry her to some half-breed?
+There seems no one else. The men who come on business leave wives
+behind. There is no one to marry."
+
+"You found some one," he returned good-naturedly, smoothing her fair
+hair.
+
+"Can you find another?"
+
+"She is but a child. There need to be no hurry."
+
+"She has outgrown childhood. To be sure, there is Pierre Gaudrion, who
+hangs about awkwardly, now and then."
+
+"She will never marry Pierre Gaudrion. She is of too fine stuff."
+
+"A foundling! Who knows aught about her? Most Frenchmen like a well-born
+mother for their children."
+
+"She is in no haste for a husband. But do not let us dispute about her.
+You excite yourself too much. Think seriously of this project. The Sieur
+will see you safely housed when once you are there."
+
+He turned and went out. She fell into a violent fit of weeping. She
+could coax anything out of Laurent, poor Laurent, who might have been
+alive to-day but for the friendship he thought he owed M. Destournier.
+And they might now be in Paris, where there were all sorts of gay
+goings-on. This life was too stupid for a woman, too cold, too lonely.
+And a wife should be a husband's first thought. Ralph was cold and
+cruel, and had grown stern, almost morose.
+
+He walked over to the plantation. By one of the log huts Rose stood
+talking to an Indian woman. Yes, she was no longer a child. She was tall
+and shapely, full of vigor, glowing with health, radiant in coloring,
+yes, beautiful. There was much of the olden time about her in the smiles
+and dimples and eagerness, though she was grave in miladi's presence.
+
+Yet neither was she a woman. The virginal lines had not wholly filled
+out, but there was a promise of affluence that neither my lady nor the
+Madame possessed. For the lovely Helene had devote written in every line
+of her face, a rapt expression, that seemed to lift her above the
+ordinary world. The souls of those she came in contact with were the
+great thing. And though the Sieur was a good Catholic, he was also of
+the present world, and its advancement, and had always been inspired
+with the love of an explorer, and of a full, free life. He could never
+have been a priest. He had the right view of colonization, too. Homes
+were to be made. Men and women were to be attached to the soil to make
+it yield up the bountiful provision hidden in its mighty breast.
+
+And miladi! There had been so few women in his life that he knew nothing
+of contrast, or analysis. Some of the men took Indian wives for a year
+or so: that had never appealed to him. He had been charmed by Madame
+Giffard from the very first meeting with her, but she was another man's
+wife, and she loved her husband. The pretty coquetries were a part of
+the civilized world over in France and meant only a graceful desire to
+please. Then in her sorrow he pitied her profoundly, and felt that he
+owed her the highest and most sacred duty.
+
+But as he studied Rose now, and thought of a suggested lover in Pierre
+Gaudrion, his whole soul rose in revolt. And the other thought of
+sending her away was equally distasteful. Why, she was the light and
+sweetness of the settlement. In a different fashion, she captured the
+hearts of the Indian women, and taught them the love of home-making,
+roused in some of them intelligence. How did she come by it? There was
+Wanamee.
+
+He did not dream that he had awakened a desire for knowledge in the
+girl's breast and brain. But she had gone beyond him in the lore of the
+sea and the sky, and the romance of the trees, that to him were
+promising materials for houses and boats. They were her friends. She
+could translate the soft murmur that ran through their leaves, or the
+sweet, wild whistle of the wind that blew in from the river or down from
+the high hills,--from the ice and snow of the fur country. And sometimes
+he had seen her run races with the foaming river, where it whirled and
+eddied and fretted against a spur of the mighty rocks. All her life,
+from the day he found her on the rocks, seemed to pass before him in one
+great flash. He exulted that she belonged to no one, that he had the
+best right to her. He could not have told why. Heaven had denied him a
+child of his very own, and he had learned that miladi considered babies
+a wearisome burthen, fit only for peasants and Indian women.
+
+Did the saintly and beautiful Helene think so as well? he wondered. He
+had learned a good deal about womankind since his marriage, but he made
+a grand mistake, he had learned only about one woman; and she was not
+the noblest of her kind.
+
+Rose turned suddenly and saw him in that half-waiting attitude. There
+was little introspection, or analysis, in those days; people simply
+lived, felt without understanding. She had outgrown her first feeling of
+aversion. In a vague fashion she realized that miladi needed protection
+and care that no one but M. Destournier could give her. She was sorry
+she could not ramble about, that she never brightened up, and sung and
+danced any more. And this was why she, Rose, did not want to grow old
+and give up the delights of vivid, enchanting exercise.
+
+Why miladi was captious and changeful, never of the same mind twice, she
+could not understand. What suited her to-day bored her to-morrow. She
+gave up trying to please, though she was generally ready and gracious.
+But she remarked it was the same way with M. Ralph, and he bore the
+captiousness with so sweet a temper that she felt moved to emulate him.
+In the depths of her heart there was a great pity, and it was sweet to
+him, though neither ever adverted to it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A FEAST OF SUMMER
+
+
+As if his eyes had summoned her, she turned toward him. Out here in
+God's wide, beautiful world they could be the same friends, and not fret
+any one. It might have been dangerous if he had not been so upright a
+man, with no subtle reasonings, and she less simple-hearted.
+
+"I have been helping Evening Star arrange her house. She is anxious to
+be like a Frenchwoman, and has put off many Indian ways since she became
+a convert."
+
+"But you do not give her her Christian name," and he smiled.
+
+"Maria Assunta! It isn't half as pretty. She has such lovely deep eyes,
+and such velvety skin that her Indian name suits her best. What does it
+matter?"
+
+"Perhaps it helps them to break away from Indian superstitions. I do see
+some improvement in the women, but the men----"
+
+She laughed lightly. "The women were better in the beginning. They were
+used to work. And all the braves care for is hunting and drinking bouts.
+If I were a priest, I should consider them hardly worth the trouble."
+
+"A fine priest you would make. They consider you half a heretic."
+
+"I go to chapel, M'sieu, when one can get there. I know a great many
+prayers, but they are much alike. I would like all the world to be
+upright and good, but I do not want to stay in a stifling little box
+until my breath is almost gone, and my knees stiff, saying a thing over
+and over. M'sieu, I can feel the Great Presence out on the beautiful
+rocks, as I look down on the river and watch the colors come and go,
+amber and rose, and greens of so many tints; and the music that is
+always so different. Then I think God does not mean us to shut it all
+out and be melancholy."
+
+"You were ever a wild little thing."
+
+"I can be grave, M'sieu, and silent, when there is need, for others. But
+I cannot give up all of my own life. I say to my heart--'Be still, it is
+only for a little while'--then comes the dance of freedom."
+
+She laughed, with a ripple of music.
+
+"I wonder," he began, after a pause, watching her lithe step and the
+proud way she carried her head--"I wonder if you would like to cross the
+ocean, to go to France?"
+
+"With the beautiful Madame? It is said she is to sail as soon as the
+boats are loaded."
+
+"Miladi might go with her. I could not be spared. And you----"
+
+He saw the sudden, great throb that moved her breast up to her very
+shoulders.
+
+"I should not want to go," in a quiet tone.
+
+"But if I found at the last hour that I could go?"
+
+She drew a long breath. "M'sieu, I have no desire to see France. I hear
+you and the Governor talk about it, and the great court where the King
+spends his time in foolishness, and the Queen Mother plots wicked
+schemes. And they throw people in prison for religion's sake. Did I hear
+a story of some people who were burned at the stake? Why, that is as
+cruel as the untaught Indians. And to cross the big, fearful ocean. Last
+summer we sailed up to the great gulf, you know, and you could see where
+the ocean and sky met. No, I like this old, rocky place the best."
+
+"But if miladi wanted you to go very much?"
+
+"She will not want me very much, in her heart," and she glanced up so
+straightforwardly that he flushed. "No, you will leave me here and I
+will be very religious. I will go to the chapel every Sunday and pray. I
+will have a _prie-dieu_ in one corner, and kneel many times a day,
+praying that you will come back safely. I shall have something real to
+pray for then. And--miladi will be very happy."
+
+There was a fervor, touching in its earnestness, that penetrated his
+soul.
+
+"You will not miss me much," he ventured.
+
+The quick tears sprang to her eyes.
+
+"Oh, yes, I should miss you," and her voice had a little tremble in it.
+"But you would return. Oh, yes, I know the good God would send you back.
+See how many times he has sent the Sieur de Champlain back!"
+
+She raised her face to his, and though the tears still beaded her long
+lashes, the lips smiled adorably. He could have kissed her, but his fine
+respect told him that endearment was sacred to another man now.
+
+"I do not think I shall go. Some one must be here to see that things do
+not go to wreck."
+
+She wondered if miladi would go without him. They walked on silently. He
+was thinking of the other man. The Sieur hoped to persuade some
+better-class emigrants on his next voyage.
+
+Whether miladi would have gone or not could not be known. She was taken
+quite ill. The doctor came down from Tadoussac, and said she would not
+be strong enough to stand such a long voyage.
+
+Wanamee was her indefatigable nurse when her husband was away, as he was
+compelled to be in the daytime. On a few occasions she insisted that
+Rose should read from some old volumes of poems. She used to watch, with
+strange, longing eyes. Ah, if she could be young again, and strong. Did
+M'sieu Ralph often think of the years between, and that some time in the
+future she would be an old woman! He appeared to grow more vigorous and
+younger.
+
+There were busy times in the little town. The traders seemed to be
+rougher every year. They were not much inside the palisade, but they set
+up booths and tents on the shore edge, and there was much drinking and
+chaffering.
+
+"Thou must not go outside of the palisade," said Destournier to Rose.
+"There are many rude, drunken men about."
+
+She did not demur. In truth she spent many hours comforting the Indian
+women for the loss of their angel lady, whom they had truly worshipped,
+and whom, in their vague ignorant fashion, they had confused with the
+Virgin. But she had wearied of the wildness and the lack of the society
+of the nuns that she loved so dearly. Two of her maids would return with
+her, the other had married.
+
+And though she had not made very warm friends with Madame Destournier,
+she would have liked her companionship on the long voyage. And miladi
+was really sorry to have the break, since there were so few women, even
+if she did tire of her religion.
+
+"If we do not meet again here," Madame Helene said, in her
+sweetly-modulated voice, that savored of the convent, "it is to be hoped
+we shall reach the home where we shall rest with the saints, when the
+Divine has had His will with us. Farewell, my sister, and may the Holy
+Virgin come to your assistance in the darkest hours."
+
+Then she knelt and prayed. Miladi shuddered. Was she going to die? Oh,
+no, she could not.
+
+The vessel came down from Tadoussac. All the river was afloat, as usual,
+at this season. A young man sprang off and pressed his sister's hand
+warmly.
+
+The Heberts, with their son and daughter, the married maid and her
+husband and several others, who had stood a little in awe of the
+Governor's lady, were there to wish her _bon voyage_. Her husband
+assisted her, with the tenderest care. Was he happy with her, when she
+was only half his age? M. Destournier wondered.
+
+When they started, a salute was fired. He was leaving his new fort but
+half completed.
+
+"Who was that pretty young girl who kept so close to the Heberts?"
+Eustache Boulle asked his sister. "There, talking to that group of
+Indian women."
+
+"Oh, that is M. Destournier's ward. Surely, you saw her when you first
+came here, though she was but a child then. A foundling, it seems. Good
+Father Jamay was quite urgent that she should be sent home, and spend
+some years in a convent."
+
+"And she refused? She looks like it. Oh, yes, I remember the child."
+
+"Beauty is a great snare where there is a wayward will," sighed the
+devoted Helene. "It is no country for young girls of the better class.
+Though no one knows to what class she really belongs."
+
+Eustache fell into a dream. What a bright attractive child she had
+been. How could he have forgotten her? He was two-and-twenty now, and
+his man's heart had been stirred by her beauty.
+
+If Rose was not so much of a devote she began to make herself useful to
+many of the Indian converts who missed their dear lady. To keep their
+houses tidy, to learn a little about the useful side of gardening, and
+how their crops must be tended, to insure the best results. The children
+could be set to do much of this.
+
+Quebec fell back to its natural state. There was no more carousing along
+the river, no drunken men wrangling in the booths, no affrays. Rose
+could ramble about as she liked, and she felt like a prisoner set free.
+Madame Destournier was better, and each day took a sail upon the river,
+which seemed to strengthen her greatly. Presently they would spend a
+fortnight at the new settlement, Mont Real. Many things were left in the
+hands of M. Destournier, and his own affairs had greatly increased.
+
+One afternoon Rose had espied a branch of purple plums, that no one had
+touched, on a great tree that had had space and sun, but fruited only on
+the southern side. No stick or stone could dislodge them. How tempting
+they looked, in their rich, melting sheen.
+
+"I must have some," she said, eyeing the size of the trunk, the smooth
+bark, and the distance before there was any limb. Then she considered.
+Finding a crotched stick, a limb that had been broken off in some high
+wind, she caught it in the lowest branch and gently pulled it down until
+she grasped it with her hand.
+
+Yes, it was tough. She swung to it. Then she felt her way up cautiously,
+like a cat, and when she swung near enough, caught one arm around the
+tree trunk. It was a hard scramble, but she stood upon it triumphantly.
+It bore her weight, yet she must go higher, for she could not reach the
+temptingly-laden limb. Now and then a branch swayed--if she had her
+stick up here that she had dropped so disdainfully when she had captured
+the limb.
+
+"It is a good thing to be sure you will not want what you fling away,"
+she said to herself, sententiously.
+
+"Aha!" She had caught the limb and drew it in carefully. There she sat,
+queen of a solitary feast. Were ever plums so luscious! Some of the
+ripest fell to the ground and smashed, making cones of golden red, with
+a tiny cap of purple at the top.
+
+In the old Latin book she still dipped into occasionally there were
+descriptions of orchards laden with fruit that made the air around
+fragrant. She could imagine herself there.
+
+In that country there were gods everywhere, by the streams, where one
+named Pan played on pipes. What were pipes that could emit music? The
+nooks hid them. The zephyrs repeated their songs and laments.
+
+There was a swift dazzle and a bird lighted on the branch above her, and
+poured out such a melodious warble that she was entranced. A bird from
+some other tree answered. Ah! what delight to eat her fill to measures
+of sweetest music, and she suddenly joined in.
+
+The young fellow who had been following a beaten path paused in amaze.
+Was it a human voice? It broke off into a clear, beautiful whistle that,
+striking against a ledge of rock, rebounded in an echo. He crept along
+on the soft grass, where the underbrush had some time been fired. The
+tree was swaying to and fro, and a shower of fruit came to the ground.
+
+He drew nearer and then he espied the dryad. From one point he could see
+a girl, sitting in superb unconcern. Was it the one he had been
+searching for diligently the last hour? How had she been able to perch
+herself up there?
+
+Presently she had taken her fill of the fruit, of swinging daintily to
+and fro, of watching the sun-beams play hide-and-seek among the distant
+fir trees, that held black nooks in their shade, of studying with
+intense ecstasy the wonderful colors gathering around the setting sun,
+for which she had no name, but that always seemed as if set to some
+wondrous music. Every pulse stirred within her, making life itself
+sweet.
+
+She stepped down on the lower limb. It would be rather rough to slide
+down the tree trunk, but she had not minded it in her childhood. The
+other way she had often tried as well. She held on to the limb above,
+and walked out on hers, until it began to sway so that she could hardly
+balance herself. Then she gave one spring, and almost came down in the
+young man's arms.
+
+She righted herself in a moment, and stared at him. There was something
+familiar in the soft eyes, in the general contour of the face.
+
+"You do not remember me!"
+
+"Let me think," she said, with a calmness that amused him. "Yes, it
+comes to me. I saw you on the boat that conveyed Madame de Champlain.
+You are her brother."
+
+"Eustache Boulle, at your service," and he bowed gracefully. "But I did
+not know you, Mam'selle. You were such a child four years ago. Even then
+you made an impression upon me."
+
+She was so little used to compliments that it did not stir her in the
+slightest. She was wondering, and at length she said--
+
+"How did you find me?"
+
+"By hard searching, Mam'selle. I saw your foster-mother--I believe she
+is that--and she gave me a graphic description of your wanderings. I
+paused here because the beauty of the place attracted me. And I heard a
+voice I knew must be human, emulating the birds, so I drew nearer. Will
+you forgive me when I confess I rifled your store? What plums these are!
+I did not know that Canada could produce anything so utterly delicious.
+We have some wild sour ones that get dried and made eatable in the
+winter, when other things are scarce. And the Indians make a
+queer-tasting drink out of them."
+
+"I found this tree quite by accident. I never saw it before, and if you
+will look, there are only two branches that have any fruit. The other
+side of the tree is barren. And that high branch will give the birds a
+feast. I do not think I could venture up there," laughing.
+
+"I wondered how you ventured at all. And how you dared come down that
+way."
+
+His eyes expressed the utmost admiration.
+
+"Oh," she answered carelessly, "that was an old trick of mine, my
+childhood's delight. I used to try how far I could walk out before the
+limb would give me warning."
+
+"But if it had broken?"
+
+"Why, I should have jumped, all the same. You did not go with your
+sister and M. de Champlain."
+
+"I had half a mind to, then I reconsidered."
+
+She met his gaze calmly, as if she was wondering a little what had
+prevented him.
+
+"And I came to Quebec. It begins to grow. But we want something beside
+Indians. M. Destournier has settled quite a plantation of them, and my
+sister has believed in their conversion. But when one knows them
+well--he has not so much faith in them. They are apt to revert to the
+original belief, crude superstitions."
+
+"It is hard to believe," the girl said slowly.
+
+"That depends. Some beliefs are very pleasant and appeal to the heart."
+
+"But is it of real service to God that one rolls in a bed of thorns, or
+walks barefoot over sharp stones, or kneels all night on a hard, cold
+floor? There are so many beautiful things in the world, and God has made
+them----"
+
+"As a snare, the priest will tell you. Mam'selle, thou hast not been
+made for a devotee. It would be a great loss to one man if thou shouldst
+bury all these charms in a convent."
+
+"I do not know any man who would grieve," she made answer indifferently.
+
+"But you might," and a peculiar smile settled about his lips.
+
+"I am going to take home as many of these plums as I can carry. Madame
+Destournier is not well, and has a great longing for different things. I
+found some splendid berries yesterday which she ate with a relish.
+Sickness gives one many desires. I am glad I am always well. At least I
+was never ill but once, and that was long ago."
+
+She sprang up and began to look about her. "If I could find some large
+leaves----"
+
+"I will fill my pockets."
+
+She looked helplessly at her own garments, and then colored vividly,
+thinking if this young man were not here she would gather a lapful. Why
+should she have this strange consciousness?
+
+Nothing of service met her gaze, and she drew her brow into a little
+frown. It gave her a curious piquancy, and interested him. She had
+spirit.
+
+"Oh, I know! What a dullard I was. Those great flaring dockweeds do not
+grow about here. But something else will answer."
+
+She ran over to an old birch tree and tore off great pieces of bark,
+then gathering some half-dried grasses, began to fashion a sort of pail,
+bending up the edges to make the bottom. She was so quick and deft, it
+was a pleasure to watch her. Then she filled it with the choicest of the
+fruit. There was still some left.
+
+"We might have another feast," he suggested.
+
+"I have feasted sufficiently. Let us make another basket. It can be
+smaller than this."
+
+It was very pleasant to dally there in the woods. He was unnecessarily
+awkward, that the slim fingers might touch his, and her little laugh was
+charming.
+
+"Allow me to carry the larger one," and he reached for it.
+
+"No, no. You are weighted in the pockets. And these are choice. I will
+have no one take part in them."
+
+She drew herself aside and began to march with a graceful, vigorous
+step, her head proudly poised on the arching neck that, bared to summer
+suns and wind, yet was always white. The delicious little hollow, where
+the collar bones met, was formed to lay kisses in, and be filled with
+warm, throbbing lips. Yes, he was right in coming back to Quebec, she
+was more enchanting than the glimpse of her had been.
+
+"Why do you look at me so?" she cried, with a kind of quick repulsion
+she did not understand, but it angered her.
+
+"It is the homage we pay to beauty, Mam'selle."
+
+"Your sister is beautiful," she said, with an abruptness that was almost
+anger.
+
+"So thought the Sieur de Champlain, and I believe she was not offended
+at it."
+
+"I am not like that," she declared decisively. "She was fair as a lily,
+and Father Jamay said she had the face of a saint."
+
+"I am not so partial to saints myself. And my brother-in-law would have
+been better satisfied, I do believe, if she had been less saintly."
+
+She looked a trifle puzzled.
+
+"It is long since you left France," she commented irrelevantly.
+
+"I was not seventeen. It is six years ago."
+
+"Do you mean to go back?"
+
+"Sometime, Mam'selle. Would you like to go?"
+
+"No," she said decidedly.
+
+"But why not?" amused.
