me. No watch was kept on
me. He had a small canoe; I took it one night. I had provision--a
little---- I--I--I am here, monsieur."

I stood with my eyes down. "Your cousin wished to follow you. The
Indians restrained him. It was as I told you. He was not a coward at
the last, madame."'

I heard her quick breath. "My cousin,--he was very weak. But he would
have liked not to be. I think that he would have liked to be such a
man as you, monsieur."

If I had been a live man I should have cried out at the irony of having
to hear her say that to me. But I could not feel even shame.

"Hush, hush!" I said slowly. "It is my turn now. Madame, I knew that
you were in the Seneca camp."

"But I was not."

"It is the same as if you were. We had news from Indian runners that
Starling had turned west and joined Pemaou. I knew that he would take
you to the Senecas." I stopped and forced myself to look at her. But
I found no horror in her face. There was still that strange glow of
pride that had not faded since she talked to Cadillac. I saw that she
did not understand. My voice was thick, but I tried to speak again.
She interrupted.

"This is not a surprise to me. This wilderness that seems so lonely is
full of eyes and ears. I feared that you would hear that we had turned
west."

Her face was unsteady with tenderness. I had never seen her look like
that. I warded her away though she was several feet distant. "You do
not understand," I said. "I knew that you were in the camp, yet I gave
the signal to attack it. I gave the signal to attack it with Indians,
and you were inside."

"But I was not inside, monsieur."

"I believed you to be, and I gave the signal."

"But, monsieur, I"----

"Madame, I believed you to be in the camp, and I gave the signal to
attack it."

She was silent at that, and I knew that at last she understood. We
stood side by side. I looked at the litter in Cadillac's tent, and
counted it piece by piece. There were clothes, papers, a handmill for
grinding maize. I felt her touch my hand.

"Will you sit beside me on the couch?"

I followed her. She sat facing me, just out of reach of my hand. The
light in the tent was blue and dim, but I could see the breath flutter
in her throat. I looked at her. I should never be alone with her
again. I should never again look at her in this way. I tried to hold
the moment, and not blur it. I looked at the lips that I had never