Evidently that's a sore spot with you, Ba'tiste."

"No. Ba'teese no care. But if my Pierre had live, he would have make
love to her. She would have marry him. And to have M'sieu Thayer take
his place? No! Mebbe--" he said it hopefully, "mebbe you like
Medaine, huh?"

"I do! She's pretty, Ba'tiste."

"Mebbe you make love?"

But the man on the bed shook his head.

"I can't make love to anybody, Ba'tiste. Not until I've--I've found
something I'm looking for. I'm afraid that's a long way off. I
haven't the privileges of most young fellows. I'm a little--what would
you call it--hampered by circumstance. I've--besides, if I ever do
marry, it won't be for love. There's a girl back East who says she
cares for me, and who simply has taken it for granted that I think the
same way about her. She stood by me--in some trouble. Out of every
one, she didn't believe what they said about me. That means a lot.
Some way, she isn't my kind; she just doesn't awaken affection on my
part, and I spend most of my time calling myself a cad over it. But
she stood by me--and--I guess that's all that's necessary, after all.
When I've fulfilled my contract with myself--if I ever do--I'll do the
square thing and ask her to marry me."

Ba'tiste scowled.

"You dam' fool," he said. "Buy 'em present. Thank 'em, _merci
beaucoup_. But don' marry 'em unless 'you love 'em. Ba'teese, he
know. Ba'teese, he been in too many home where there is no love."

"True. But you don't know the story behind it all, Ba'tiste. And I
can't tell you except this: I got in some trouble. I'd rather not tell
you what it was. It broke my father's heart--and his confidence in me.
He--he died shortly afterward."

"And you--was it your fault?"

"If you never believe anything else about me, Ba'tiste, believe this:
that it wasn't. And in a way, it was proven to him, before he went.
But he had been embittered then. He left a will--with stipulations. I
was to have the land he owned out here at Empire Lake; and the flume
site leading down the right side of Hawk Creek to the mill. Some one
else owns the other side of the lake and the land on the opposite bank
of the stream."

"_Oui_. Medaine Robinette."

"Honestly? Is it hers?"

"When she is twenty-one. But go on."

"Father wouldn't leave me the mill. He seemed to have a notion that
I'd sell it all off--and he tied everything up in a way to keep me from
doing anything like that. The mil