+
+"Because I like Quebec."
+
+"It is a wretched wilderness of a place."
+
+"Madame Destournier talks about France. Why, if Paris is all gayety and
+pleasure, are people put in dungeons, and then to death? And there seem
+so many rulers. They are not always good to the Sieur, either."
+
+"They do not understand. But these are too weighty matters for a young
+head."
+
+"Why do they not want a great, beautiful town here! All they care about
+is the furs, and the rough men and Indians spoil the summer. I like to
+hear the Sieur tell what might be, houses and castles, and streets,
+instead of these crooked, winding paths, and--there are fine shops,
+where you buy beautiful things," glancing vaguely at him.
+
+"Why should you not like to go thither then, if you can dream of these
+delights?"
+
+"I want the Sieur to have his way, and do some of the things he has set
+his heart upon. Miladi would like it too. But I am well enough
+satisfied."
+
+She tossed her head in her superb strength. He had not known many women,
+and they were older. There was something in her fresh sweetness that
+touched him to the soul.
+
+"This way, M'sieu." He was plunging ahead, keeping pace with some
+tumultuous thoughts.
+
+"Ah----!"
+
+"And see--you have been careless. You are sowing plums along the way.
+This is no place for them to take root."
+
+She gave a little laugh as well, though she had begun in a sharp tone.
+
+He had pressed the side of his slight receptacle and made a yawning
+crack in it.
+
+"Well, now you must gather that great leaf and patch it. Here are some
+pine needles. I sew with them sometimes. You do not need a thread."
+
+Was she laughing at him?
+
+He managed to repair the damages, and picked up the plums he had not
+trodden upon, that were yielding their wine-like fragrance to the air.
+
+"Which way do you go, M'sieu?" she asked, with unconscious hauteur.
+
+"Why--to M. Destournier's. I called on miladi, and she sent me to find
+you in some wood, she hardly knew where. And I have brought you safely
+back."
+
+"M'sieu, I have come back many a time in safety without you."
+
+Her voice had a suggestion of dismissal in it.
+
+"I must present my spoils to Madame. No, I believe they are yours, you
+were the discoverer, you made the purple shower that I only helped
+gather."
+
+She skipped up the steps lightly. How dainty her moccasined feet were!
+The short skirt showed the small ankles and the swell of the beautiful
+leg. Her figure was not a whit behind his sister's convent-trained one,
+but she was fearless as a deer.
+
+Miladi sat out on the gallery in her chair, that could be moved about
+with ease by a small lever at the side. Looking down at the youthful
+figures, the thought beset her that haunts all women, that here was
+material for a very fortunate match. He was much superior to Pierre
+Gaudrion.
+
+"The trophies of the hunt," Boulle exclaimed gayly. "The huntress and
+the most delicious harvest. I have seen nothing like it."
+
+"I found some plums, a tree quite by itself, and only two branches of
+fruit. We must send some of the best pits to M. Hebert. And I shall
+plant a row in the Sieur's garden."
+
+She brought out a dish and took them carefully from the birch-bark
+receptacle. The exquisite bloom had not been disturbed.
+
+"I will get a dish for yours," she said to the young man.
+
+"Mine were the gleanings," he laughed.
+
+Miladi's eyes glowed at the sight of the feast. Rose had not emptied all
+of hers out, and now she laid three beauties in the corner of the
+cupboard, looking around until she espied a pan. Wooden platters were
+mostly used, even the Indian women were handy in fashioning them.
+
+The young man had taken a seat and a plum, and was regaling his hostess
+with the adventure.
+
+"Curious that I should find the place so easily," and he smiled most
+beguilingly. "Sometimes one seems led in just the right way."
+
+For several reasons he preferred not to say he had heard the singing.
+
+"Yes," and now she gave a soft, answering smile, as if there might be a
+mysterious understanding between them. Miladi was often ennuied, now
+that she was never really well, and the sight and voice of a young man
+cheered her inexplicably.
+
+"Every one knows her. She is the most fearless thing."
+
+"I remember her when she was very little. How tall she has grown. A very
+pretty girl."
+
+"Youth always has a prettiness. It is the roundness and coloring. I
+often long to go back and have it all over again. I should remain in
+France. I do not see what there is in this bleak country to charm one."
+
+"There was some talk of your going with my sister, was there not?"
+
+"Yes. But I was too ill. And M. Destournier thought he could not leave.
+He has many interests here."
+
+Rose re-entered the room.
+
+"I never tasted such delicious plums," the elder commented, in a pleased
+tone. "I want some saved as long as they will keep."
+
+"There is a quantity of them. I should have had to make another journey
+but for M. Boulle," and she dropped a charming little courtesy.
+
+"We might see if we could not find another tree."
+
+"I doubt it."
+
+"Will you stay some time?" asked miladi.
+
+"They can do without me a while. Business is mostly over."
+
+She raised her eyes, and they said she was pleased with the plan. Rose
+busied herself about the room, then suddenly disappeared. She had seen
+M. Destournier coming up the crooked pathway, and with a parcel in her
+hand, went out to meet him.
+
+"I thought of you. Miladi was delighted with hers. Some seagull must
+have brought the pit across the ocean. It is so much finer than any we
+have around here."
+
+He broke it open, but the golden purple juice ran over his hand.
+
+"It is the wine of sunshine. Here is to thy health, Rose of Quebec."
+
+"M. Boulle is in there," nodding. "He came out in the wood and found me
+up the tree," and she laughed gayly.
+
+"Found thee----" Something sharp went to the heart of the man, and he
+looked down into the fearless eyes, with their gay, unsuspecting
+innocence.
+
+"As if I could be lost in dear old Quebec!"
+
+"Is it dear to thee?"
+
+"Why, I have never known any other place, any other home."
+
+There were many knowledges beside that of childhood. And among them one
+might be all-engrossing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+A LOVER IN EARNEST
+
+
+Eustache Boulle seemed in no hurry to return to Tadoussac. He was
+wonderfully interested in the new fort, in the different improvements,
+in miladi, who, somehow, seemed to improve and render herself very
+agreeable. She had a queer feeling about him. If one could be young
+again--ah, that would be back in France. She had a happy time with
+Laurent. She had exulted in winning her second husband, but somehow the
+real flavor and zest of love had not been there.
+
+When Eustache was with Rose she experienced a keen, hungering jealousy,
+and it was then she wanted to be young. The girl was strangely obtuse.
+She never colored when he came, or evinced any half-bashful joy, she
+left him with miladi, and went off with the utmost unconcern. She was
+much in the settlement, showing the Indian women nice ways of keeping
+their homes and children tidy, so that when the beautiful wife of the
+Governor returned they would have great improvement to show her. True,
+they went out canoeing, and the sweet breath of the river washing the
+sedgy grass on the small islands, gave a faint tang of salt, or where it
+dashed and fretted against the rocks made iridescent spray. There were
+so many beautiful places. And though she had seen the falls more than
+once, she went again to please him, after making several excuses. Pani
+was her bodyguard. He was still small, and lithe as an eel, and the
+mixture of races showed in him. Wanamee was sometimes peremptorily
+ordered to accompany him.
+
+The wooing of looks and smiles had little effect on her. Sometimes he
+reached for her hand, but it cunningly evaded him. She seemed so
+sufficient for herself that the matter was reduced to good-comrade-ship.
+Yet there were times when he was wild to kiss the rosy, dimpling mouth,
+to press the soft cheek, to hold the pliant figure in his arms.
+
+It was but right that he should ask M. Destournier for his
+foster-daughter.
+
+To lose her! Ah, how could he give her up?
+
+"Would you come to Quebec?"
+
+"My interests are at Tadoussac. And there are the fisheries at the
+islands growing more profitable. But I might come often if she grew
+homesick, and pined for this rough, rocky place."
+
+"It will be as she pleases," the man said, with a heavy heart.
+
+"I must tell you that I think Madame favors my suit."
+
+M. Destournier merely bowed.
+
+The husband and wife had never touched upon the subject. She could not
+decide. The girl was very useful to her since she had fallen into
+invalid ways. M. Destournier had to be journeying about a good deal. She
+could read so delightfully when the nights were long, tiresome, and
+sleepless. Even Wanamee could not arrange her hair with such deft
+touches, and it really appeared as if she could take off the burthen of
+years by some delicate manipulations. Yes, she would miss her very much.
+But it would be a grand match for a foundling. And if they went to
+France, she would rouse herself and go. M. Destournier was so occupied
+with the matters of the town that he had grown indifferent, and seldom
+played the lover.
+
+But how was Eustache to propose to a girl who could not, or would not
+understand, who never allowed any endearments or softened to sentiment.
+Why, here had been a whole fortnight since he had won the Sieur's tardy
+consent. Now and then he had found some soft-eyed Indian girl not averse
+to modestly-caressing ways, but his religion kept him from any absolute
+wrong, and meaning to marry some time, he had not played at love.
+
+So he came to miladi with his anxieties. Was there ever a woman's soul
+formed with no longing, no understanding of the divine passion, that
+could kneel at the marriage altar in singleness of heart?
+
+Miladi studied the young man. Had the girl no warm blood coursing
+through her veins, no throb of pleased vanity, at the preference of this
+patient lover? Perhaps he was too patient.
+
+"Yes," she made answer, "I will see. You are quite sure your family will
+not be displeased? We know nothing of her birth, you are aware."
+
+"Her beauty will make amends for that."
+
+One could not deny her beauty. Such a dower had never been miladi's,
+though she had been pretty in youth.
+
+"Beg her to listen to me."
+
+"A man should be able to compel a woman to listen," she made answer a
+little sharply.
+
+Glancing out over the space between, she caught sight of Rose and her
+husband coming down from the fort. She was gay enough now, talking with
+no restraint.
+
+"I am almost jealous of M. Destournier," Eustache said, with a sigh.
+
+Miladi was suddenly jealous as well, and this swept away the last shred
+of reluctance.
+
+"You give her great honor by this marriage proposal. She shall be
+compelled to consider it."
+
+"A thousand thanks. If Madame will excuse, I will go out to them."
+
+M. Destournier left her with the young lover. Would she not go out on
+the river? No. Then let them take a forest ramble. There were some fine
+grapes back of the settlement. Pani had brought in a great basket full.
+What would she do?
+
+"Sit here on this ledge and watch the river. Pierre Cadotte is at the
+fort. They came through the rapids at Lachine. It was very exciting. He
+has been at the trading post up to the strait and tells marvellous
+stories of hardships and heroism. And the good priest up there has made
+converts already."
+
+She was always so interested in some far-off thing.
+
+"I wish a priest might make a convert here. There is much need."
+
+She was off her guard. Canoes and boats were going up and down the
+river. Some men were hauling in a catch of fish; just below, an Indian
+woman sat weaving reed baskets, while a group of children played around.
+Not an ideal spot for love-making, but Eustache was desperate.
+
+"Thee"--leaning over until his black curls touched hers. "I would have
+thee converted to love and matrimony. I have been a coward, and kept my
+heartaches and desires to myself. I can do it no longer."
+
+"But I am not for matrimony." She raised her clear eyes that would have
+disheartened almost any man. "I do not want any husband. I like my own
+fancies, and I suppose they are strange. There is only one person I ever
+talk to about them. No one else understands. I think sometimes I do not
+belong here, but to another country; no, the country is well enough. I
+am suited to that. I do not want to go away."
+
+"You would like old France, Paris. My mother would be glad to welcome
+you, I know. And, oh, you would like Paris. Or, if you would rather stay
+here----"
+
+"I do not want to be married in a long time yet. Women change so much
+when they have husbands, and it seems as if they made themselves unhappy
+over many things their husbands do."
+
+"But my sister was very happy. She would not have come all the way to
+New France if she had not loved her husband dearly."
+
+"You see that is so different. I do not love any one in that manner.
+And, oh, M'sieu, she was like an angel, and prayed so much. It is a good
+thing, but I would not like to stay in a darkened room and pray. I like
+better to be roaming in the woods, and singing with the birds, and
+gathering flowers. I believe I am not old enough to accept these
+things."
+
+"But my sister was only twelve when she was betrothed to the Sieur de
+Champlain."
+
+"You see something makes the difference." Her brow knit in perplexity.
+"If it is a thing you want, it would be very easy to reach out your hand
+and take it----"
+
+"But I want it!" He reached out his hand and caught hers. "I love you,
+strange, bewitching as you are in your innocence. And I would teach you
+what love was. No young girl loves much before marriage. But when she is
+with her husband day by day and his devotion is laid at her feet, she
+cannot help understanding what a delight it is, and she learns to give
+of her sweetest and best, as you will, my adorable child."
+
+The heat of his hand and the pulse throbbing in every finger roused a
+deeper feeling of resistance. She tried to withdraw it, but the pressure
+only tightened.
+
+"Will you release my hand?" she said, with a new-born dignity. "It is
+mine, not yours!"
+
+"But I wish it for mine. Oh, Rose, you sweet, delightful creature, you
+_must_ learn to love me. I cannot give you up. And the Destourniers are
+quite willing. I have asked for you."
+
+"No one can give me away. I belong only to myself."
+
+She drew her hand away in an unguarded moment. She sprang up straight
+and lithe, her head poised superbly. Every pulse within him was
+mysteriously stirred, and his breath came in gasps. Yes, he must set her
+in his life. It would be bleak and barren without. To kiss the rosy lips
+when he listed, to pillow the fair head on his shoulder, to encircle the
+supple figure, so full of vitality, in his arms--yes, that would be the
+highest delight.
+
+"I will wait," he said, in a beseeching voice. "You are but a child.
+Pity has not sprung up in your heart yet. I will wait and watch for the
+first sign."
+
+"Go!" She made a dismissing gesture with her hand. "Do not attempt to
+follow me."
+
+He stood still, looking after her. His whole soul was aflame, his voice
+could have cried to the heavens above that she might be enkindled with
+the sacred flame that leaped and flashed within him.
+
+Rose picked her way deftly, daintily over the rocky way. She did not
+stop at the house, but went on to the beach. A fish-hawk was chasing a
+robin, that suddenly veered round as if asking her protection, and
+picking up a sharp stone, she took aim at the hawk and stunned him for
+an instant, so that he lost his balance.
+
+"Bravo, little Rose," said a hearty voice, and the canoe turned in the
+bend. "If your stone had been larger it might have done more execution."
+
+"But I saved the bird." The robin had perched himself on the limb of a
+dead fir tree, and began a gay song.
+
+"You had better go farther away from your enemy," she counselled. Then
+to the canoeist--"Will you let me come in and go down the river?"
+
+"Yes, I will take you down. What did you do with young Boulle?"
+
+She colored a little. "I want to tell you."
+
+"I saw you both up on the cliff."
+
+"I came away and left him."
+
+He drew up the canoe and she stepped in lightly, seating herself so
+gently that the canoe did not even swerve.
+
+"How blue the water is! And so clear. It is like the heaven above. And
+there are rays of sun in the river bed. It does not seem very deep, does
+it? I could almost touch it with my hand."
+
+Destournier laughed. "Suppose you try?"
+
+"And tip us over?" She smiled as well.
+
+It was so lovely that both were moved to silence. Now and then they
+glanced at each other, at some special point or happening. She was not
+effusive.
+
+After a while she began with--"Do you like M. Boulle very much?"
+
+"He is a promising young man, I am glad he did not return to France. We
+have few enough of them here. Every one counts."
+
+"He will go some time," she said, reflectively.
+
+A sudden thought flashed through his mind. The girl's face was very
+calm, but her eyes had a sort of protest in them.
+
+"Will he take you?" Destournier asked, in a husky tone.
+
+"Oh, M'sieu Ralph, would you send me? Would you give me to any one
+else?"
+
+Now her eyes were alight with an eager breathless expression that was
+almost anguish.
+
+"Not if you did not want to go."
+
+"I do not want to go anywhere. Oh, M'sieu Ralph," and now her tone was
+piteous, "I wish you would send him away. I liked him very well at
+first, but now he wants me to love him, and I cannot, the kind of love
+that impels one to marry, and I do not want to be married."
+
+"Has he tried to persuade you?"
+
+Ralph Destournier knew he would make a good husband. Some time Rose
+would marry. But it was plain she did not love him. And though love
+might not be necessary, it was a very sweet accompaniment that, he knew
+now, it was sad to miss.
+
+"He talked to me about marriage. I do not like it." She gave a little
+shiver, and the color went out of her face, even her lips, and her
+pliant figure seemed to shrink as from a blow.
+
+"My child, no one shall marry you against your will, neither shall you
+be taken away. Rest content in my promise."
+
+She nodded, then smiled, with trusting eyes. He wondered a little about
+her future. While he lived--well, the Sieur de Champlain was well and
+hearty, and much older. She was only a child yet, though she had
+suddenly grown tall. He could care for her in the years to come, and she
+would no doubt find a mate. He knew very little about girls. They
+generally went to convents and were educated and husbands were chosen
+for them by their parents. But in this new world matters had changed.
+There was talk of a convent to train the Indian girls, and the
+half-breeds who took more readily to civilization. The priests were in
+earnest about it, but money was lacking. Rose had picked up much useful
+knowledge, and knew some things unusual for a girl. Good Father Jamay
+would be shocked at Terence, Aristophanes, and Virgil for a girl.
+
+"So you do not like marriage?" he said, rather jestingly.
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"But then you know nothing about it."
+
+"Why, there is the Sieur and the beautiful Madame. And you and miladi.
+And Marie, with her dirty house and her babies. She is not as nice as
+the Indian women. And they have to wait upon the braves or else, when
+the braves are off fur hunting, they have to plant the crops and catch
+fish, and even hunt and mend tents, and do such hard work. All that is
+no delight like dreaming on the moss in the woods, and talking to the
+birds, and breathing the fragrance all about, and having rushes of
+delight sweep over you like a waft from the beautiful heaven above. Oh,
+why should I marry; to think of some one else that I do not want and not
+feel that my life was my very own."
+
+He studied the youthful unconscious face before him, the clear, fine
+skin, a few shades deeper from the daily contact with sun and much
+dallying on the river; the beautiful dark eyes that seemed always
+gathering the choicest of life, with joy and wonder; the rounded cheeks,
+with exquisitely-faint coloring, seeming to join the clear-cut chin,
+with its dimpled cleft melting into the shapely throat, that upheld it
+like a flower on a strong, yet delicate stem. He was strangely moved by
+the peculiar aloofness of the beauty.
+
+Her soft hair hung about her like a cloud, the curling ends moved now
+and then as if by their own vigorous life. Indeed, there was an intense
+sort of vitality about her that, quiescent as it often was, in this
+trifling, daily round, could shoot up into a bewildering flame. Perhaps
+that was love. She did not have it for Eustache Boulle, she might never
+have it for him. Were men and women but half alive? Was there some
+sudden revivifying influence that raised them above the daily wants,
+that gave them an insight into a new existence? Had he ever experienced
+it?
+
+The sun dropped down behind a range of hills, covered with pines, furs,
+and cedars, that were growing into a compact dark wall, the interstices
+being black. The edge of the river took on these sombre hues, but a
+little beyond there were long strips of rose and tawny gold, between
+zones of purple and green. The current tossed them hither and thither,
+like some weird thing winding about. Destournier was strangely moved by
+this mysterious kinship to nature that he had never experienced before.
+
+"We must turn back," he began briefly, though it seemed to him he could
+gladly go on to a new life in some other land.
+
+She nodded. The tide was growing a little stronger, but it was in their
+favor. They kept quite near the shore, where it was dark in spaces, and
+then opened into a sort of clearing, only to close again. Even now the
+voyager dreams on the enchanting shores that are not all given up to
+towns and business.
+
+She began to sing. It was melody without words. Now and then she
+recalled a French verse or two, then it settled into some melancholy
+Indian plaint, or the evening song of a belated bird. She was not
+singing for him, yet he was enchanted.
+
+He drew in the canoe presently. She sprang out with the agile grace
+caught from much solitary rambling and climbing. Then she waited for him
+to fasten it.
+
+"You are quite sure that you will not consent to M. Boulle's wishes?"
+she inquired, as they turned in and out of the winding path.
+
+"You shall be left entirely free. You shall not marry at all, if you
+prefer," he answered solemnly.
+
+"Oh, a thousand thanks. And you will convince miladi. I think she wishes
+M. Boulle all success. I must go make my peace with Wanamee and get some
+supper."
+
+She ran to the end of the house, the wide kitchen, where the cooking was
+done. Wanamee and Mawha were in a discussion, as often happened. Pani
+sat with a great wooden platter on his knees, eating voraciously. Rose
+realized suddenly that she was hungry, and the smell of the broiling
+fish was appetizing.
+
+"I'm famished, Wanamee," she cried. "Will you give me some supper?"
