s was perfectly plain
to me, though she neither spoke nor moved. There was nothing for me to
do or say. Already I had argued the matter with myself from every
standpoint, and eagerly as I sought for solace, for a ray of hope, I
could not but understand how vain it were to ask a cynical world to
believe that this young girl was Walter Butler's wife. No; with his
denial, with the averted faces of the sachems on the Kennyetto, as she
herself had admitted, with the denial of Sir John, what evidence could
be brought forward to justify me in wedding Elsin Grey? Another thing:
even if Sir John should admit that, acting in capacity of a magistrate
of Tryon County, he had witnessed the marriage of Walter Butler and Lyn
Montour, what civil powers had a deposed magistrate; a fugitive who had
broken parole and fled?

No, there was no legal tie here. I was not now free to wed; I
understood that as I sat there, staring out of the window into the red
west, kindling to flame behind the Mayfield hills.

The Oneida, rolling himself in his blanket, had stretched out on the
bare floor by the hearth; the girl, head buried in her hands, sat
brooding above the empty board. Farris fetched me ink and quill and the
only sheet of paper in the settlement; but it was sufficiently large to
tear in half; and I inked my rusty quill and wrote:

"Yellow Tavern,
Oswaya on Frenchman's Creek.

"COLONEL MARINUS WILLETT:

"_Sir_--I have the honor to report that the scout of two, under my
command, proceeded, agreeable to orders, as far as the Vlaie, called
Sacandaga Vlaie, arriving there at dawn and in time for the council
and rites of Thendara, which were held at the edge of the Dead Water
or Vlaie Creek.

"I flatter myself that the Long House has abandoned any idea of
punishing the Oneidas for the present--the council recognizing my
neutral right to speak for the Oneida nation. The Oneidas
dissenting, naturally there could be no national unanimity, which
is required at Thendara before the Long House embarks upon any
Federal policy.

"Whether or not this action of mine was wise, you, sir, must judge.
It may be that what I have done will only serve to consolidate the
enemy in the next enterprise they undertake.

"My usefulness as a spy in Sir John's camp must prove abortive, as
I encountered Captain Walter Butler at the Dead Water, who knows
me, and who is aware of my b