something to do
with the girl he loved?

Carefully, so that it would not tear, he drew it forth. There was
writing on the paper, as he had expected, and he read it, bent low
beside the lamp. The date was nearly eighteen years old. The lines were
faint. The words were these:

MY HUSBAND,--God can never undo what I have done. I have dragged myself
back, repentant, loving you more than I have ever loved you in my life,
to leave our little girl with you. She is your daughter, and mine. She
was born on the eighth day of September, the seventh month after I left
Fort o' God, She is yours, and so I bring her back to you, with the
prayer that she will help to fill the true and noble heart that I have
broken. I cannot ask your forgiveness, for I do not deserve it. I
cannot let you see me, for I should kill myself at your feet. I have
lived this long only for the baby. I will leave her where you cannot
fail to find her, and by the time you have read this I will have
answered for my sin--my madness, if you can have charity regard it so.
And if God is kind I will hover about you always, and you will know
that in death the old sweetheart, and the mother, has found what she
could never again hope for in life.

YOUR WIFE.

Philip rose slowly erect and gazed down into the still, tranquil face
of Pierre, the half-breed.

"Why didn't you open it?" he whispered. "Why didn't you open it? My
God, what it would have saved--"

For a full minute he looked down at Pierre, as though he expected that
the white lips would move and answer him. And then he thought of Jeanne
hurrying to Fort o' God, and of the terrible things which she was to
reveal to her father that night. She was D'Arcambal's own daughter.
What pain--what agony of father and child he might have saved if he had
examined the locket a little sooner! He looked at his watch and found
that Jeanne had been gone three hours. It would be impossible to
overtake MacDougall and the girl unless something had occurred to delay
them somewhere along the trail. He hurried back into the little room,
where he had left Cassidy. In a few words he explained that it was
necessary for him to follow Jeanne and the engineer to D'Arcambal House
without a moment's delay, and he directed Cassidy to take charge of
camp affairs, and to send Pierre's body with a suitable escort the next
day.

"It isn't necessary for me to tell you what to do," he finished, "You
understand."

Cassidy nodded. Six month