+
+"Miladi is much vexed with you, little one. She had supper sent to her
+room and M. Boulle was there. They wanted you and M. Destournier. There
+was to be a--I do not know what you call it, but he wanted you to
+promise to be his wife, for he goes to Tadoussac to-morrow."
+
+Rose's heart beat with a guilty joy.
+
+"I should not promise that. I do not want to be a wife."
+
+Mawha, who had been a wife several times, a tall, rather severe-looking
+Indian woman, turned upon her.
+
+"Thou art well-grown and shouldst have a husband. Girls get too wild if
+they are let go too long. A husband keeps them in order."
+
+"I will have some supper," Rose said, with dignity, ignoring the
+stricture.
+
+Then she cleared a place on the table and brushed it clean with the
+birch twigs. Wanamee brought a plate of Indian meal cake, deliciously
+browned, some potatoes baked in the hot ashes, and a great slice of
+fish, with a dish of spiced preserves of some green fruit and berries.
+
+"I looked for you," Pani said. "Were you up on the mountain?"
+
+Rose shook her head.
+
+She was hungry, but she dallied over her meal, wondering if she had best
+go in and say good-night to miladi. She did not always; she quite
+understood now that there were times when miladi did not care to see
+her; then, at others, she sent for her. Now she would let her send. She
+went up to her small chamber presently. The young moon was travelling
+over westward with her attendant star. There were boats still out on the
+river, merry voices, others in loud and angry dispute. Why did people
+want to quarrel, when the world was so beautiful! Then a shrill cry of
+some night bird, guards coming and going about the fort. She grew drowsy
+presently, and went to bed, serene in the belief that M. Boulle would go
+his way and torment her no more, for had not M. Ralph promised?
+
+M. Ralph and miladi were having a rather stormy time. She had inquired
+very peremptorily what had kept him so late. Pani had been sent to the
+warehouse and had not found him, neither had he been at the fort.
+
+M. Destournier was no hand to prevaricate. He lived an open, honest
+life, and had few secrets beside those of business. Ordinarily, he would
+have explained what he had been about the last two hours, but he had a
+sudden premonition that it was wiser not to do so. Miladi was sometimes
+captious where Rose was concerned.
+
+"I was busy," he made answer briefly.
+
+"M. Boulle goes to Tadoussac to-morrow. The vessel came down for him
+to-day. Some urgent business requires his attention."
+
+"He has loitered quite long enough," commented her husband. "He is a
+pleasant young fellow, but there is more than indolent pleasuring to a
+young man's life."
+
+"He has had a purpose, a matter that lies near his heart. This new
+country and the lack of fixed rules are demoralizing, and it will be a
+good thing when there is a convent for the proper training of girls. But
+lawless as Rose has grown, he has asked her in marriage. We wanted you
+to ratify the consent I have given. He will make arrangements for the
+marriage a few months hence."
+
+"You seem to think Rose has no voice in this."
+
+"Why should she have? Do we not stand in the place of parents? My father
+chose M. Giffard, and he was presented to me as my future husband. No
+well-bred girl makes any demur. But it seems that Mam'selle Rose has
+some queer ideas, imbibed from heaven only knows where, that she must
+experience a kind of overwhelming preference for a man, which would be
+positively disgraceful in a young girl who has no right to consider love
+until she is called upon to give it to her husband. It will be a most
+excellent thing for her."
+
+There was a moment or two of silence. He was considering how best to
+make his protest.
+
+"Well--why do you not reply?" tartly. "The young man is very ardent. She
+can never do better."
+
+"She is but a child. There need be no haste. And if she does not
+care----"
+
+"She is no longer a child. Fully fourteen, I think, and Mam'selle Boulle
+was married younger that that."
+
+"And whether the Sieur would quite approve. There are some formalities
+in old France which we have not shaken off. His parents are still
+alive----"
+
+"And he is quite certain he can have the mystery about her fathomed. She
+should go down on her knees to a man who would prove her honorably born,
+even if he had no fortune. To-morrow morning he wants the matter
+settled, and a betrothal, before he goes. If you know where she is, you
+had better summon her and instruct her as to her duty. She is quite old
+enough to understand. She has played the child too long already, and it
+has spoiled her."
+
+"I will not have her betrothed against her will. She has no fancy for
+marriage. And there will be time enough. If M. Boulle chooses to wait
+until the Sieur returns, and he consents----"
+
+"She has always been a favorite of his," interrupted miladi. Then
+suddenly--"Why are you so obstinate about it, when it will be such an
+excellent thing for her?"
+
+"I am not obstinate about it, only as far as she is concerned. If she
+desired it she should have my full and free consent. But I will not
+insist upon a step she does not desire."
+
+"As if a girl knew what was best!" reiterated miladi scornfully. "And
+why should you wish to keep her? Unless"--and now miladi's eyes flashed
+fire--"unless----"
+
+"Do not say it!" He held up his hand forbiddingly.
+
+"I will say it! You are not her father, and it seems strange you should
+have such an overwhelming fondness for her as to keep her from a most
+excellent marriage, and persuade yourself that a woman grown can indulge
+in all kinds of childish behavior, without detriment to her character.
+If it is your fondness for her that stands in the way----"
+
+Miladi at that moment was in a jealous fury. The passion leaped to her
+heart full-grown. She understood now why she half-feared, half-disliked
+the child that she had once esteemed a pet and plaything. She had
+supplanted her in her husband's affections. She had youth and beauty,
+and miladi was fading, beside being years older than her husband, and
+then never very well any more.
+
+"Hush!" exclaimed her husband, in a commanding tone. "I forbid you to
+think of such a thing! When have I failed in my devotion to you?
+To-morrow she shall have her choice, but she shall not be forced into
+any promise beside her own wishes. And then I will find a new home for
+her."
+
+He turned and went out of the room. Miladi pounded on the table before
+her with her small fist, as if she could beat the life out of
+something.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+FROM A GIRL'S HEART
+
+
+Rose stood looking over the wide expanse of the river to the opposite
+shore, wondering a little. Down there, miles and miles below, were the
+English settlements. The men, as traders, came to Quebec now and then.
+Were the English women like the French? Were there young girls among
+them? She was beginning to experience a peculiar loneliness, a want of
+companionship, that no one about her could satisfy.
+
+"Madame Destournier wishes to see you," exclaimed Pani, who had been
+sent on the errand.
+
+She went slowly to miladi's room, and entering it wished her
+good-morning, with a dainty courtesy.
+
+"You will be needed for a matter in hand," began miladi, "about which I
+desire to say a few words before the gentlemen come. It would have been
+settled yesterday, but you were not to be found. Where were you?"
+
+Miladi asked it carelessly, so intent on the matter in hand that she did
+not remark the color that flew up to the fair brow.
+
+"Out on the river," she answered briefly.
+
+"It is not proper for you to go alone. I have told you of this before.
+You are a young woman, and with so many men roaming about, it is too
+bold and unsafe, as well."
+
+"I am never in any danger."
+
+"You do not know. But then it is not proper."
+
+Rose made no reply to that. For some time miladi had not seemed to care
+where she went. And she often did have Pani with her.
+
+There was a rather awkward silence. Rose was meditating an escape. Then
+miladi began, in so severe a tone that every nerve within her quivered.
+
+"Yes, you were needed yesterday afternoon. M. Boulle came in and laid
+before me a grave matter. You two seem to have wandered about in a
+manner that would have scandalized a more civilized place, but there
+appear to be no restrictions in this wilderness of savages. I have not
+been able to watch over you as I should, and Wanamee does not
+understand. Out of all this freedom, so unusual to a French maid, has
+come a proposal of marriage, and this morning you are to be betrothed."
+
+"I? But I have not consented, Madame. I told M. Boulle yesterday that I
+could not marry him, that I did not want to marry any one."
+
+"You will consider. Remember you are a foundling, with no name of
+ancestry, no parents, that a man might refer to with pride when children
+grow up about the family altar. It is not a thing to be quite satisfied
+with, Mademoiselle, or proud of," and there was a sting in her tone.
+"This man loves you so well that he is willing to overlook it and offer
+you honorable marriage, which but few men would do. We have accepted him
+for you. He returns to Tadoussac to-day, but the marriage day will be
+settled and though you cannot have what I would wish, we will do our
+best."
+
+The girl's face had changed from scarlet to deathly whiteness. Something
+inside of her seemed to spring into a flame of knowledge, of womanhood,
+and burn up grandly. That subtle chemistry that works in the girl's
+soul, and transforms it, sometimes slowly, was in her case like the
+sudden bursting of a bud into flowering. She was her own. She had said
+this before; in a way, she had always felt it; but now it was graven
+with a point of steel.
+
+"Madame," she began, in a tone she vainly strove to render steady, "only
+yesterday I told M. Boulle I could not take the love he proffered me,
+and make any return. And then I felt on a certain equality. I understand
+better now. I am nameless, a rose of the wilderness, a foundling, as you
+said. So I will marry no man who may be ashamed of me before his
+children. Thank M. Boulle for the honor, and tell him----"
+
+The door opened, Destournier recalled one of the few plays he had seen
+in Paris, with a tragedienne who had won a king's heart, and it seemed
+almost as if this girl might step into fame, so proud and full of power
+was she, standing there. Miladi had not been willing to wait for a
+conference. But the result would have been the same.
+
+Both men looked at her in surprise, and were speechless for a moment.
+Then M. Destournier, recovering, reached out and took the girl's slim,
+nerveless hand.
+
+"Rose," he said, "M. Boulle has done us all the honor to ask your hand
+in marriage. If you can accept him you will have our heartiest wishes
+for your happiness; if you feel that you cannot, if no affection draws
+you to him, then do not give him a cold, loveless heart in return. Make
+your own choice; there is no one to compel you, no one to insist."
+
+"I thank you, M. Boulle, for the honor." She held her head up very
+straight; it seemed as if she had grown since yesterday. Her eyes were
+fearless in their high light, the delicious curves of her lips seemed
+set as if they had been carved, instead of rosy flesh. "It is more than
+the usual honor, I believe. I am a nameless foundling, and have been
+handed about from one to another, and they were not the kind in whom one
+could take pride. Therefore, I shall not bestow myself on any man, and
+no one has any right to take advantage of his generosity. If I loved
+you, I should do the same thing. How much more resolute I should be when
+I do not love you, and would wed you simply for the sake of sheltering
+myself under your name. I am sorry any one has considered this possible,
+since it is not."
+
+Boulle took a step forward and grasped her hand, as he poured out a
+torrent of ardent love. Miladi looked on, amazed. Was the girl made of
+stone, or was her heart elsewhere? She made no appeal to M. Destournier,
+indeed her face was turned a trifle from him.
+
+"You pain me," she said wearily, yet with a tender pity. "I can say no
+more."
+
+"But I will wait," he pleaded.
+
+"My answer would always be the same."
+
+"Rose!" miladi exclaimed.
+
+"Madame Destournier, I thank you also for your kindness to a foundling,
+and you, also," turning to M. Destournier, "for home and shelter, and
+many other things. I feel now that since I have disappointed you I
+cannot avail myself of your generosity any longer. I can find another
+home----"
+
+She turned swiftly as a ray of light, and disappeared.
+
+"Have you no control over her?" cried Madame angrily, "that she defies
+you to your face. It shows the blood that runs in her veins, wayward,
+ungrateful thing that no honor can raise, no generosity touch. She has
+the heart of a stone. M. Boulle, you have made a fortunate escape."
+
+"But I love her, Madame. And I thought her noble in her refusal, but I
+would have taken her to my heart, no matter what she was. And I do not
+quite despair. I may find some link that will rehabilitate her. She must
+have come from a fine race. There is no peasant blood there."
+
+"Perhaps honorable peasant blood may be cleaner than a king's bastard,"
+returned miladi scornfully.
+
+"You have my most fervent sympathy," and M. Destournier wrung the
+lover's hand. "But it would be ill work marrying a woman who did not
+care for you. Perhaps another year"--should he give him hope? It was
+such an honest, earnest face, and he would have been brave to set at
+naught family tradition.
+
+They went down the winding stair together. Rose was nowhere to be seen.
+
+"Oh, you will watch over her?" M. Boulle cried, with a lover's
+desperation.
+
+"Do not fear. She has been like a child to me. No harm shall come to
+her."
+
+Miladi in her transport of rage tore the handkerchief she held in her
+hand to shreds, and stamped her foot on the floor.
+
+"She shall never come in this house again, the deceitful, ungrateful
+wretch. And he shall not care for her, or befriend her in any way. She
+must love him, and it is no child's love, either. Why, I have been blind
+and silly all this last year."
+
+Rose had flown out of the house, across the gardens and the settlement
+to the woods, where she had spent so many delightful hours. She threw
+herself down on the moss and the fragrant pine needles, and gave way to
+a fit of weeping that seemed to rend both soul and body. Was she an
+outcast? Oh, it could not be that M. Destournier would forsake her. But
+she could ask nothing from him, and miladi would never see her again.
+Why could she not have loved M. Boulle? Did it take so much love to be a
+man's wife? to be held in his arms and kissed, to live with him day by
+day--and she shuddered at the thought.
+
+But she was young, and the flood of tears subsided. She sat up, leaning
+against a stout pine. Then she rose and peered about. Was it true that
+M. Boulle was to go away? What if he came and found her again?
+
+She crawled out cautiously, and looked up at the sun. It had passed the
+meridian. She was hungry, so she searched about and found some berries,
+but she longed for something more substantial. For the first time
+solitude seemed to pall upon her. She felt as if everything had been
+swept away.
+
+Toward night she crept down to the settlement. Several of the Indian
+women would take her in, she knew. There was Noko sitting just outside
+her tent; she would not accept a cabin of logs or stone. She was making
+a cape of gulls' feathers, that she might sell to some of the traders,
+who often took curious Indian finery home with their furs. Her three
+sons were trappers. One had a wife and three children that the poor
+mother provided for, and when her brave came home, she was devoted to
+him, grateful for a pleasant word. What curious ideas these aborigines
+had of wedded love!
+
+"Noko, will you take me in for the night, and give me some supper?" she
+asked, as she threw herself down beside the Indian woman, who, at
+forty, looked at least sixty, and though she had the face of her tribe,
+it was marked by a grave sort of pleasantness, and not the severity that
+generally characterized middle life.
+
+"Has the Sieur gone to Tadoussac?"
+
+"Not that I know of. But I have offended miladi. And your wigwam is
+always so clean, and there are no children."
+
+The woman shook her head with a sort of remonstrance.
+
+"You will have them of your own some day. When they are little, you will
+care for them. They will be no trouble. When they are older, you will be
+proud of them, and rejoice in their bravery. Then they go away, and
+forget."
+
+She began to put up her work. "Are you in earnest?" she asked. "Do you
+need shelter?"
+
+"Oh, the Gaudrions would take me in, but there is such a crowd, I am for
+a little quiet and solitude to-night."
+
+"Thou shalt have it. The Sieur has been good to me. But it is hardly
+wise to quarrel with one's home."
+
+"There was no quarrel. Miladi wanted me to do something that I could
+not. And you know I have no real claim upon them, Noko, I belong to
+Quebec, not to any person."
+
+She gave a little laugh that sounded almost shrill. There was not so
+much joy in belonging only to one's self.
+
+"To Quebec, yes."
+
+"Now let me kindle the fire. See how handy I can be. And to-morrow I can
+help you with that beautiful cape. I suppose the great ladies in Paris
+feel very grand in some of these things. I heard the Governor say that a
+great deal of money was paid for a deerskin dress by some one at court.
+It was worked beautifully, and as soft as velvet."
+
+Rose busied herself in her eager, graceful fashion. Noko broiled some
+deer steak on the coals, and had a stew made of various things, with
+fish for the foundation. Rose was not very partial to this, but the
+steak and the cakes made of rye and corn, and well browned, tasted good
+to the hungry girl. There was a tea made of herbs, which had a
+delightful fragrance.
+
+Afterward they sat in the doorway, and one and another came to give Noko
+a bit of gossip. Rose crept off to bed presently. How fragrant the fresh
+balsam of fir was, and the tired girl soon fell asleep.
+
+M. Destournier had been quite engrossed with a few forgotten things that
+had to go to Tadoussac. Then the vessel pushed off and he turned to the
+storehouse. Presently a load would go to France. Though he was
+mechanically busy, his thoughts turned to Rose. She must have another
+home. He had wondered more than once how it had come to pass that miladi
+had lost so many of her charms, yet grown so much more exacting. He had
+awakened to the fact that he had never been a rapturous lover. He paid
+Eustache Boulle all honor that he had proved so manly and brave, yet in
+his secret heart he felt glad that Rose had not loved him. Why, he could
+not tell, except that she was too young. And he wondered how much miladi
+had loved Laurent Giffard. How much was she capable of loving? And the
+sweet angel-like Helene, who had willingly crossed the ocean and exiled
+herself from the life she loved to these uncongenial surroundings. They
+were that for a woman.
+
+When business was through with, he made his way down to M. Hebert's.
+Though the man had been bred an apothecary, and had a wider education
+than many in a higher round, he was making an excellent and enthusiastic
+farmer. Madame Hebert had brought some of the old-world knowledge and
+frugality with her, and put them in practice, bringing up her daughters
+to habits of industry, while the son was equally well trained by the
+father.
+
+M. Hebert was busy with his young fruit trees. Every year he sent for
+some hardy kind, and had quite a variety. He was a colonist, which so
+few of the emigrants were.
+
+After a walk about the garden, they went in to see Madame Hebert and
+Therese, who was making lace. Then M. Destournier preferred his request
+that they would take Rose for a while. He did not hint at any
+disagreement. Madame Destournier's health was precarious, and she had
+little idea of what was necessary for a girl, having been
+convent-trained herself. Now that Madame de Champlain had gone there
+was no real companionship for Rose, who was surely outgrowing her
+childish fancies.
+
+"How would you like it, Therese?" asked her mother.
+
+Therese was a solid dark-eyed, dark-haired, rather heavy-looking girl,
+without the French vivacity and eagerness. Destournier smiled inwardly;
+he could hardly fancy their being companions; yet in a way, each might
+benefit the other.
+
+"Why--if you approved. Though I am never lonely," raising her eyes to
+the visitor.
+
+"Rose is quite given to rambling about. She haunts the woods, she is
+fond of canoeing, and I think she has quite a mind for study. I am sorry
+there are so few opportunities. Our good fathers seem to frown on
+everything but prayers."
+
+"Prayers are good, but there must be work, as well," said Madame Hebert,
+who had been brought up a Huguenot, and who thought conventual life a
+great waste.
+
+"I should like the change for her. It may not be for long, but it would
+be a favor. And you need not feel that you must devote a great deal of
+time and energy to her, but give her the shelter of a home, until
+matters change a little," with a hopeful accent in his voice, and a
+smile that had the same aspect.
+
+"Madame Destournier is not well?" in a tone of inquiry.
+
+"No. She should have gone to France with the Sieur and his wife, but it
+was thought she had not the strength to stand the sea voyage. I feel
+much troubled about her."
+
+Madame Hebert was sympathetic, but she had never admired the wife as
+much as she did the husband. She was too volatile in the early days, and
+held her head quite too high.
+
+It was arranged that Rose should be an inmate of the Hebert home for a
+month or two. It was such a comfortable, cheerful-looking place. There
+was a set of bookshelves, and no one beside the Governor owned more than
+a prayer-book, which did little good, since they could hardly read in
+their own language.
+
+M. Ralph did not go at once to his wife, but stopped in the kitchen.
+Mawha was brewing some herbs. Wanamee entered with a plate on which
+there was some wheaten toast.
+
+"She will not take it. She does nothing but fret for Monsieur, and say
+dreadful things about _ma fille_"--then she stopped in a fright, seeing
+her master.
+
+"Where is Rose?" he asked.
+
+"She has not been here all day. I sent Pani to look for her, but he has
+not returned."
+
+M. Destournier went to his wife's room. She was hysterical and
+unreasonable.
+
+"Promise me that such a miserable, deceitful thing as that girl is shall
+never enter this house," she cried. "I cannot breathe the same air with
+her. You must choose between us. If you keep to her, I shall know you
+have no love for me. I will kill myself."
+
+"Marguerite, calm yourself. Rose is not to remain here, but go to the
+Heberts. So you will have quiet and nothing to do but recover your
+health. And if you can get well enough, we will go to Montreal, as I
+have to transact some business. The change will do you good."
+
+"You will not take her?"
+
+"No, no. Now let the girl alone. She is provided for, and you have the
+two women at your service."
+
+"She did nothing for me. And after roaming the woods and canoeing with
+M. Boulle, she should have been glad to marry him, for decency's sake."
+
+"We will let her quite alone," he exclaimed authoritatively. "Why did
+you not eat some supper?"
+
+"I couldn't. Oh, Ralph, be kind to me. Do not let that girl steal your
+love from me. I was quite as pretty in youth, but the years are hard on
+one. And I need your love more than ever. You are not tender and
+caressing as Laurent was."
