m food, and such articles of clothing as she
thought he could wear. By degrees she provided him with a complete change
of raiment, and though the fit was tolerable, they laughed together at the
transformation produced in him. It was the first time he had seen her
smile, and even in the obscurity of the inner room where she still kept
him secluded he noted the vividness with which her habitually grave
features lighted up. Micmac, too, became friendly, inferring with the
instinct of his race that Ford was an object to be guarded.

"No one would know you now," the girl declared, surveying him with
satisfaction.

"Were these things all your father's?" he asked, with a new attempt to
penetrate the mystery of her personality.

"Yes," she returned, absently, continuing her inspection of him. "They
were sent to me, and I kept them. I never knew why I did; but I suppose it
was--for this."

"He must have been a tall man?" Ford hazarded, again.

"Yes, he must have been," she returned, unwarily. Then, feeling that the
admission required some explanation, she added, with a touch of
embarrassment, "I never saw him--not that I can remember."

"Then he died a long time ago?"

Her reply came reluctantly, after some delay:

"Not so very long--about four years ago now."

"And yet you hadn't seen him since you were a child?"

"There were reasons. We mustn't talk. Some one may pass and hear us."

He could see that her hurry in finishing the small tasks she had come in
to perform for him arose not so much from precaution as from a desire to
escape from this particular subject.

"I suppose you could tell me his name?" he persisted.

Her hands moved deftly, producing order among the things he had left in
confusion, but she remained silent. It was a silence in which he
recognized an element of protest though he ignored it.

"You could tell me his name?" he asked, again.

"His name," she said, at last, "wouldn't convey anything to you. It
wouldn't do you any good to know it."

"It would gratify my curiosity. I should think you might do as much as
that for me."

"I'm doing a great deal for you as it is. I don't think you should ask for
more."

Her tone was one of reproach rather than of annoyance, and he was left
with a sense of having committed an indiscretion. The consciousness
brought with it the perception that in a measure he was growing used to
his position. He was beginning to take it for granted that this girl
shoul