+
+He bent over and kissed her, smoothed her tangled hair, and patted the
+hot cheek.
+
+"I have been busy all day, and have had no supper," he began, loosening
+the hands about his neck.
+
+She sobbed wildly. She had been so lonely all day. She missed M. Boulle
+so much. He would have been a son to them.
+
+He had to tear himself away. He did not take his supper, but rushed out
+to make inquiries. Where had Rose gone? Was she wandering about the
+woods? There had been wolves, stray Indians, and a dozen dangers. The
+palisade gates were fastened. He asked at two or three of the cabins,
+where he knew she was a favorite. And where was Pani?
+
+Pani was asleep on a soft couch of moss, under a clump of great oak
+trees. He had lain down, warm and tired, and his nap was good for ten or
+twelve hours.
+
+"I saw her by Noko's wigwam," said a woman, as she heard him inquiring.
+
+Not even waiting to thank her, he rushed thither. Noko had the
+reputation of being a sort of seer, though she seldom used her gift. She
+sat on the stone beside her door, and a woman knelt before her, to whom
+she was talking in a low monotonous tone. His step startled the
+listener, and she sprang up.
+
+"Whither did Rose go?" he asked peremptorily, seizing Noko's arm.
+
+"She is here, Monsieur. She is in bed asleep. There is trouble and the
+fair-haired woman hates her. You had better not try to make them agree.
+And she has no love for the dark-haired suitor who is on the river,
+dreaming of her. She is too young. Let her alone."
+
+"I wanted to know that she was safe. I will see her in the morning. Keep
+her until I come."
+
+"Yes, Monsieur."
+
+Madame Destournier had wept herself to sleep, and was breathing in
+comparative tranquillity. Ralph sat down beside the bed. If Rose had
+loved Eustache Boulle, the way would have been smooth as a summer sea.
+Was he sorry, or mysteriously glad? Why should he be glad? he demanded
+of himself.
+
+Rose made no demur the next morning when M. Destournier told her of the
+new arrangements, only stipulating that she should have her liberty, to
+go and come as she pleased.
+
+"Are you very angry because I could not take M. Boulle for a husband?"
+she inquired timidly.
+
+"Oh, no, no. It was your life, Mademoiselle, for sorrow or joy. You only
+had the right to choose."
+
+The bronze lashes quivered sensitively upon her cheeks, and a soft flush
+seemed to tangle itself among them.
+
+"Is it joy, M'sieu?" in a low tone.
+
+"It ought to be."
+
+"Then I shall wait until there comes a touch of joy greater than any I
+have yet known. And I have had thrills of delight that have gone all
+through my body, but they faded. The love for a husband should last
+one's whole life."
+
+"Yes, Mademoiselle. Why not?"
+
+All the white tones of her skin flushed to rose, and crept even among
+the tendrils of her hair and over her small ears. Had he ever remarked
+how perfect they were before?
+
+"_Ma fille_," he responded softly. "And you will be content until better
+times."
+
+"So long as I do not have to marry, yes."
+
+"That is a good _fille_. I shall see you now and then. You will like M.
+Hebert. He has plenty of books, and it will be a good practice to read
+up French."
+
+She nodded.
+
+He took a second thought.
+
+"You may as well go now, and I will see that all is fair sailing. Noko,
+thanks for keeping Rose of Quebec where neither wolves nor marauders
+could get at her."
+
+They walked quietly along, she with her agile step, that gave graceful
+turns to her figure. She was hardly a woman, and yet more than a child.
+But she kept the sweet simplicity of the latter.
+
+Madame Hebert gave her a pleasant welcome. Therese glanced up from her
+lace work and nodded, hoping in a formal and quite ungirlish manner that
+she would be happy with them. Rose sat down beside her, and looked at
+the lace. There were pins stuck in a cushion and Therese threw her
+thread over this one and that one. How queer it looked.
+
+"But if you should go wrong?" she inquired.
+
+"Here is the pattern. This is quite simple. I have one very intricate,
+but handsome, like they make at home, Maman says. And one with beads. I
+took the idea from an Indian woman. I have some finished work, too."
+
+"I have done a little of that. Miladi, that is Madame Destournier, used
+to do embroidery. At first she had such a store of pretty things. But
+now they cost so much. Only there are always packs of furs to exchange."
+
+M. Hebert came in, with a pleasant word for his guest. They were
+extremely sorry that Madame was ill, but it gave them the pleasure of a
+visit from Rose. M. Destournier said she was fond of reading; he had
+some poets, and books on gardening, out of which he made poetry, smiling
+with French gayety.
+
+On the whole, Rose liked the exchange. For a few days it seemed rather
+stiff, but there were so many new things, and M. Hebert liked a good
+listener. She walked about the garden with him. There were some rare
+flowers, of which he was very proud, and several he had found in the
+woods. Then there was a bed of herbs, and he distilled remedies, as well
+as some delightful perfumes. He soon grew quite fond of the pretty girl
+who was so interested in his pursuits, and fond of hearing him read
+aloud, and though his wife and children listened amiably, their thoughts
+were more on their work. Industry was Madame Hebert's cardinal virtue,
+and her daughter was a girl after her own heart.
+
+But this fresh young creature to whom a marvellous world was being
+opened, who watched with eager eyes, who smiled or was saddened, who was
+sympathetic or indignant, who flushed or paled with the pain of tragedy,
+how charming she was!
+
+She often ran up to the old home for a word with Wanamee, who was glad
+to see her. Miladi was neither better nor worse, some days so irritable
+that nothing could please her.
+
+"She would keep M. Destournier beside her all the time," said Wanamee,
+"but a man has business. He is not meant for a nurse, and to yield to
+every whim. She is not a happy woman, miladi, and one hardly knows how
+much of her illness is imaginary. If she would only brighten up and go
+out a little, I think she would be better."
+
+Rose used her strongest efforts to induce Therese to take a ramble with
+her. She did go to the woods occasionally, but she took her work along,
+always.
+
+"Why do you keep so closely to it?" Rose asked one day.
+
+"Mam'selle, part is for my trousseau. Maman instructed me in the fashion
+of her old home, where girls begin to fill up a chest, to be ready."
+
+"Oh, Therese, have you a lover?"
+
+"_Non._" Therese shook her head. "But I may have, some day. There will
+be people, men sent over to settle New France. The King has promised."
+
+"Did you see M. Boulle, when he was here?"
+
+"Oh, yes. And a nice young man he is, too."
+
+"I wish he had wanted to marry you. He is nice and good to look at. How
+could one marry Pierre Gaudrion, with his low brow and fierce eyebrows
+that meet over his nose, and his great hands, that seem made of lead, if
+he lays them on you! Yet he is smart and ingenious."
+
+"And they say now that he visits Anastase Fromont. She will make a good
+wife."
+
+Rose gave a little shiver. She could recall one time, the last, when
+Pierre had laid his hand on both her shoulders and drawn her to him, and
+she had wrenched herself away, every drop of blood within her rising up
+in protest.
+
+"Don't you dare to touch me again, or I will kill you," she had flung
+out with blazing eyes.
+
+Then for weeks he had never so much as looked at her.
+
+"Yes," retrospectively. "Why do people take likes the wrong way? Now if
+M. Boulle had----"
+
+"It is said he was wild for love of you," interposed Therese.
+
+"That made the trouble. Miladi liked him so much. Therese, there is some
+kind of love we must have before you can put yourself in a man's hand,
+and let him take you to his home, where you must remain while life
+lasts. A whole long life, think of it! And if you wanted to get free the
+priest would forbid it. There would be nothing but to throw yourself
+into the river."
+
+Therese looked with frightened eyes at the impetuous girl.
+
+"There is God to obey and serve. And if He sends you a good husband--M.
+Boulle was brother to our dear Sieur's wife. It would have been an
+excellent marriage."
+
+"If it hadst only been thou!" Rose's short-lived passion was over, and
+she was smiling.
+
+"But you see, Mam'selle, they are strong Catholics. I follow my mother's
+faith, and we do not believe telling beads and saying prayers is all of
+the true service to the Lord. So it would never have done."
+
+Rose was minded to laugh at the grave, satisfied tone, and the placid
+face.
+
+"I am not a good Catholic, either. I do not go to confession. I do not
+tell lies nor steal, and though I get in tempers, it is because people
+try me and insist that I should do what I know it would be wrong for me
+to do. I did not want any husband, and I said so."
+
+"But all girls hope to marry some time. I should like to have as good a
+husband as my mother has, and be as happy with him."
+
+"He is delightful," admitted Rose. "But your mother loved him."
+
+"He was chosen for her, and there was no good reason why she should not
+accept him. Yes, they have been very happy. But in France girls do not
+have a voice, and when the husband is chosen, they set themselves about
+making every act and thought of theirs agreeable."
+
+"But if he was--unworthy?"
+
+"Few parents would choose an unworthy lover, I think. They have the good
+of their children at heart."
+
+Eustache Boulle had not been unworthy. He would have married her,
+nameless. Her heart turned suddenly tender toward him. She was learning
+that in the greater world there was a certain pride of birth, an honor
+in being well-born. She was better satisfied that she had not accepted
+Eustache. What if the Sieur had been opposed to it and Madame de
+Champlain frowned upon her?
+
+And then the Sieur returned, but he came alone. The house in the Rue St.
+Germain l'Auxerrois, with Madame Boulle, was more attractive than the
+roughness of a half-civilized country. Even then Helene plead for
+permission to become a lay sister in a convent, which would have meant a
+separation, but he would not agree to this. Ten years after his death
+she entered the Ursuline Convent, and some years later founded one in
+the town of Meaux, endowing it with most of her fortune. And though the
+next summer Eustache renewed his suit, he met with a firm refusal, and
+found the influence of his brother-in-law was against him.
+
+Rose had been brave enough to lay the matter before him.
+
+"Little one," he said, in the most fatherly tone--"if thou dost not love
+a man enough to give him thy whole soul, except what belongs to God, to
+desire to spend thy life with him, to honor and serve him with the best
+thou hast, then do not marry him. It is a bitter thing for a man to go
+hungry for love, when a woman has promised to hold the cup of joy to his
+lips."
+
+Eustache then returned to France, and after a period of study and
+preparation, took holy orders, as a Friar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+A WAY OVER THORNS
+
+
+Champlain found on his arrival five Jesuit priests, who had received a
+poor welcome, even from their French brethren. The Recollets had offered
+them the hospitality of their convent, which had been gratefully
+accepted. So far not much advance had been made among the Indians, who
+seemed incapable of discerning the spiritual side of religion, though
+they eagerly caught up any superstition.
+
+There had also come over a number of emigrants, two or three families,
+the others, men of no high degree, who had been tempted by the lure of a
+speedy fortune. It was a long, hard, cold winter, and throngs of Indians
+applied for relief. Champlain had established a farm at Beaupre, down
+the river, and stocked it with cattle he had imported. But for weeks
+everything was half-buried in snow.
+
+One morning M. Destournier came in. Rose was sitting by the fire in M.
+Hebert's study and shop. The great fireplace was full of blazing logs,
+and she looked the picture, not only of comfort, but delight. She had
+not seen much of him for the month past. There was no opportunity for
+sledging even, the roads had been so piled with snow. Then she had
+taken quite a domestic turn, much to the gratification of Madame Hebert.
+
+M. Destournier looked thin and careworn. Rose sprang up, deeply touched.
+
+"Oh, you are ill," she cried. "I have not seen you in so long. Sit here
+in the warmth. And miladi?"
+
+She always inquired after her.
+
+"That is what I have come about. Rose, my dear child, can you forget
+enough of the past, and the long silence, to come back to us? Miladi
+wants you, needs you, has sent me to see. She is very ill, and lonely."
+
+Rose flushed warmly, with both pain and pleasure, and her eyes softened,
+almost to tears.
+
+"I shall be glad to come." There was a tremble of emotion in her voice.
+"I realize how great a disappointment it was to her, but you know I was
+right, and when I asked the Sieur if I had been too hasty, or unjust, he
+approved. He thinks no woman ought to marry without giving her whole
+heart, and somehow I had none to give," blushing deeply and looking
+lovelier than ever. "I think it is because--because I am a foundling,
+and could not go to any man with honor. So I must make myself happy in
+my own way."
+
+Her figure had taken on more womanly lines, though it was still slim and
+exquisitely graceful. And the girlish beauty had ripened somewhat,
+losing none of its olden charm.
+
+She colored still more deeply under his glance.
+
+"Is there anything new with miladi?" she inquired, with some hesitation.
+
+"It seems a gradual wasting away and weakness. She thinks she will be
+better when spring opens, and longs to return to France. I am putting my
+affairs in shape to make this possible. She is very lonely. She has
+missed your brightness and vivacity. It has seemed a different place."
+
+Rose's heart swelled with pity. She forgave Madame from the depths of
+her heart, remembering only the old times and the tenderness.
+
+"When shall I come?"
+
+"At once. She begged for you last week, but I was afraid it was a
+restless fancy. The road is quite well broken. What a winter we have
+had! The drought last summer shortened crops, and there have been so
+many extra mouths to feed among the unfortunate Indians. So if you will
+inform the Heberts--I have seen Monsieur."
+
+She went through to the kitchen, where mother and daughter were
+concocting savory messes for the sick. They both returned with her and
+expressed much sympathy for the invalid. M. Hebert had said to his wife
+that miladi was slowly nearing her end, while her real disease seemed a
+mystery, but medical lore in the new world had not made much advance.
+
+"We shall only lend her to you for a while," Madame Hebert said, with a
+faint smile. "I hardly know how Monsieur will do without her. She is
+truly a rose-bloom in this dreary winter, that seems as if it would
+never end."
+
+"And I want her to bloom for a while in the room where my poor sick wife
+has to stay. She longs for some freshness and sweetness," he said, in a
+pleading tone.
+
+"She was rightly named," said Madame, with a smile. "Her poor mother
+must have died, I am quite sure, for she could not have sent away such
+an adorable child. Even when Mere Dubray had her, she was charming, in
+her wild, eager ways, like a bird. The good God made her a living Rose,
+indeed, to show how lovely a human Rose could be."
+
+She came in the room wrapped in her furs, her hood with its border of
+silver-fox framing in her face, that glowed with youth and health.
+
+"You have all been so good to me," and her beautiful eyes were alight
+with gratitude. "I shall come in often, and oh, I shall think of you
+every hour in the day."
+
+"Do not forget the latest pattern of lace-making," added the practical,
+industrious Therese.
+
+It was glorious without, a white world with a sky of such deep blue it
+almost sparkled. Leafless trees stretched out long black or gray arms,
+and here and there a white birch stood up grandly, like some fair
+goddess astray. Stretches of evergreens suggested life, but beyond them
+hills of snow rising higher and higher, until they seemed lost in the
+blue, surmounted by a sparkling frost line.
+
+The paths had been beaten down--occasionally a tract around a doorway
+shovelled. It was hard and smooth as a floor. Destournier slipped her
+arm within his, and then gazed at her in surprise.
+
+"You must have grown. How tall you are. I wonder if I shall get
+accustomed to the new phase? I seem always to see the little girl who
+sat upon my knee. Oh, do you remember when you were ill at Mere
+Dubray's?"
+
+"All my life comes to me in pictures. I sometimes think I can remember
+what was before the long sail in the boat, but it is so vague. Now it is
+all here, its rough ways, its rocks, its beautiful river are a part of
+me. I am never longing to go elsewhere. I am sorry Madame de Champlain
+did not love it as well. And the Sieur was such a good, tender husband."
+
+Destournier sighed a little, also. The Sieur kept busy and full of
+plans, but occasionally there came a wistfulness in his eyes and a pain
+in the lines that were settling so rapidly about his face.
+
+They crunched over the icy paths. A time or two she slipped, and he drew
+her nearer, the touch of her body, though wrapped in its furs, giving
+him a delicious thrill. He lifted her up the steep ways he had seen her
+climb with the litheness of a squirrel.
+
+Wanamee came out with a fervent welcome. The old kitchen was the same.
+Pani was toasting himself in his favorite corner. Mawha was doing Indian
+bead and feather work, and looked up with a cordial nod.
+
+"Get good and warm. I will tell miladi you have come. You will find her
+much changed, but she does not like it remarked upon."
+
+She and Wanamee were in an earnest talk when she was summoned. The room
+had in it some new appointments, brought from France, but even a
+luxurious court beauty might have envied the rich fur rugs lying about
+and hanging over the rude and somewhat clumsy chairs of home
+manufacture.
+
+Pillowed up in a half-sitting posture in the bed was miladi. Rose could
+hardly forbear a shocked exclamation. When she had seen her every day,
+the changes had passed unremarked, for they had begun, even then. The
+lovely skin was yellowed and wrinkled and defined the cheek bones, the
+beautiful hair had grown dull, and the eyes had lost their lustre. All
+her youth was gone, she was an old lady, even before the time.
+
+And this vision of youthful, vigorous beauty was like a sudden sunburst,
+when the day had been dull and cloudy. She seemed to animate the room,
+to light up the farthest recesses, to bring a breath of revivifying air
+and hope.
+
+"I have wanted you so," the invalid said piteously. "Oh, how strong and
+well you are! I never was very strong, and so the illness has taken a
+deeper hold on me. And now you must help me to get well. Your freshness
+will be an elixir--that is what I have wanted. Wanamee is good for a
+servant nurse, but I have needed something finer and better."
+
+She held out her hand and Rose pressed it to her lips. It was bony,
+showing swollen blue veins, and had a clammy coldness that struck a
+chill to the rosy lips.
+
+"Did you like them at the Heberts? They are very staid people, and think
+only of work, I believe."
+
+"They were very kind, and I found them well-informed about everything."
+
+"Why, when they know so much, can they not cure me? You know it is not
+as though my case was very serious. I am weak, that is all. The doctor
+came down from Tadoussac, but he just shook his head, and his powders
+did me no good. M. Hebert sent some extracts of herbs, but nothing gives
+me any strength. And the snow and cold stays on as if spring would never
+come. What have you been doing all this while? You couldn't run about in
+the woods."
+
+"Oh, Madame, I am outgrowing that wild longing, though the trees have a
+hundred voices, and I seem to understand what they say, and the song of
+the birds, the ripple and plash of the river. But I have been learning
+other things. How great the world is, and the stories of kings and
+queens, and brave travellers, who go about and discover new places. It
+widens one's subjects of thought. And I have learned some cooking, and
+how to make home seem cheerful, and the weaving of pretty laces, like
+those the ships bring over. I am not so idle now."
+
+"And you liked them very much?" She uttered this rather resentfully.
+
+"Ah, Madame, how could one help, when people were so good, and took so
+much pains with one."
+
+Her voice was sweet and appealing, yet it had a strand of strength and
+appreciation. But had _she_ not been good to the little girl all these
+years!
+
+"Has Mam'selle Therese any lover?" she asked, after a pause.
+
+"Not yet, Madame. Some old family friends are to come over in the
+summer, and one has a son that Therese played with in childhood. It may
+be that she will like him."
+
+"And she will do as her parents desire!"
+
+"They are very just with her, and love her dearly."
+
+"And the brother?"
+
+"He went to Mont Real before the hard cold. If there were only people to
+settle there it would be finer than Quebec, it is said."
+
+"I am so tired of Quebec. Next summer we will go home; that is the
+country for me. M. Destournier is willing to go at last, and I shall see
+that he never returns to this dreary hole."
+
+"It can hardly be called a hole, when there are so many heights all
+about," laughed the girl.
+
+"It is a wretched place. And you will soon like France, and wonder how
+people are content to stay here. You see the Governor's wife had enough
+of it. She had good sense."
+
+"But, Madame, the priests teach that a wife's place is beside her
+husband."
+
+"What have I gained by staying beside mine, who is always planning how
+to civilize those wretched squaws, and make life better for them? The
+better should have been for me. And now I have lost my health, and my
+beautiful hair has fallen out and begins to turn white. Am I very much
+changed?"
+
+Rose was embarrassed. Years ago miladi hated the thoughts of growing
+old.
+
+"Illness tries one very much," she said evasively. "But you will gain it
+up when you begin to mend."
+
+"Oh, do you think so? You see I must get something to restore the wasted
+flesh. How plump you are. And I had such an admirable figure. M. Laurent
+thought me the most graceful girl he had ever seen, had so many pretty
+compliments, and that keeps one in heart, spurs one on to new efforts.
+M. Destournier is not of that kind. He is cold-blooded, and seems more
+English than French."
+
+Rose colored. The dispraise hurt her.
+
+"Fix my pillows, and put me down. I get so tired. And stir up the fire."
+
+Rose did this very gently, smoothing out wrinkles, holding the cold
+hands in hers, so warm and full of strength. The room seemed smothering
+to her, but she stirred the fire vigorously, and sent a vivid shower of
+sparks upward.
+
+"Now if you had a little broth----"
+
+"But I cannot bear to have you go away. Yes, I know I shall get stronger
+with you here."
+
+"You need some nourishment. I will not be gone long," giving a heartsome
+smile.
+
+A gallery ran along this side of the house, built for miladi's
+convenience. She stepped out on it, in the clear air and sunshine, and
+took a few turns. Poor Madame! Would she get well when she seemed so
+near dying?
+
+The broth was reviving. Rose fed her with a teaspoon, instead of giving
+her the cup to drink from, and they both laughed like children. Then she
+arranged the pillows and bathed the poor, wrinkled face and hair with
+some fragrant water, and miladi fell asleep under these ministrations.
+
+Rose moved lightly about the room, changing its aspect with deft
+touches. She was glad to do something in return. Miladi had been very
+sweet when she was ill, and there had been the pleasant years when she
+had not minded the exactions. Was there really a plan to go to France?
+Would they take her from her beloved Quebec?
+
+M. Destournier brought in a book from the Governor's store and Rose read
+aloud in the evening. That was a restless time for miladi, but the
+sweet, cheerful voice tranquillized her. M. Ralph sat in the corner of
+the wide stone fireplace, watching the changes in the lovely face, as
+she seemed to enter into the spirit of the adventures. Heroism appealed
+to her. The flush came and went in her cheek, her eyes sent out gleams
+of glory, and her bosom rose and fell.
+
+There came an instant of rapture to Ralph Destournier, that mysterious
+and almost sublime appreciation of a woman's love, a love such as this
+girl could give. He had possessed the childish affection, the innocent
+girlish fondness, but some other would win the woman's heart, the prize
+he would lay down his life for. What had been the pity and weak
+tenderness was given to the woman in the bed yonder. He knew now she had
+only touched his heart in sympathy, and a fancied duty. In a thousand
+years she would never be capable of such love as this girl, blossoming
+into womanhood, could give.
+
+"There should be some women at hand," declared a weak voice from the
+bed. "It adds an interest to the discoveries, to think, if a woman did
+not inspire it, she crowned it with her admiration. But for a party of
+men to go off alone----"
+
+"The hardships would be too great for a woman."
+
+Destournier's voice was husky with repressed emotion. This girl would
+keep step and inspire an explorer.
+
+"They would not take so many hardships then. What if there is a great
+river or ocean leading to India! A man can live but one life, and that
+should be devoted to some woman."
+
+He rose, crossed the room, and kissed his wife on the forehead. He
+learned by accident one day that she used something to keep her lips red
+with the lost bloom of youth, and they had never been sweet to him
+since.
+
+"Good-night. I hope you will sleep. Rose had better not read any more.
+We must not have all the good things in one day."
+
+He ran down the steps to where a street had been straightened and
+widened in the summer. The moonlight gave everything a weird glow, the
+stars were tinted in all colors, as one finds in the clear cold of the
+north. Only the planets and the larger ones, the myriad of small ones
+were outshone. What beauty, what strength, what wonders lay hidden in
+the wide expanse. He was tempted to plunge into the wilderness, to the
+frozen north, to the blooming south, or that impenetrable expanse of the
+west, and leave behind the weak woman, who in her selfish way loved him,
+and the girl who could create a new life for him, that he could love
+with the force of manhood suddenly aroused, that had been clean and
+wholesome. He was glad of that, though he could not lay it at the girl's
+feet. Miladi had been in this state so long, sometimes rallying, and in
+the summer they would go to France. But they would leave Rose of old
+Quebec behind.
+
+Over there at the fort a man sat poring over maps and papers, a
+solitary man now, who had wedded youth and beauty, and found only Dead
+Sea fruit. But he was going bravely on his way. That was a man's duty.
+
+In a few days there was a decided improvement in miladi. She was
+dressed, and sat up part of the time. She evinced an eager resolve to
+get well, she put on a sort of childish brightness, that was at times
+pitiful. But nothing could conceal the ravages of time. She looked older
+than her years. She was, in a curious manner, drawing on the vitality of
+the young girl, and it was generously given.
+
+Then came to Rose a great sorrow. M. Hebert, who had been such an
+inspiring influence to her, died from the effects of a fall. There was a
+general mourning in the small settlement. The Governor felt he had lost
+one of his most trusty friends. The eldest daughter, Guillemette, who
+had married one Guillaume Couillard, came down from Tadoussac, and they
+took his place on the farm. Hers had been the first wedding in Quebec.
+
+Rose felt that this must change the home for her. She had counted on
+going back to them. There were days when she grew very tired of miladi's
+whims and inanities, and longed to fly to her beloved wood.
+
+"If I should die, he will marry her," miladi thought continually. "I
+will not die. I will take her to France and marry her to some one before
+her beauty fades. She will make a sensation."
+
+Rose never dreamed she was so closely watched. After that moonlight
+battle with himself, Destournier allowed his soul no further thought of
+the present Rose, but dreamed over the frank child-charm she had
+possessed for him. He grew grave and silent, and spent much of his time
+with the Sieur.
+
+Spring was very late. It seemed as if old Quebec would never throw off
+her ermine mantle. Richelieu was now at the helm in France, and that
+country and England were at war with each other. Quebec was looking
+forward to supplies and reinforcements that had been promised.
+
+From a cold and unusually dry May, they went into summer heats. The
+Sieur de Champlain spent much of his time getting his farm at Cape
+Tourmente in order. M. Destournier was engrossed with the improvements
+of the town, and keeping the Indians at work, who were, it must be
+confessed, notoriously lazy. Miladi complained. Rose grew weary. She
+missed her dear friend M. Hebert, and she was puzzled at the coldness
+and distance of M. Destournier. But the rambles were a comfort and a
+kind of balance to her life. She brought wild flowers to miladi, and the
+first scarlet strawberries. And there was always such an enchanting
+freshness after these excursions, that the elder woman liked her to take
+them.
+
+Richelieu understood better than any one yet the importance of this
+colony to France, when the English were making such rapid strides in the
+new world. He was planning extensive improvements in colonizing, and
+fitting out ships with stores and men.
+
+The news came to Cape Tourmente that vessels had been sighted. Word was
+sent on to Quebec, and there was a general rejoicing.
+
+But it was soon turned to terror and anguish. Some savages came paddling
+furiously to the town, and though the cries were indistinguishable at
+first, they soon gathered force.
+
+"The English have burned and pillaged Cape Tourmente, and are at
+Tadoussac! Save yourselves. Man the fort. Call all to arms!"
+
+Alas! The fort was considerably out of repair. The Indians had been
+peaceable for some time and the mother country had kept them short of
+supplies. The walled settlement was protection from marauding bands, and
+the fort could have been made impregnable if the Governor had carried
+out his plans and not been hampered by the lack of all-needed
+improvements.
+
+The farmer at Cape Tourmente had been slightly wounded, and was brought
+down with the boat, on which several had escaped. The buildings had been
+burned, the cattle killed, the crops laid waste. No doubt they were now
+pillaging Tadoussac.
+
+Champlain began to prepare for defense with all the force available.
+Muskets were loaded, cannon trained down the river, the fort manned.
+Friendly Indians offered their services. All was wild alarm, the blow
+was so unexpected.
+
+Miladi, hearing the noise and confusion, explained it her way.
+
+"It is always so when the horde of traders come in," she said. She had
+been looking over old finery, and getting ready for a return to France.
+
+The little convent on the St. Charles was prepared to repel any
+surprise. But at mid-afternoon a boat hovered about in the river, and it
+was learned presently that it conveyed some captives taken by the
+English, who were sent with a letter from the commander of the fleet,
+that now appeared quite formidable, with its six well-manned vessels.
+
+The Governor at once called together the leading men of the place and
+laid before them the summons of surrender, and the first news of the war
+between France and England. It was couched in polite terms, but
+contained a well-laid plan. In all, eighteen ships had been despatched
+by His Majesty, the King of Britain. Several small stations had been
+captured, also a boat with supplies from France, and all resources were
+to be cut off. By surrendering they would save their homes and property,
+and be treated with the utmost courtesy, but it was the intention of the
+English to take the town, although they preferred to do it without
+bloodshed.
+
+It was quite a lengthy document, and Champlain read it slowly, that each
+sentence might be well considered. The hard winter, the late spring, the
+supplies at Cape Tourmente and Tadoussac being cut off, rendered them in
+no situation for a prolonged struggle. But they would not yield so
+easily to the demand of the English. They had the courage of men who had
+undergone many hardships, and the pride of their nation. Quebec had been
+the child of the Sieur de Champlain's work and love. With one voice they
+resolved to refuse, and the word was sent to Captain David Kirke.
+
+He meanwhile turned his fleet down the river, fancying the town an easy
+prey, when he espied the relief stores sent from France, a dozen or so
+vessels, bringing colonists, workmen, priests, women, and children, and
+farming implements, as well as stores, convoyed by a man-of-war. It was
+a rich prize for the Englishman, and an order for surrender was sent,
+which was refused.
+
+The battle was indeed disastrous for Quebec, though they were not to
+know it until months afterward. Most of the emigrants Captain Kirke
+despatched back to France, some of the least valuable vessels he burned,
+and sailed home with his trophies, leaving Quebec for another attempt.
+
+Meanwhile the little colony waited in ill-defined terror. Day after day
+passed and no attack was made. Then they ventured to send out some boats
+and found to their surprise the river was clear of the enemy, but every
+little settlement had been laid waste. The stock of food was growing
+low, the crops were not promising. Every consignment sent from France
+had miscarried, and since the two nations were at war there was small
+hope of supplies. What would they do in winter? Already the woods were
+scoured for nuts and edible roots, and stores were hidden away with
+trembling hands. There were many plans discussed. If they could send
+part of their people out to find a Basque fishing fleet, and thus return
+home.
+
+No heart was heavier than that of the Sieur de Champlain. To be sure
+there was his renown as a discoverer and explorer, but the city he had
+planned, that was to be the crowning point of France's possessions, was
+slowly falling to decay.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+HELD IN AN ENEMY'S GRASP
+
+
+These were sad times for old Quebec and for the little girl who was
+blossoming into a womanhood that should have been joyous and serene, she
+asked so little of life.
+
+When the news of the reverse and the loss of the stores reached them,
+they were still more greatly burthened by the influx from Tadoussac and
+the settlements around. Then, too, the wandering Indians joined in the
+clamor for food. Trade was stopped. Mont Real took the furs and disposed
+of them in other channels. No one knew how many English vessels were
+lying outside, ready to confiscate anything valuable.
+
+Madame Destournier was in a state of ungovernable terror.
+
+"Why should we stay here and be murdered?" she would cry. "Or starve to
+death! Let us return to France, as we planned. Am I of not as much
+consideration as an Indian squaw, that you all profess so much anxiety
+for?"
+
+"It would not be prudent to cross the ocean now," her husband said. "We
+might be taken prisoners and carried to England. You are in no state to
+face hardships."
+
+"As if I did not face them continually! Oh, I should have gone at once,
+when Laurent died. And if the English take the town, where will be the
+fortune he struggled for! I wish I had never seen the place."
+
+She would go on bewailing her hard fate until utterly exhausted. There
+were days when she would not let Rose out of her sight, except when her
+husband entered the room. It was well that he had a motive of the
+highest honor, to hold himself well in hand, though there were times
+when his whole heart went out in pity for Rose. Was there another soul
+in the world that would have been so pitiful and tender?
+
+Eustache Boulle had come from Tadoussac, since so little could be done
+toward rehabilitating that, and proved himself a most worthy compatriot
+to Champlain. Rose was sorely troubled at first, but she soon found that
+miladi no longer cared for the marriage. She was too selfish to think of
+losing one who was so useful to her. The girl's vigor and vivacity were
+a daily tonic to her. Would she sap the strength out of this splendid
+creature? Ralph Destournier wondered, with a pang. Yet to interfere was
+not possible. He understood the jealous nature, that if given the
+slightest ground would precipitate an _esclandre_.
+
+Among the Indians flocking in was Savignon, who had gone to France years
+before with Champlain, and who had been in demand as an interpreter. He
+had spent a year or two up at the strait, where there was quite a
+centre, and the priests had established a station, and gone further on
+to the company's outpost. An unusually fine-looking brave, with many of
+the white man's graces, that had not sunk deep enough to be called real
+qualities. But they were glad to see him, and gave him a warm welcome.
+
+And now what was to be done? All supplies being cut off, the grain
+fields laid in ruin, the crops failing, how were they to sustain
+themselves through the winter? Various plans were suggested. One of the
+most feasible, though fraught with danger, was to lead a party of
+Algonquins against the Iroquois, and capture some of their villages. The
+tribe had proved itself deceitful and unfriendly on several occasions.
+The Algonquins were ready for this. Another was to accept the proffer of
+a number settled at Gaspe, who had been warm friends with Pontgrave, and
+who would winter about twenty of the suffering people.
+
+Ralph Destournier offered to head the expedition, as it needed a person
+of some experience to restrain the Indians, and good judgment in not
+wasting supplies, if any could be found. Savignon consented to accompany
+them, and several others who were weary of the suffering around them and
+preferred activity. They would be back before winter set in if they met
+with any success.
+
+Destournier planned that his wife should be made comfortable while he
+was gone. At first she protested, then she sank into a kind of sullen
+silence. She had seemed stronger for some weeks.
+
+Rose had gone for her daily walk late in the afternoon. She read miladi
+to sleep about this time and was sure of an hour to herself. She was
+feeling the severe drain upon her quite sensibly, and though she longed
+to throw herself on a couch of moss and study the drifting clouds in the
+glory of the parting day, when the sun had gone behind the hills and the
+wake of splendor was paling to softer colors; lavender and pale green,
+that mingled in an indescribable tint, for which there could be no name.
+There was a little coolness in the air, but the breath of the river was
+sweet and revived her. Many of the leaves had dried and fallen from the
+drought, yet the juniper and cedar were bluish-green in the coming
+twilight, with their clusters of berries frostily gray.
+
+But she walked on. There was a craving in her heart for a change, a
+larger outlook. It would not be in marrying M. Boulle, though more than
+once when she had surprised his eyes bent wistfully upon her, a pang of
+pity for him had gone to her heart. Could she spend years waiting on
+miladi, whose strength of will kept her alive. Or was it that horrible
+fear of death? If it was true as the priests taught--oh, yes, it must
+be. God could not be so cruel as to put creatures in this world to toil
+and suffer, and then drop back to dust, to nothingness. Even the Indians
+believed in another sphere, in their crude superstitious fashion, and
+there must be some better place as a reward for the pain here that was
+not one's own fault. She loved to peer beyond the skies as she thought,
+and to drift midway between them and the grand woods, the changeful sea.
+What if one floated off and never came back!
+
+There was a step beside her, and she drew a long breath, though she was
+not alarmed, for she almost felt a presence, and turned, waited.
+
+"Rose," the voice said, "I have wanted to find you alone. I have several
+things to say. I have promised to go on this expedition because I felt
+it was necessary. You will not blame me. I have made all arrangements
+for you and miladi, and I shall be back before the real cold weather
+sets in. I only pray that we may be successful."
+
+"Yes," she said under her breath, yet in vague surprise.
+
+"It is a hard burthen to lay upon you. Do not imagine I have not seen
+it. At first I thought it only the restless whim of failing health, but
+I believe she loves you as much as she can love any human being. I
+realize now that she should have gone to her own sunny France long ago.
+She is formed for pleasure and brightness, variety, and to have new
+people about her when she exhausts the old. I should not have married
+her, but it seemed the best step then. I truly believed----"
+
+No, he would not drag his weak justification before this pure, sweet
+girl, though he had almost said "I believed she loved me." And he had
+learned since that she loved no one but her own self. Laurent Giffard
+had never awakened to the truth. But he had taken the best of her youth.
+
+"Oh, you must know that I am glad to make some return for all your
+kindness in my childhood. And she was sweet and tender. I think it is
+the illness that has changed her. Oh, I can recall many delightful hours
+spent with her. I should be an ingrate if I could not minister to her
+now of my best."
+
+"You could never be an ingrate," he protested.
+
+"I hope not," fervently.
+
+"I count confidently on returning. I can't tell why, for we shall risk
+the fate of war, but I can almost see myself here again in the old
+place. Like our beloved Commandant I, too, have dreams of what Quebec
+can be made, a glorious place to hand down to posterity. Meanwhile you
+will care for her as you do now, and comfort her with your many pleasant
+arts. I am a man formed for business and active endeavor, and cannot
+minister in that manner. Perhaps Providence did not intend me for a
+husband, and I have thwarted the will of Providence."
+
+There was a humorous strain in his voice at the last sentence.
+
+"Oh, you need not fear but that I will do my best. And I, too, shall
+look for your home-coming, believe in it, pray for it."
+
+"The women will remain, and Pani will serve you to the uttermost. When
+this weary time is ended, and we are in better condition, you will have
+your reward."
+
+"I do not want any reward, it is only returning what has been given."
+
+He knew many things miladi had grudged her, most of all the home, since
+it was of his providing and intent.
+
+They wandered on in silence for some time. Both hearts were too full for
+commonplace talk, and he did not dare venture out of safe lines. He
+could not pretend to fatherly love, even that cloaked by brotherliness
+would be but a sham, he knew. He had his own honor to satisfy, as well
+as her guilelessness.
+
+Now it was quite dark.
+
+"Oh, I must go back. It has been so pleasant that I have loitered. Let
+us run down this slope."
+
+She held out her hand, and he took it. They skimmed over the ground like
+children. Then there were the steps to climb, but she was up the first.
+
+"Good-night." She waved her white hand, and he saw it in the darkness.
+
+"The saints bless and keep you."
+
+She ran over to the level and then up again toward the kitchen end.
+There was a savory smell of supper. A moose had been killed and divided
+around.
+
+"Oh, how delightful! Is there enough for two bites? One will not satisfy
+me. But I must see miladi."
+
+"No," interposed Wanamee. "I took in a cup of broth, but she was soundly
+asleep. Have some steak while it is hot. The saints be praised for a
+mouthful of decent food."
+
+Yes, it was good. Pani watched with eager, hungry eyes and lips aquiver.
+Rose felt almost conscience-smitten that she should have been satisfied
+first.
+
+"Was there much to be divided?" she asked of him.
+
+"He was a noble, big fellow. And they have gone up in the woods for
+deer."
+
+Miladi was still asleep when she entered the room. She held the lamp a
+little close with a sudden fear, but she saw the tranquil movement of
+her chest and was reassured. There was a young moon coming up, a golden
+crescent in a sky of flawless blue. It was too small to light the savage
+cliffs, but she could hear the plash of the incoming tide that swirled
+along with the current of the river. If the English came, what then?
+
+It was near ten when miladi woke.
+
+"What time is it?" she asked. "Not quite morning, for it is dark. I have
+had such a splendid sleep. Why, I feel quite well."
+
+She sat up in the bed.
+
+"Come and bathe my face, Rose. Do you know whether Madame Hebert has the
+recipe of this fragrant water? Mine is nearly gone. It is so
+refreshing."
+
+"I am quite sure she has. You have had no supper. There is some tasty
+meat broth."
+
+"I'm tired of pease and greens, and make-believe things that don't
+nourish you at all. And there was such nice fish. Why do they not get
+some? The river certainly hasn't dried up."
+
+"No, Madame," in almost a merry tone, as if it might take the edge off
+of complaining. "But there is such a scarcity of hooks. Petit Gabou is
+making a net of dried grass that he thinks will answer the purpose. And
+we have always had such a plentiful supply of fish."
+
+The broth was very nourishing. Then Rose must sit with both of miladi's
+hands in hers, so warm and soft, hers being little beside bone and
+joints. She talked of France and her youth, when she was a pretty girl,
+just out of the convent, and went to Paris. "You will like it so much. I
+can hardly wait for the summer to come. I shall not mind if Monsieur has
+so much business on hand that he cannot leave," and her tone had a
+little mocking accent. "When men get older they lose their nice ways of
+compliment and grace. They care less for their wives. Even M. de
+Champlain does not fret after his, who is no doubt enjoying herself
+finely. She was wise not to return."
+
+The slim, golden crescent had wandered away to other worlds, and the
+stars grew larger and brighter in their bed of blue. She watched them
+through the open window. A screen was set up so that no draught should
+annoy miladi. Presently she fell asleep again, and Rose stole to her own
+couch, the other side of the screen, where she could still watch the
+stars.
+
+Savignon had come in with news. The Algonquins knew of a storehouse of
+the Iroquois, who had gone on the war-path, and would hardly be back for
+a whole moon. It would be best to start at once, and they began
+preparations. Some of the Indian women volunteered, they were used to
+carrying burthens. Bags were packed up. They trusted to find most of
+their food upon the route.
+
+Miladi took the parting tranquilly. M. Ralph had spent weeks on
+exploring expeditions. If there was any danger in this, she did not heed
+it. She held up her face to be kissed, and he noted how dry and parched
+the lips were.
+
+He gave a brief good-bye to Rose, who was standing near.
+
+"Surely, he does not care for women," Miladi thought exultingly. "Even
+her fresh, young beauty is nothing to him. He has no tender, eager
+soul."
+
+Rose went down to the plateau to see the start.
+
+"You are much interested, Mam'selle?" Savignon said. "Give us the charm
+of your thoughts and prayers."
+
+"You have both, most truly." What a fine, stalwart fellow Savignon was,
+lighter than the average, and picturesque in his Indian costume, though
+he often wore the garb of civilization. French had become to him almost
+a mother tongue.
+
+Yet Rose wondered a little if it was right to rob the storehouse where
+the industrious Indians had been making preparations for the coming
+winter. Was it easier for one race to starve than another?
+
+"And wish us a safe return."
+
+The look in his eyes disconcerted her for an instant. Her own drooped.
+She was acquiring a woman's wisdom.
+
+"I do that most heartily," she made answer, turning aside; but the
+admiration lingered over her fine, yet strong figure, with its grace of
+movement. The beautiful eyes haunted him, if they were turned away.
+
+Such forays were not uncommon among the tribes. The Iroquois had planted
+more than one storehouse in the wilderness, in most secluded places. It
+saved carrying burthens, as they wandered about, or if in desperate
+weather, they set up their wigwams, and remained eating and sleeping,
+until hunger drove them elsewhere.
+
+A ship had come down from Acadia with news that several English vessels
+were hovering about. They offered to take some of the women and
+children, and M. de Champlain was thankful for this. By spring there
+must be some change in affairs. The mother country could not wholly
+forget them.
+
+Rose wondered at times that miladi remained so tranquil. She slept a
+great deal, and it was an immense relief. It seemed occasionally that
+her mind wandered, though it was mostly vague mutterings.
+
+Once she said quite clearly--"I will not have the child. You will come
+to love her better than you do me."
+
+Then she opened her eyes and fixed them on Rose, with a hard, cold
+stare.
+
+"Go away," she cried. "Go away. I will not have you here to steal his
+love from me. You are only a child, but one day you will be a woman. And
+I shall be growing old, old! A woman's youth ought to come back to her
+for a brief while."
+
+Rose's heart swelled within her. Was this why miladi had taken such
+queer spells, and sometimes been unkind to her for days? And M.
+Destournier had always stood her friend.
+
+Yet she felt infinitely sorry for miladi, and that calmed her first
+burst of indignation. She went out to the forest to walk. The withered
+leaves lay thick on the ground, they had not been as beautiful as in
+some autumns, the drought had turned them brown too soon. The white
+birches seemed like lovely ghosts haunting the darkened spaces. Children
+were digging for fallen nuts, even edible roots, and breaking off
+sassafras twigs. What would they do before spring, if relief did not
+come!
+
+Suppose she went away with the next vessel that came in. But then she
+had promised. Oh, yes, she must look after miladi, just as carefully as
+if there were depths of love between them. How did she come to know so
+much about love? Surely she had never loved any one with her whole soul.
+Neither had she craved an overwhelming affection. But now the world
+seemed large, and strange, and empty to her. She rustled the leaves
+under her feet, as if they made a sort of company in the loneliness.
+Perhaps it would not have been so bad to have taken M. Boulle's love. If
+only love did not mean nearness, some sacred rites, kisses. She felt if
+she raised her hand in permission it might still be hers. No, no, she
+could not take it, and she shivered. Why, it was nearly dark, and cold.
+She must run to warm her blood.
+
+She came in bright and glowing, her eyes in cordial shining.
+
+"Thank the Holy Mother that you have come," cried Mawha. "Miladi has
+been crying and going on and saying that you have deserted her. Wanamee
+could not comfort her. Run, quick."
+
+Miladi was sobbing as if her heart would break. Rose bent over her,
+smoothed her brow and hair, chafed the cold hands.
+
+"The way was so long and dark," she cried, "such a long, long path. Will
+I have to go all alone?" and Rose could feel the terrified shiver.
+
+"You will not have to go anywhere," began the girl, in a soothing tone.
+"I shall stay here with you."
+
+"But you were gone," complainingly.
+
+"I will not go again."
+
+"Then sit here and hold my hands. I think it was a dream. I am not going
+to die. I am really better. I walked about to-day. Is there word from
+Monsieur? You know we are going to France in the summer. Do you know
+what happens when one dies? I've seen the little Indian babies die. Do
+you suppose they really have souls?"
+
+"Every one born in the world has. The priest will tell you." Rose gained
+a little courage. "Perhaps you would like to see Father Jamay."
+
+"I went to confession a long while ago. The priest wanted my French
+books. M. Ralph said I need not give them up. I prayed to the Virgin. I
+prayed for many things that did not come. But we will go to France, M.
+Ralph promised, and he never breaks his word, so I do not need to pray
+for that. I am cold. Cover me up warm, and get something for my feet.
+Then sit here and put your arms around me. Promise me you will never go
+away again."
+
+"I promise"--in a sweet, soft tone.
+
+Then she sat on the side of the bed and placed her arm about the
+shoulders. How thin they were.
+
+"Sing something. The silence frightens me."
+
+Rose sang, sometimes like a chant, lines she could recall that had a
+musical sound. The leaning figure grew heavier, the breathing was slow
+and tranquil. Wanamee came in.
+
+"Help me put her down," Rose said, for she was weary with the strained
+position.
+
+They laid her down tenderly, without waking her.
+
+"Stay with me," pleaded Rose. "You know when I went away M. Destournier
+used to come in. I do not like to leave her alone."
+
+"It is curious," exclaimed Wanamee. "This morning she seemed so well,
+and walked about. Then she sinks down. How long she has been ill, this
+way."
+
+Rose wanted to ask a solemn question, but she did not dare. Presently
+Wanamee dozed off, but Rose watched until the eastern sky began to show
+long levels of light. There seemed an awesome stillness in the room.
+
+"Wanamee," she said faintly.
+
+The woman rose and looked at the figure on the bed, standing some
+seconds in silence.
+
+"Go out quietly, _ma fille_, and find Mawha. Send her in." Then she
+turned Rose quite around, and the girl uttered no question.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked Pani. "Mam'selle, you are white as a
+snowdrift."
+
+"I think miladi is dead," and she drew a long, strangling breath, her
+figure trembling with unknown dread.
+
+Pani bowed and crossed himself several times.
+
+Wanamee came in presently. "The poor lady is gone," she said reverently.
+"She was so afraid of dying, and it was just like a sleep. Pani, you
+must row up to the convent at once, and ask some of the fathers to come
+down. Stop first at the fort and tell the Governor."
+
+That Madame Destournier should die surprised no one, but it was
+unexpected, for all that. It appeared to accentuate the other sorrows
+and anxieties. And that M. Destournier should be away seemed doubly sad.
+Two of the priests came down with Pani, and held some services over the
+body. Her ill health was the excuse of her not having paid more
+attention to the offices of the Church, that so far had not flourished
+at all well. The convent was really too far, and the chapel service had
+waned since the departure of Madame de Champlain.
+
+When Rose gained courage to go into the room where a few tapers were
+dimly burning, she lost her fear in an instant. It was a thin and
+wrinkled face, but it had a certain placid sweetness that often hallows
+it, when pain and fear are ended. Rose pressed her lips to the cold
+forehead, and breathed a brief prayer that miladi had found entrance to
+a happier land. A new thought took possession of her. Miladi belonged
+wholly to Laurent Giffard now. The tie that bound her to M. Destournier
+was broken, and it was as if it had never been. She remembered he had
+once said he would relinquish her in that other country. She had simply
+been given to him in her sorrow, to care for a brief while. And how
+grandly he had done it. Rose was too just, perhaps with some of the
+incisive energy of youth, to cover up miladi's faults at once. If she
+had been grateful to him for his devotion she would have thought more
+tenderly of love. Yet she experienced a profound pity.
+
+There had been set aside a burial plot, one end for the white
+inhabitants. Thither the body was taken, and laid beside her true
+husband, with the rites of the Church. M. de Champlain headed the
+procession, but on the outskirts there was a curious throng.
+
+The Heberts pressed their hospitality upon Rose, but even they were in
+great straits. Then Wanamee was less superstitious than most of her
+race, and made no demur at remaining in the house, if Rose desired to
+stay. It was home to the girl, and she could almost fancy the better
+part of miladi's spirit hovered about it, released from suffering.
+
+How would M. Destournier take it? Would he regret he had not been here?
+
+Day after day they waited the return of the party. Had there been a
+battle? Sometimes Rose felt as if she must join them, the suspense
+seemed the hardest of all to endure.
+
+At last most of the Indians returned, with bags and blankets of
+supplies. There had been no battle. They had come unexpectedly upon a
+storehouse, cunningly hidden in the wood. There were no guards about. So
+they had entered, and after satisfying their hunger, packed corn and
+dried meats, onions, which would be a great treat, and nuts. They
+divided the party, and sent one relay on ahead, to travel as fast as
+possible, with the good news, and relieve the famishing people.
+
+Quebec greeted them with the wildest joy. Savignon headed this party.
+They had two days' start, and though the ground was frozen, there had
+been no deep snow to prevent the others from a tolerably comfortable
+march. They would no doubt be in soon. It seemed a large addition to
+their scanty store. A great joy pervaded the little colony.
+
+Two days passed, then a third. A party, headed by Savignon, went out to
+meet them. They found a few men, dragging and carrying weary loads.
+There had been an accident to M. Destournier. He had stumbled into an
+unseen pitfall and broken his leg. They had carried him on a litter for
+two days, then he had begged the others to leave him with an attendant,
+and hurry onward, coming back for him as soon as possible.
+
+Rose was all sympathy and anxiety. She flew to one of the half-breeds,
+who had borne the litter. Was there much injury beside the broken leg?
+
+"He was a good deal shaken up, but he knew what to do about bandaging,
+and he uttered no groans. But when he attempted to walk the next morning
+he died for a few moments, as your women sometimes do. And when he came
+to life, they made the litter. He was very brave. So we rigged up a sort
+of tent in the woods, as he insisted on being left."
+
+The Commandant ordered that a party be formed at once to rescue him.
+They could not allow him to perish there in the wilderness. He might be
+ill.
+
+"He might die," Rose said to herself. And then an intense ungovernable
+longing came over her to see him once again. Women could minister to him
+better than men. And if Wanamee and Pani would go. Pani had been so much
+with women that he had lost many of the virile Indian traits.
+
+Yes, they would go, but Wanamee did not quite approve of the journey. No
+one could tell how deep a snow would set in.
+
+"But it will be only a six days' journey, and most of it through the
+forests. Savignon will be an excellent guide. And no one must speak of
+the great sorrow that awaits him here."
+
+M. de Champlain opposed the plan. It was too severe for women. But
+curiously enough Savignon said--"The blossom of Quebec is no dainty
+flower, to be crushed by wind and storm. If she wants to go, I am on her
+side."
+
+When Rose heard this she flew out to thank him, catching one hand in
+both of hers, her eyes luminous with gladness.
+
+"Oh, I cannot truly thank you, Monsieur. I must go, even if I ran away
+and followed on behind. And I am no delicate house-plant."
+
+"Thou art a brave girl," admiringly. "Thou hast been used to woods and
+rocks, and art strong and courageous."
+
+To be called monsieur was one of Savignon's great delights. He had tired
+not a little of the roughness of savage life, and though he had caressed
+pretty Indian maidens he had never been much in love with them. And this
+girl was different from most of the white women. The courage in every
+line of her face, the exuberant bounding life that flushed her veins,
+her straight lithe figure, and the grace of every movement, appealed
+strongly to him.
+
+"Thou wilt find it hard going, Mam'selle, keeping step to the men, and
+sleeping in the woods. But three days are soon spent, and we need not
+march back so hastily. Our women have stood more than that."
+
+"You will see how much I can stand," she answered proudly. She believed
+the admiring eyes were for her courage alone.
+
+Go she must. She did not stop to question. There was only one thing
+uppermost in her mind. If he died she must see him; if he lived, she
+must wait upon him, comfort him in his sorrow, for although in a vague
+way she knew he had not come up to the highest joy in his marriage, any
+more than her dear Sieur de Champlain, he had cared very tenderly for
+miladi, and would sorrow to know her shut out of life. And it had been
+so quiet at the last, just falling asleep. Her arms had been around her,
+her voice the last sound miladi had heard. He would rejoice in his
+sorrow that all had been so tranquil.
+
+Rose and Wanamee came down in their robes of fur, with their deerskin
+frocks underneath. Rose's cap had its visor turned up and it framed in
+her beautiful face. Her hair fell in loose curls, the way she had always
+worn it, and the morning sun sent golden gleams amongst it. There was a
+small crowd to wish them God-speed.
+
+The horses that De Champlain had brought over and a few mules that had
+been at Cape Tourmente were carried off in the English raid. True, they
+would not have been of much account in the overgrown brush of the
+wilderness.
+
+"Mam'selle," Savignon said, after an hour or two, "do not hurry ahead
+so. You will tire before night."
+
+"I feel as if I could run, or fly," she made answer, and she looked so.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+A LOVER OF THE WILDERNESS
+
+
+The weather was splendid, the sky cloudless, the air scented with the
+resinous fragrance of cedar, fir, and pine. They paused for a midday
+lunch and then kept on until dark. In a clearing in an almost
+impenetrable forest they paused, built a fire, and prepared to camp.
+Savignon drew some young saplings together and filled up the interstices
+with boughs, ordering smaller ones inside that a sort of bed should be
+raised off the ground. One of the men had shot some squirrels, and their
+broiling over the coals was appetizing.
+
+"You and Wanamee will be quite safe," the guide said. "We shall wrap in
+our blankets and sleep about the fire. If you hear the cry of wolves, do
+not be alarmed."
+
+"How good you are," Rose returned, her eyes glorious with grateful
+emotions. "M. Destournier will never forget your service. It cannot be
+rewarded."
+
+"Mam'selle, a man would give his life for your pleasure. Sleep well and
+do not fear."
+
+And sleep she did, with the slumber of youth and health. Naught came to
+alarm them.
+
+Their second day's journey was uneventful, though it was not so clear
+and sunny, and again they camped for the night. Was there only one day
+more? Rose's heart beat with alternate fear and joy. Indeed, they might
+meet the cavalcade on the way.
+
+She would not admit fatigue, indeed she did not feel it. Her grand hope
+gave lightness to her step and color to her cheeks, which were like a
+delicious opening rose, and you were fain to declare they had the same
+fragrance. When she talked to Wanamee, Savignon did not listen for any
+girlish secrets, but simply the music of her voice. That day some bird
+astray in the forest gave his whistle, perhaps to his mate, and she
+answered it with the most enchanting music. He came so near they could
+hear the flutter of his wings. Cadotte started up with his gun.
+
+"You shall not kill it!" she cried. "Do you think I would lure a bird to
+such a cruel, treacherous death!"
+
+Her face was bewitching in its indignation. What spirit, what strength
+of purpose shone in it!
+
+"He will freeze before spring, Mam'selle," Cadotte returned sullenly.
+
+"Then let him die as the good God intends."
+
+"Mam'selle, I never heard a human voice so like a bird's," Savignon
+declared, in a tone of admiration. "Do you know other voices that range
+in Quebec?"
+
+She laughed, her present anger vanishing.
+
+"I used to tame them when I was a child. They would come at my call. I
+loved them so. And a tame deer knew my voice and followed me."
+
+"As anything would. Mam'selle, sing or whistle, and it will make our
+steps lighter. Among the Bostonnais they march to music not as sweet as
+thine."
+
+She was glad to give them pleasure.
+
+The last day seemed long indeed, to her. Once they mistook the path and
+had to pick their way back. Savignon's acute eyes told him another party
+had crossed it, and he went on warily.
+
+Presently, in the coming darkness, two scouts ran on ahead.
+
+"Art thou tired, Mam'selle?" asked the well-modulated voice that had
+lost the guttural Indian tone.
+
+"Not tired, but impatient. Do you suppose we have missed them? What if
+they should have started in some other direction?"
+
+"I hardly think that. I have expected to meet them. M. Destournier must
+have been more disabled than we supposed. But we shall soon know."
+
+Oh, what if he were dead! A blackness fell over everything. She caught
+Wanamee's arm for support. It was growing so dark they kept closer
+together. The dead leaves rustled under their feet, now and then in an
+opening they saw the sky in the soft, whitish-gray tints before it turns
+to blue.
+
+There was a shrill, prolonged whistle.
+
+"They are coming back with news." Savignon guessed it was not cheering.
+He answered through his fingers.
+
+The two scouts came hurrying forward.
+
+"They are gone. They must have taken some other road. The campfire is
+out, the stones are missing. What shall we do?"
+
+Rose gave a soft, appealing cry, that she vainly strove to restrain.
+
+"We had better go on. We must stop for the night. It is too dark to find
+their trail."
+
+It seemed to Rose as if she would sink to the ground with indescribable
+terror.
+
+"Oh, do you think----" She caught Savignon's arm.
+
+"They have started on and missed the trail," he replied, in an almost
+indifferent tone, but he guessed in his heart there had been some
+surprise. "We must find the old place and camp for the night. To-morrow
+we will seek out the trail."
+
+"You do not think there can have been----" Her voice faltered for very
+fear.
+
+"We had best think nothing. We should no doubt come wide of the mark.
+Let us push on," to the men.
+
+There were heavy hearts and slow steps. It seemed as if it must be
+midnight when they reached the clearing, though it was not that late.
+They built their fire. Cadotte and Savignon took a survey.
+
+"Another party has been here," Cadotte exclaimed, in a whisper. "There
+has been a struggle. They are carried off somewhere."
+
+"Do not speak of it to-night. The women are tired. And Mam'selle will
+have a thousand fears."
+
+They found the others busy with fire and supper. Rose sat apart, her
+face buried in her hands, a thousand wild fears chasing one another
+through her mind. Life would be dreary if--if what? If he were dead? Had
+he suffered long with no one to cheer? Or had he been suddenly
+despatched by some marauding party? Then they would find his poor body.
+Yes, to-morrow they would know all.
+
+She did not want any supper and crept to bed, weeping out her fears in
+Wanamee's arms.
+
+They were all astir the next morning at daybreak. It was a little
+cloudy. The three days had been unusually fine. Savignon had been
+tracing this and that clew, and presently came upon a piece of wampum,
+with a curious Huron design at one end. And a little further on he found
+a trail where things had been roughly dragged. But he came to breakfast
+with no explanation.
+
+Did the Rose of Quebec care so much for this man? He had been like a
+father to her, perhaps it was only a child's love. But now M.
+Destournier was free to choose a new wife--if he were alive. He was a
+brave man, a fine man, but if he were dead! The Hurons would show scant
+pity to a disabled man. Savignon had done and would do his best, but
+somehow he could not feel so bitterly grieved. He loved this woman--he
+knew that now.
+
+They were discussing plans when a near-by step startled them. Parting
+the undergrowth, a torn and dishevelled man appeared. It was Paul De
+Loie. He almost dropped on the ground at their feet.
+
+"I have run all night," he cried gaspingly. "The Hurons! They took us
+prisoners, and the stores. They are expecting another relay of the
+tribe, and are going up north for the winter, to join the Ottawas. But
+first they are to have a carouse and dance," and the three prisoners are
+to be tortured and put to death. He had escaped. He supposed the party
+would be back for M. Destournier and the stores. They must fly at once,
+and return if they would save their lives. And what madness possessed
+them to bring women!
+
+"Wait!" commanded Savignon. "Let us go apart, De Loie, and consider the
+matter," and taking the man by the arm, he raised him and walked him a
+little distance.
+
+"Now tell me--M. Destournier--how did he progress?"
+
+"Well, indeed. We made him a crutch. We decided to take what stores we
+could manage, and resume our journey, thinking we would be met by some
+of the party. _Ma foi_, if we had started a day earlier! There were not
+many of them, but twice too many for us. There was nothing to do, we
+could gain nothing by selling our lives, we thought, but now they will
+take them. In two days the rest of the party, thirty or forty, will join
+them. We cannot rescue the others. Vauban could have escaped, but he
+would not leave M. Destournier. And now retrace your steps at once."
+
+Savignon buried his face in his hands, in deep thought. Should he try to
+rescue these men? The Hurons were superstitious. More than once he had
+played on Indian credulity. He held some curious secrets, he had the
+wampum belt that he could produce, as if by magic. He was fond, too, of
+adventure, of power. And he imagined he saw a way to win the prize he
+coveted. He was madly, wildly in love with Rose. She was heroic. If she
+would grant his desire, the safety of three people would accrue from it.
+And surely she had not loved the Frenchman, who until a brief while ago
+had a wife. As he understood, they had been as parents to her. She was
+young, but if a man could inspire her with love--with gratitude even----
+
+He questioned De Loie very closely. The trouble with Destournier would
+be his inability to travel rapidly. They would soon be overtaken. Escape
+that way was not feasible.
+
+"I will consider. Come and share our breakfast."
+
+Rose was walking by herself, on the outskirts of the clearing, her slim
+hands clasped together, her head drooping, and even so her figure would
+have attracted a sculptor. The Indian was enchanted with it. To clasp it
+in his arms--ah, the thought set his hot blood in a flame.
+
+She turned and raised her eyes beseechingly, her beautiful, fathomless
+eyes in whose depths a man easily lost himself, the curved sweetness of
+the mouth that one might drain and drain, and never quite have his fill.
+
+"What is it, M'sieu? Is there any hope? Can nothing be done?" Her voice
+went to his heart.
+
+"What would you be willing to do, Mam'selle?"
+
+"If I were a man I would attempt his rescue, or die with him. It would
+not be so hard to die holding a friend's hand."
+
+"You love him very much?"
+
+The love Savignon meant had so little place in her thoughts that the
+question did not cause her to change color.
+
+"He was so good to me when I was little, and ill for a long while. He
+used to hold me on his knee, and let my head rest on his strong breast.
+And when I was well again we climbed rocks, and he showed me where the
+choicest wild fruit grew. And we went out in the canoe. He taught me to
+read, he had books of strange, beautiful stories. And after he married
+miladi he took me in his home as if I was a child. Ah, I could not help
+loving one so kind, unless I had been made of stone. And I wanted to
+comfort him in his sorrow."
+
+Her voice, in its pathos, the eyes luminous with tears that did not
+fall, swept through the man like a devouring flame. He must have her. He
+would risk all, he would test her very soul.
+
+"You have not said what you would give."
+
+"My life, M'sieu, if I could exchange it for his."
+
+"It does not need that. Listen, Mam'selle: When I first looked upon you,
+I was swept away with a strange emotion. I had seen lovely girls, there
+are some in our own race, with eyes of velvet, and lips that tempt
+kisses. And I knew when I helped you get your way on this expedition,
+what it was; that I loved you, that I would have kissed the ground you
+had walked on. And on our journey here I have dreamed beautiful,
+thrilling dreams of you. I slept at the door of your improvised tent
+lest some danger should come upon you unawares. Last night when I noted
+your tired step I wanted to take you in my arms and carry you. You have
+filled my soul and my body with the rapture of love. I can think of
+nothing else but the bliss of straining you to my heart, of touching
+your lips with the fire that plays about mine, like the rosy lightning
+that flashes through the heavens, engendered by the heat of the day. Oh,
+take me for your husband, and your life shall be filled with the best I
+can give. You shall not weary your small hands with work, they shall be
+kept for a husband's kisses. I will worship you as the priests do their
+Virgin."
+
+She had been transfixed at the outburst and flaming, passionate tone,
+that in its vehemence seemed to grow finer, loftier. Was that love's
+work?
+
+"But it will not save M. Destournier," she wailed.
+
+"Listen again." He stood up, manly and strong, and somehow touched her
+with a subtle influence. It is not in a woman's nature to listen to a
+tale of passionate love unmoved. "Once, among the Hurons an old witch
+woman was wild to adopt me for her son. She gave me a great many secret
+charms, many you white people would think the utmost foolishness. Some
+were curious. And my people are superstitious. I have used them more
+than once to the advantage of myself and others. I have brought about
+peace between warring tribes. I have prevented war. I will go to the
+Hurons, and try for M. Destournier's liberty. From what De Loie said,
+they mean to sacrifice the men to-morrow. There are horrid, agonizing
+tortures before death comes. If you will promise to marry me I will go
+at once and do my utmost to rescue him, them."
+
+"And if you fail?" Her very breath seemed like a blast of winter cold.
+
+"Then, Mam'selle, I can ask no reward, only a share in your sorrow. I
+will try to lighten their sufferings. That is all I can do."
+
+She crossed her arms upon her breast and rocked herself to and fro.
+
+"Oh, I cannot, I cannot," she said, with a cry of anguish. "Another man,
+our dear Madame de Champlain's brother asked this thing of me, and I
+could not. I do not want to marry."
+
+"All women do in their hearts," he said moodily.
+
+Was she not quite a woman yet? Had she just the soul of the little girl
+who had climbed trees, scaled rocks, and plunged headlong into the
+river to swim like a fish!
+
+"It is three lives," he said, with the persuasive voice of the tempter.
+
+Three lives! And among them her best friend! Something rose in her
+throat, and she thought she was dying.
+
+"And if I cannot?" in a tone of desperate anguish.
+
+"Then we must start homeward at once. When the Hurons have whet their
+appetite with their hellish pleasure, it is not easily satisfied. They
+will look about for more fuel to add to the flames. So we must decide. I
+cannot risk my own liberty for months for nothing. It will not make M.
+Destournier's death pang easier."
+
+"Oh, go away, go away!" she almost shrieked, but the sorrow in her voice
+took off the harshness. "Let me think. I do not love you! I might run
+away. I might drown myself. I might not be able to keep my promise."
+
+"I should love you so much that you would not want to break it. Ah, I
+could trust you, since you love no one else that you desire to marry."
+
+She dropped on the ground and hid her face, too much stunned even to
+cry. "Three lives" kept singing in her ears. Was she not selfish and
+cruel? O God, what could she do!
+
+"You know even the Sieur and the priests have approved of these mixed
+marriages, so there would be no voice raised against it. The children
+would belong to the Church and be reared in the ways of wisdom and
+honor. In my way I am well born. I could take you to Paris, where you
+would be well received. I have had some excellent training. Oh, it would
+be no disgrace."
+
+They were calling to him from the group. He turned away. His intense
+love for her, his little understanding of a woman's soul, his passionate
+nature, not yet adjusted to the higher civilization, could not
+understand and appreciate the cruelty.
+
+When he came back her small hands were nervously beating the dried turf.
+He could not see her face.
+
+"They have decided to go at once," he exclaimed. "De Loie says there is
+no time to lose."
+
+"I shall stay here and die," she said.
+
+"That will not save any one's life."
+
+Oh, that was the pity of it!
+
+She rose with a strained white face. She looked like some of the
+beautiful carvings he had seen abroad. Not even anguish could make her
+unlovely.
+
+"If you will go," she began hoarsely, and she seemed to strain her very
+soul to utter the words, "and bring back M. Destournier, and the others,
+I will marry you--not now, but months hence, when I can resolve upon the
+step. I shall have to learn--no, you must not touch me, nor kiss me,
+until I give you leave."
+
+"But you must let me take your hand once, and promise by the Holy Mother
+of God."
+
+His seriousness overawed her. She rose and held out her slim, white
+hand, from which the summer's brown had faded. Her lips shook as if with
+an ague, but she promised.
+
+He wanted to kiss the hand, but he in turn was overawed.
+
+She heard the voices raised in dissent around the fire. What if they
+would not let him go? She was chill and cold, and almost did not care.
+She would stay here and die. Perhaps they could take the strange,
+awesome journey together.
+
+Wanamee joined her. "Savignon has determined to go to the rescue of the
+men," she began, "but De Loie thinks it a crazy step. And we must stay
+and risk being made prisoners. What is the matter, _ma fille_? You are
+as white as the river foam in a storm."
+
+"I am tired," she made answer. "I slept poorly last night. Then they
+think there is no chance of success?"
+
+"Oh, no, no! And we ought to escape."
+
+She dropped down again, pillowing her head on a little rise of ground.
+Should she be glad, or sorry? Either way she seemed stunned.
+
+The sky cleared up presently, and the sun came out. The few men walked
+about disconsolately. The rations were apportioned, some went farther in
+the woods, to find nuts, if possible. Now that the stores had been taken
+and two days added to the journey, want might be their portion.
+
+Two of the men succeeded in finding some game. There was a small stream
+of water, but no fish were discernible in it. It froze over at night,
+but they could quench their thirst, and with some dried pennyroyal made
+a draught of tea.
+
+Rose wondered if she had ever prayed before! All she could say now was:
+"Oh, Holy Mother of God, have pity on me."
+
+The long night passed. De Loie said in the morning: "I think one of you
+had better start with the women. If we should be beset with the savages,
+they might find their way home. Here are some points I have marked out."
+
+"No," returned Rose, "let us all perish together."
+
+"_Mon Dieu!_ Do you suppose they would let you perish? You would have to
+be squaw to some brave."
+
+Rose shuddered. No, she could but die.
+
+De Loie started out on the path he had come. It was mid-afternoon. A
+light snow began to fall, and the wind moaned in the trees. Rose and
+Wanamee huddled together at the fire, their arms around each other,
+under the blanket. It was easy to love Wanamee. But then she had begun
+it as a child--Was it easy to love when one was grown?
+
+The darkness was descending when they heard a shout. Was it friend or
+foe? Another, and it came nearer. It was not the voice of an Indian.
+
+De Loie rushed in upon them. "You men go and relieve those at the
+litter. Savignon is a wizard. He has the three men. I could not believe
+it at first, and I am afraid now it is a trick. You cannot trust an
+Indian."
+
+Rose drew a long breath. Then her fate was sealed. Or, if they were
+attacked in the night, it would be some compensation to die together.
+
+They came in at last, with Destournier on an improvised hemlock litter.
+The fire blazed up brightly, making a striking picture of the eager
+faces. The men lowered the litter to the ground, and they crowded around
+it. Destournier was ghostly pale, but full of thankfulness. When there
+was a little space open he reached out his hand to Rose.
+
+"You two women have been very brave, but you should not have taken the
+journey. As for Savignon, we all owe him a debt that we can never
+repay."
+
+"It is repaid already," returned the Indian, glancing over at Rose. "To
+have rescued you----"
+
+"What arts and incantations you used! I could not have believed it
+possible to move their stony hearts."
+
+"It was not their hearts." Savignon gave a grim smile. "It was their
+fears that were worked upon. I was afraid at one time that I would not
+succeed. But I had a reward before me."
+
+"Quebec will pay you all honor. It is a grand thing to have saved three
+lives from torture and death. For there was no other escape."
+
+That night Destournier related the surprise and capture. The stores were
+a great loss. But they would not let him bemoan them.
+
+"We must get back as rapidly as we can," he said. "I do not trust the
+temper of the reinforcements, when they find they have been balked of
+their prey."
+
+The snow had only been a light fall, and the trees in their higher
+branches were marvels of beauty. It had not reached the ground in many
+places.
+
+After a frugal breakfast the cavalcade started. Destournier insisted
+upon walking at first, as he was freshened by his night's rest,
+comparatively free from anxiety. His broken leg was well bandaged, and
+he used two crutches. Rose noticed the thinness and pallor, and the
+general languid air, but she kept herself quite in the background.
+Savignon was really leader of the small party.
+
+"Wanamee," she said, in a low tone, "will you tell M. Ralph about
+miladi?--I thought to do it, but I cannot. And I am so sorry she left no
+message for him. He was always so good to her. And you can tell him I
+held her a long while in my arms that night."
+
+"You were an angel to her, _ma fille_. I used to wonder sometimes----"
+
+"I suppose it was being ill so long, and trying so hard to get well,
+that made her unreasonable. It is better to go out of life suddenly, do
+you not think so?"
+
+"I should like to know a little about the hereafter. You see our nation
+believe we go at once to another land, and do not stay in that miserable
+place they tell of. But many of the braves believe there are no women
+in the happy hunting grounds. One is swung this way and that," and
+Wanamee sighed.
+
+Rose's mind was torn and distracted by her promise. Now and then an
+awful shudder took her in a giant grasp, and she thought she would drop
+down and ask them to leave her. Savignon would stay behind, if she
+proposed that. What if he had not gone to the Hurons? Frightful stories
+of torture she had heard rushed to her mind. Old Noko had witnessed
+them. So had some of the men at the fort. Death itself was not so hard,
+but to have burning sticks thrust into one's skin, to have fingers and
+toes cut off, piecemeal--oh, she had saved him from that. Yes, she would
+marry Savignon, and then throw herself into the river, after she had
+kept her promise.
+
+The weather was growing colder. They halted for the night, and made a
+fire. They had shot nothing, but the supper was very light, indeed.
+
+"Little Rose," said Destournier, "come over beside me, since I cannot
+well come to you. I have hardly seen you, and have not asked what has
+gone on at the fort. I feel as if I had been away half a lifetime. And
+miladi----"
+
+"Wanamee will tell you, I cannot." She drew away the hand he held, and
+gently pushed the Indian woman forward, going out of the clear sound of
+her voice. Oh, would it be a great sorrow to him?
+
+Wanamee's recital of that last night set a halo about Rose in the man's
+mind. He had known for years that he had not loved miladi as a man could
+love, but he also questioned whether such a light, frivolous nature
+could have appreciated the strong, earnest affection. Her great effort
+to keep herself young had led to a meretricious childishness. She had a
+vain, narrow soul, and this had dwarfed it still more. Many a night he
+had watched over her, pained by her passionate beseeching that he would
+not let her die, her awesome terror of death. He felt God had been
+merciful not to allow her to suffer that last rending pain. He had
+really become so accustomed to the thought of her dying that it did not
+seem new or strange to him, but one of the inevitable things that one
+must endure with philosophy. He realized the sweetness and patience of
+Rose through these last months.
+
+When Wanamee came back she was snugly tucked in her blanket, and feigned
+sleep. She did not want to talk. She fancied she would like to lie
+beside miladi in the little burying ground. Young sorrow always turns to
+death as a comforter.
+
+That night an adventure befell them, though most of them were sleeping
+from exhaustion. It was the Indian's quick hearing that caught a
+suspicious sound, and then heard a stealthy rustle. He reached for his
+gun, and his eyes roved sharply around the little circle. The sound came
+from nearly opposite. The fire was low, but his sight was keen, and
+presently he espied two glaring eyes drawing nearer Wanamee and her
+charge. There was a quick shot, a shriek, almost human, and a rush
+farther in the forest.
+
+They were all awake in an instant. "An attack!" shouted two of the men.
+
+"A wolf," rejoined Savignon. He took up a brand and peered about in the
+darkness. The body was still twitching, but the head was a mangled mass.
+There were no others in sight, but they heard their cry growing fainter
+and fainter.
+
+Rose sat up in affright. How near it had been to her. Was she always to
+be in debt to this Indian?
+
+"Go to sleep again," he said, in a low tone. "We shall have no more
+alarms to-night. I am keeping watch. I would give my life to save you
+from harm."
+
+Wanamee drew the trembling, shrinking figure closer. Rose felt as if her
+heart would burst with the sorrow she could not confess.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE PASSING OF OLD QUEBEC
+
+
+They ate their last crumbs for breakfast. A fine, cutting sleet was in
+the air, but they kept quite inside of the forest, except when they were
+afraid of losing the trail. There was no stop for a midday meal, and
+they pushed on, carrying Destournier in a litter. Must they spend
+another night in the woods?
+
+Suddenly a shout reaches them, the sound of familiar French voices, and
+every heart thrilled with joy, as they answered it. Blessed relief was
+at hand.
+
+Being alarmed at the long delay, a party had been sent out to search for
+them. They halted, for indeed it seemed as if they could go no further.
+Weak and hungry, some of the men sat down and cried, for very joy.
+
+"I have hardly been worth all the trouble," Destournier said, in a
+broken voice.
+
+"It was not altogether you," replied one of the men. "And to have
+rescued some of our men from those fiendish Hurons was worth while.
+Savignon must have had some wonderful power to make them give up their
+prey."
+
+The relief party were provided with food, dried meat that had come down
+from some friendly Indians. After they had eaten, they resolved to push
+on, and started with good courage. The storm had ceased and the stars
+were pricking through the blue. The moon would rise later on. But it was
+midnight when they came in sight of the fort. The warm welcome made
+amends for all.
+
+Wanamee took Rose under her protection. She was nearly exhausted. M. de
+Champlain insisted upon caring for Destournier, and examining the leg,
+which was much swollen, but had been very well set. The story of the
+wonderful escape was told over, to interested listeners.
+
+"We owe Savignon a great debt, and are too poor to pay it," said the
+Governor sorrowfully.
+
+Poor indeed they were. It was the hardest winter the colony had known.
+The dearth of news was most trying, and the fear of the English descent
+upon them racked the brave heart of the Commandant, who saw his dream of
+a great city vanishing. Jealousy had done some cruel work, and the
+misgovernment of the mother country stifled the best efforts.
+
+Rose lay listless in bed for many days. How could she meet Savignon, who
+haunted the place hourly, to inquire, and begged to see her? One day she
+told Wanamee to send him in, and braced herself for the interview.
+
+Semi-famine had not told on him, unless it had added an air of
+refinement. That he was superior to most of his race, was evident.
+
+He was not prepared for the white wraith-like being who did not rise
+from her chair, but nodded and motioned him to a seat at a distance.
+
+"Oh, Mam'selle, you have been truly ill," he said, and there was a
+tender sort of pity in his tone. "I have been wild to see you, to hear
+you speak. Mam'selle, you must not die. I cannot give you up. I have
+been starved, I have been half-crazy with impatience. Oh, can you not
+have a little pity on me, when I love you so? And you have no one who
+has a right to protest. You will keep your promise? For I swear to you
+that I will kill any man who marries you. I cannot help if it brings
+grief upon you. It would be the sorrow of my life not to have you! Oh,
+let me touch your little white hand"--and he started from his seat with
+an eager gesture.
+
+She put both behind her. "I do not love you," she began bravely. "It
+would take time----"
+
+"I said I would wait, Rose of Quebec, wait months, for your sweetness to
+blossom for me. But I cannot see you go to another."
+
+"There is no other. There will be no other." She was sure she told the
+whole truth. "But if you insist now, I shall die before a marriage
+comes. I could slip out of life easily. Perhaps when I am strong again,
+courage may come back to me. You must go away and let me be quite by
+myself, and think how brave you were, how patient you are. Then when
+you come again----"
+
+She would be in her white winding sheet, then, and he would be afraid to
+kiss her.
+
+"But I won you fairly, Mam'selle. And I had great trembling of heart,
+for the Huron chief was obdurate. I succeeded at length. _He_ has had a
+wife, he does not need another. He might be your father. And you have
+repaid him for all care by giving him back his life, by saving him from
+torture you know little about. For if the party joining them had
+discovered the robbery of their storehouse, there would have been little
+mercy. Oh, Mam'selle, how can so sweet a being be so cold and
+unyielding?"
+
+"I have told you the secret of it. I do not love you. I do not want you
+for a husband. But I will keep my promise. Give me time to get well. It
+may not look so terrible to me then."
+
+How lovely she was in her pleading, even if it did deny. He could have
+snatched her to his heart and stifled her with kisses, yet he did not
+dare to touch so much as her little finger. What strange power held her
+aloof? But if she was once his wife----
+
+"A month," he pleaded.
+
+"Longer than that. Three months. Three whole moons. Then you may come
+again and I will answer you."
+
+His face paled with anger, his eyes were points of flame, his blood was
+hot within him.
+
+"I will not wait."
+
+"Then you may have my dead body."
+
+"But you break your promise."
+
+"I ask you to wait," she said, in a steady tone. "That is all."
+
+"And you will not seek to die, Mam'selle?"
+
+"I will be your wife then. Now go. I am too tired to argue any more."
+
+A sudden ray of hope kindled in the Indian's heart. He would see M.
+Destournier, and lay the case before him, and beg his assistance. Surely
+he could not refuse, when his life had been saved!
+
+Rose leaned back in a half-faint. Oh, surely God would take her before
+that time. But she had promised in good faith. Matters might look
+different to her when she was strong once more.
+
+Savignon meant to be armed at all points. He went up to the St. Charles
+and laid his case before one of the fathers. His fine bearing and
+intelligence won him much favor.
+
+"Men often married Indian women, who made good wives. In this case if
+the woman desired to take him for her husband, there could be no real
+objection; it was between the two parties. No over-persuasion was to be
+used. And if her friends or parents consented, it would be right enough.
+Only they must truly love each other."
+
+He knew now she did not truly love him. You might beat an Indian woman
+into obedience--he had never struck one since he had come to manhood.
+But this beautiful being, who was like a bit of flame, would be blown
+out by harshness or force, and one would have only the cold body left.
+If he could not make her love him at the end of the three months----
+
+Then he sought Destournier, and laid the tale before him. He had won
+Mademoiselle honorably. She had given her promise. At the end of the
+three months he would come for her. Now he had resolved to go to the
+islands, since it would be wretched to stay here and not see Mam'selle.
+
+"Yes, the best thing," Destournier said, but he was stunned by the
+bargain. Was his life to cost that sacrifice? There must be some way of
+preventing it.
+
+As the days went on he considered various plans. This was why Rose was
+so languid and unlike herself. Perhaps the hard winter and poor food had
+something to do with it. She had bought his life at too great a
+sacrifice. And then came the sweet, sad knowledge that he loved her,
+also.
+
+The spring was quite early. Men began to work in their gardens and mend
+the damages of the winter, but with a certain fear of what was to come.
+And one day Destournier found Rose sitting in the old gallery, where she
+had run about as a child. But she was a child no longer. The
+indescribable change had come. There were womanly lines in her figure,
+although it was thinner than of yore, and the light in her eyes deeper.
+
+He had given up the house to her and the two Indian women, with Pani for
+attendant. M. Pontgrave had been a great invalid through the winter, and
+besought the younger man's company. The Sieur often came in and they
+talked over the glowing plans and dreams of the earlier days, when they
+were to rear a city that the mother country could be proud of.
+
+He understood why Rose had shunned him, and whenever he resolved to take
+up this troublous subject his courage failed him. Saved from this
+marriage she surely must be. In a short time Savignon would return. He
+had known of two women who had cast in their lots with the better-class
+Indians at Tadoussac, and were happy enough. But they were not Rose.
+
+He came slowly over to her now. She looked up and smiled. Much keeping
+indoors of late had made her skin fair and fine, but her soft hair had
+not shed all its gold.
+
+"Rose," he began, then paused.
+
+She flushed, but made a little gesture, as if he might be seated beside
+her.
+
+"Rose," he said again, "in the winter you saved my life. I have known it
+for some time."
+
+Her breath came with a gasp. How had he learned this, unless Savignon
+had come before the time?
+
+"And you paid a great price for it."
+
+"Oh, oh!" she clasped her hands in distress. "How did you know it?"
+
+"Savignon told me before he went away. He asked my consent to your
+marriage. I could not give it then. He will soon return. I cannot give
+it now."
+
+"But it was a promise. Monsieur, your life was of more account than
+mine."
+
+"Do you think I will accept the sacrifice? I have been weak and cowardly
+not to settle this matter before, not to give you the assurance that I
+will make a brave fight for your release."
+
+"I was very sad and frightened at first, partly ill, as well, and I
+hoped not to live. But the good God did not take me. And if He meant me
+to do this thing, keep my word, I must do it. I asked Father Jamay one
+time about promises, and he said when one had vowed a vow it must be
+kept. And I have prayed for courage when the time comes. See, I am quite
+tranquil."
+
+She raised her face and he read in it a nobly spiritual expression. He
+recalled now that she had gone up to the convent quite often with
+Wanamee, and that more than once she had slipped into Madame de
+Champlain's _prie-dieu_, that her husband never would have disturbed.
+Was she finding fortitude and comfort in a devotion to religion that
+would strengthen her to meet this tremendous sacrifice? She looked like
+a saint already.
+
+She could not tell him that he knew only half, that he might still be
+the object of Savignon's vengeance, if she failed to keep her word.
+
+"Perhaps the Sieur will have something to say, if my wishes fail.
+Unless you tell me you love this Indian, and that seems monstrous to me,
+this marriage shall never take place."
+
+"It must, it must," she said, though her face was like marble, where it
+had been human before. "M'sieu, what is right must be done. I promised,
+and you were saved."
+
+"Of your own free will? Rose," he caught both hands in a pressure that
+seemed to draw her soul along with it, "answer me truly."
+
+"Of my will, yes, Monsieur." Her white throat swelled with the anguish
+she repressed.
+
+"You have left out the 'free,'" but he knew well why she could not utter
+it.
+
+"Monsieur, I think you would be noble enough to give your life for a
+friend"--she was about to say "whom you loved," but she caught her voice
+in time.
+
+Was this heroic maiden the little girl who had run wild in the old town,
+and sung songs with the birds; who had been merry and careless, but
+always a sweet human Rose; the child he had taken to his heart long ago,
+the girl he had watched over, the woman--yes, the woman he loved with a
+man's first fervent passion! She should not go out of his life, now that
+God had made a space for her to come in it. Miladi he had given up to
+Laurent Giffard, she had never belonged to him in the deep sacredness of
+love. And as he watched her, his eyes seeming to look into her soul,
+through the motes of light that illumined them, he knew it was not
+simply that she had no love for the Indian, but that she loved him. It
+seemed the sublime moment of his life, the sweetest consciousness that
+he had ever known.
+
+"You gave something greater than life. Listen," and he drew his brows
+into a resolute line. "When that man comes we will have it out between
+us. For I love you, too. I owe you a great reward that only a life's
+devotion can pay. I am much older, but I seem to have just awakened to
+the dream of bliss that sanctifies manhood. My darling, if a better man
+came, I could give you up, if I went hungering all the rest of my days.
+But you shall not go to certain wretchedness. And he must see the truth.
+That is the way a man should love."
+
+Her slender, white throat rose and fell like a heartbeat. With Savignon
+she would be loved with a fierce passion, for the man's supreme joy;
+this man would love for the woman's joy.
+
+"Monsieur, I have studied the subject, and I think it is right. I pray
+you, do not disturb my resolve. It has been made after many prayers. If
+the good Father should change His mind--but that is hardly to be thought
+of. Do not let us talk about it," and she rose.
+
+For instead of throwing herself in the river, as she had thought in her
+wildness, she could cross to France, and enter a convent, if she could
+not endure it.
+
+Ralph Destournier saw that argument was useless. When the time came, he
+would act.
+
+But May passed without bringing the lover. Quebec was beginning to take
+courage, and what with hunting and fishing, semi-starvation was at an
+end. Emigrants came back and all was stir and activity in the little
+town.
+
+There came a letter to Rose, after a long delay. Savignon had joined a
+party of explorers, who were pushing westward, and marvelled at the
+wonderful country. He had pondered much over his desires, and while his
+love was still strong, he did not want an unwilling bride. He would give
+her a longer time to consider--a year, perhaps. He had wrung a reluctant
+assent from her, he admitted, and taken an ungenerous advantage. For
+this he would do a year's penance, without sight of the face that had so
+charmed him.
+
+Was he really brave enough to do that? Rose thought so. Destournier
+believed it some new attraction to the roving blood of the wilderness.
+
+But Rose would not wholly accept her freedom. Still she was more like
+the Rose of girlhood, though she no longer climbed or ran races. The
+Sieur was whiling away the heavy hours of uncertainty by teaching
+several Indian girls, and Rose found this quite a pleasure.
+
+The servant came in with some news. Not the French vessel they hoped
+for, but an English man-of-war, with two gunboats, was approaching.
+
+If defence had been futile before, it was doubly so now. The fort was
+out of repair, the guns useless from lack of ammunition, there was no
+provision to sustain a siege. A small boat with a flag of truce rounded
+the point, and with a heavy heart Champlain displayed his on the fort.
+
+The two brothers of Captain David Kirke, who was now at Tadoussac, had
+again been sent to propose terms of surrender. The English were to take
+possession in the name of their king.
+
+It was a sad party that assembled around the large table, where so many
+plans and hopes had stirred the brave hearts of the explorers and
+builders-up of new France. Old men they were now, Pontgrave a wreck from
+rheumatism, a few dead, and Champlain, with the ruin of his ambitions
+before him. There was some vigorous opposition to the demands, but there
+was clearly no alternative but surrender. Hard as the terms were, they
+must be accepted. And on July 20, 1629, the lilies of France ceased to
+wave over Quebec, dear old Quebec, and Captain Louis Kirke took
+possession of the fort and the town, in the name of His Majesty, King
+Charles I, and the standard of England floated quite as proudly over the
+St. Lawrence.
+
+Did they dream then that this scene would be enacted over again when a
+new Quebec, proud of her improvements and defences, that were considered
+impregnable, should fight and lose one of the greatest of battles, and
+two of the bravest of men, and again lower the lilies! A greater romance
+than that of old Quebec, the dream of the Sieur de Champlain.
+
+But it seemed a sad travesty that the mother country should send succor
+too late. A French vessel, with emigrants and supplies, came in sight
+only to fall into the hands of the victorious English.
+
+Captain Emery de Caen insisted that peace had been declared two months
+before, but the Kirkes would not admit this. It was said that all
+conquests after that date were to be restored. A new hope animated the
+heart of the brave old Commandant. If it were true, the lilies might
+replace the flaunting standard.
+
+Many of the citizens preferred to remain. They had their little homes
+and gardens, and the English proved not overbearing. Then there was an
+end to present want. A hundred and fifty men gave the town a new
+impetus, and when the next fleet came, with the large war-ships, there
+was a certain aspect of gayety, quite new to the place.
+
+After some discussion, Champlain resolved to return to France, and
+thence to England, to understand the terms of peace, and if possible, to
+win New France once more.
+
+Ralph Destournier was a Frenchman at heart, though a little English
+blood ran in his veins. He had a strong desire to see France.
+
+"Will you go?" he asked of Rose.
+
+"Not until the year is ended," she said gravely. "But if you will
+go--Wanamee and Pani can care for me. I am a little girl no longer."
+
+It was true. There was no more little girl, but there was no more old
+Quebec. It had already taken on a different aspect. Officers and men in
+bright uniforms climbed the narrow, crooked streets, with gay jests, in
+what seemed their rough language; there were little taverns opened,
+where the fife and drum played an unmelodious part. Religion was free,
+for there had come to be a number of Huguenots, as well as of the new
+English church. The poor priests were at their wits' end, but they were
+well treated.
+
+Eustache Boulle was to go with the Sieur, but he never returned. He took
+a rather fond farewell of Rose. "If you would go, we might find
+something of your family," he said. "I once had a slight clew."
+
+"Is it not worth looking after?" asked Destournier, as he and Rose were
+walking the plateau, since known as the Plains of Abraham. "If you were
+proved of some notable family--there have been so many over-turns."
+
+"Would you feel prouder of me?"
+
+"No. Do you not know that you are dearer to me as the foundling of
+Quebec, and the little girl I knew and loved?"
+
+She raised luminous eyes and smiled.
+
+"Then I do not care. No place will seem like home but this."
+
+He would not go to France, but busied himself with his fields and his
+tenants. He came back to the old house, altered a little, the room where
+miladi had spent her fretful invalid years was quite remodelled. Vines
+grew up about it. The narrow steps were widened.
+
+Autumn came, and winter. The cold and somewhat careless living carried
+off many of the English. But Madame Hebert had married again, and
+Therese had found a husband. There was Nicolas Revert, with some growing
+children. Duchesne, a surgeon, they had been glad to welcome. Thomas
+Godefroy, Pierre Raye, and the Couillards formed quite a French colony.
+They met now and then, and kept the old spirit alive with their songs
+and stories.
+
+June had come again, and the town had begun to bloom. There were still
+parties searching for the north sea, for the route to India, for the
+great river that was said to lie beyond the lakes. The priests, too,
+were stretching out their lines, especially the Jesuits, about whom
+still lingers the flavor of heroic martyrdom. Father Breibouf coming
+back for a short stay, to get some new word from France, told the fate
+of one unfortunate party. Among them he said "was that fine Indian
+interpreter, Savignon, who you must remember went to the rescue of a
+party the last time he was in Quebec. He was a brave man, and a great
+loss to us. He had come to an excellent state of mind, and was one of
+the few Indians that give me faith in the salvation of the race."
+
+Rose's eyes were lustrous with tears as she listened to this eulogy. He
+had proved nobler than his first passion of love. She had some Masses
+said for his soul, but it pleased her better to give thanks to God for
+his redemption.
+
+"Now you belong to no one but me," Destournier said to her some weeks
+later, when she had recovered from her sorrow. "Yet I feel that it is
+selfish to take your sweet youth. I am no longer young. I shall always
+be a little lame, and never perhaps realize my dream of prosperity. But
+I love you. I loved you as a little girl, you have always, in some
+fashion, belonged to me."
+
+"I am glad to belong to you, to take your name. Do you remember that I
+have no other name but Rose? You are very good to shelter me thus. I
+think I could never have gone gladly to any one else. We are a part of
+old Quebec, we are still French," and there was a little triumph in her
+tone.
+
+It was true the English had taken possession after peace had been
+declared, and had not the right to hold the country. When France
+demanded the recession King Charles held off, and the Kirkes were
+unwilling to yield up the government, as they found great profit in the
+fur trade. But needing money sorely, and as the Queen's dowry as a
+French princess had only been half paid, he made this a condition, and
+Richelieu accepted it.
+
+So in 1632 Acadia, and all the important points in Canada, were ceded
+back to France.
+
+In the spring of the next year Champlain was again commissioned
+Governor, and he set sail from Dieppe, with three vessels freighted with
+goods, provisions, and the farming implements of that day, clothing and
+some of the new hand-looms, beside seeds of all kinds. Two hundred
+persons, many of them married couples, and farmers were to found a new
+Quebec.
+
+One May morning, just at sunrise, there was a great firing of bombards,
+and for a brief while all was consternation and fear. But persons sent
+out to explore, brought the welcome news of Champlain's return. Then
+went up a mighty shout of joy, and the lilies of France were once more
+unfurled to the breeze. There stood the stalwart old commander, whose
+life work was crowned with success. All was gratulation. He must have
+been touched by the ovation.
+
+M. and Madame Destournier were among the throng, while Wanamee carried
+the little son, who stared about with wondering eyes, and smiled as if
+he enjoyed the glad confusion.
+
+Even the Indians vied with the French, as he was triumphantly escorted
+up the cliff, with colors flying and drums beating, and once more
+received the keys of the fort. The spontaneous welcome showed how deep
+he was in the affections of the people. He had been thwarted in many of
+his plans, neglected, traduced, but this hour made amends.
+
+"Little Rose," he said, "thou art a part of old Quebec, but thy son
+begins with the new regime. Heaven bless and prosper thee and thy
+husband. I should have missed thee sorely had any untoward event
+happened."
+
+The settlement at the foot of the cliff had been burned, but the upper
+town, as it came to be called, had stretched out. The Heberts were on
+the summit of the cliff, that part of the town where the ancient
+bishops' palace stood for so long. Many of the former settlers had come
+up here.
+
+"I had hoped Madame de Champlain would return with him," Rose said. "I
+wonder if any time will ever come when I shall love myself better than
+you."
+
+He bent over and kissed her. He had never quite understood love or known
+what happiness was until now.
+
+When the Indians learned of the return of their beloved white chief,
+they planned to come in a body, and salute him. Algonquins, Ottawas,
+Montagnais, and the more friendly Hurons, came with their gifts, and
+smoked the pipe of peace.
+
+In the autumn Champlain commenced the first parochial church, called,
+appropriately, Notre Dame de Recouvrance. The Angelus was rung three
+times a day. For now the brave old soldier had grown more religious,
+there were no more exploring journeys, no more voyages across the stormy
+ocean. He had said good-bye to his wife for the last time, though now,
+perhaps, he understood her mystical devotion better.
+
+It was indeed a new Quebec. There was no more starvation, no more
+digging of roots, and searches for edible food products. Their anxious
+faces gave way to French gayety. Up and down the steep road-way, leading
+from the warehouses to the rough, tumble-down tenements by the river,
+men passed and repassed with jests and jollity, snatches of song or a
+merry good-day, for it was indeed good. There were children of mixed
+parentage, playing about, for Indian mothers were no uncommon thing. The
+fort, the church, and the dwellings high up above, gave it a picturesque
+aspect. You heard the boatmen singing their songs of old France as they
+went up and down the beautiful river. Stone houses began to appear,
+though wigwams still remained. New streets were opened, but they were
+loth to level the hills, and some of them remain to this day.
+
+Ralph and Rose Destournier had a happy life. Children grew up around
+them. A large, new house received them presently, but they kept a fond
+remembrance for the old one that seemed somehow to belong exclusively to
+Miladi and a dreamy sort of old life.
+
+A mixed population it was, shaped by the sincerity of their religion.
+There were priests in their gray and black cassocks, officers in brave
+trappings, traders, Indians, farmers, stout and strong, and the
+picturesque _coureurs de bois_, that came to be a great feature, and
+added not a little to the romance of the place. They were not all mere
+adventurers, but they loved a roving life. Settlements were made here
+and there, an important one at Three Rivers, where the Recollets
+established a mission. The summers were given over to work and business,
+thronged with traders and trappers, but they found time in the winters
+for much social life.
+
+If the Sieur missed his old friend Hebert, there were others to take an
+active interest in horticulture. Pontgrave was no more, but his grandson
+kept up the name. A few years later the earnest young Rene de Robault
+gave his fortune for the building of a college, and this kept the young
+men from returning to old France for an education. Convent schools were
+established, and Indian girls were trained in the amenities and
+industries of social life. Montreal spread out her borders as well, the
+Beauport road came to be a place of fine estates. All the way to the
+mouth of the great river there were trading stations. The fur company's
+business was good, there were new explorations to Lake Huron, Georgian
+Bay, Lake Michigan, up to the Fox river.
+
+Of the sons and daughters growing up in the Destournier household,
+Helene, who should have been a devotee, was a merry madcap, who exceeded
+her mother in daring feats, a dark-eyed, laughing maid the Indian girls
+adored. She could manage a canoe, she could fly, they said, she took
+such wonderful leaps. Rose could sing like a bird and had a fondness for
+all animals. Little Barbe was a dainty, loving being, always clinging to
+her mother, and three sons were devoted to their father whose snowy
+white hair was like a crown of silver. They loved to hear the old tales,
+and fired with resentment when the lilies of France had to give way to
+the flag of England.
+
+"But they will never do it again," Robert Destournier would exclaim,
+with flashing eyes.
+
+But they did almost a century later. Robert was not there to strike a
+useless blow for his beloved land. That belongs to the story of a newer
+Quebec, and now all the romances are gathered up into history.
+
+In the autumn of 1635 the brave, beloved Champlain passed away in the
+heart of the city that had been his love, his ambition, his life-dream.
+The explorer, the crusader, the sharer of toils and battles, his story
+is one of the knightly romances of that period, and his name is
+enshrined with that of old Quebec. Other heroes were to come, other
+battles to be fought, much work for priest and civilian, but this is the
+simplest, the bravest of them all, for its mighty work was done at great
+odds.
+
+To-day you find the Citadel, the old French fort, but the wharves and
+docks run out in the river, and there are steamboats, instead of canoes.
+There is the Market Place and the City Hall, the Grande Allee St. Louis
+Place and Gate, the crowded business-point, with its ferries, the great
+Louise basin and embankment. The city runs out to St. Charles river, and
+stretches on and on until you reach the Convent of the Sacred Heart.
+There are still the upper and the lower town, and the steep ways, the
+heights that Wolfe climbed, the world-famed Plains of Abraham.
+
+Everywhere is historic ground, monuments of courage, zeal, and religion.
+The streets have old names. Here on a height so steep you wonder how
+they are content to climb it, juts out a little stone eyrie, just as it
+stood a hundred years ago. Three or four generations have lived within
+its walls, and they are as French to-day as they were then. They want
+nothing of the modern gauds of the present. Grandmothers used the clumsy
+furniture, and it is almost worth a king's ransom, it has so many
+legends woven around it.
+
+There is the Chateau Frontenac, that recalls romance and bravery. There
+are churches, with their stories. There are the old Jesuit barracks, out
+of which went many a heroic soul to face martyrdom, there is the Chien
+d'Or, with its stone dog gnawing a bone, and the romance of Nicolas
+Jaquin Philibert, the brave Huguenot.
+
+There are old graveyards, where rest the pioneers who prayed, and hoped,
+and starved with Champlain. All the stories can never be written, all
+the monuments that speak of glory do not tell of the sufferings. Yet
+there were happy lives, and happy loves, as well. The storms die out,
+the light and sunshine dry up the tears, and courage is given to go on.
+
+The old French days have left their impress. Champlain will always be a
+living memory, as the founder of one of the marvellous cities of the
+world. Gay little girls run about and climb the heights, they dance and
+sing, and have their festivals, and are happy in the thrice-renewed
+Quebec. Many a Rose has blossomed and faded since the days of
+Destournier.
+
+THE END
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+The "Little Girl" Series
+
+By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS
+
+
+    A Little Girl in Old New York
+
+    A Little Girl of Long Ago
+      A sequel to "A Little Girl in Old New York"
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Boston
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Philadelphia
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Washington
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+    A Little Girl in Old New Orleans
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Detroit
+
+    A Little Girl in Old St. Louis
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Chicago
+
+    A Little Girl in Old San Francisco
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Quebec
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Baltimore
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Salem
+
+    A Little Girl in Old Pittsburg
+
+For Sale by all Booksellers or will be sent postpaid on receipt of price.
+
+A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
+52, 58 Duane Street          New York
+
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