if the story is true she has been
little better than a waif, a foundling of Detroit."

"She was dying and intended to send it to you. She had to intrust it to
a kind-hearted squaw. What happened then will never be known, until one
evening it was dropped in the lap of this Pani woman who has been foster
mother."

"Is this so, Jeanne?" He raised the flushed face and looked into the
eyes with a glance that would have been stern had it not been so full of
love.

"It is so," she made answer in a soft, clear voice. "She has been a
mother to me and I love her. She is old and I will never be separated
from her."

"There spoke the loyal child. And now, reverend father, where is this
wife? It is a serious complication. But if, as you say, I married her
unlawfully--"

"You enticed her from the convent." There was the severity of the judge
in the tone.

"_Parbleu!_ It did not need much enticing," and a half smile crossed his
handsome face while his eyes softened. "We were both in love and she
abhorred the monotony of convent life. We were of different faiths; that
should have made me pause, but I thought then that love righted
everything. I was of an adventurous turn and mightily stirred by the
tales of the new world. Huguenot faith was not in favor in France, and I
resolved to seek my fortunes elsewhere. She could not endure the
parting. Yes, Father, since she had not taken any vow, not even begun
her novitiate, I overpersuaded her. We were married in my faith. We came
to this new world, and in Boston this child was born. We were still very
happy. But I could not idle my life doing things befitting womankind. We
came to Albany, and there I found some traders who told stirring tales
of the great North and the fortunes made in the fur trade. My wife did
oppose my going, but the enthusiasm of love, if I may call it so, had
begun to wane. She had misgivings as to whether she had done right in
marrying me--"

"As a true daughter of the Church would," interrupted the priest
severely.

"I was willing that she should return to her own faith, which she did. I
left her in good hands. Fortune favored me. I liked the stir and
excitement, the out-of-door life, the glamour of adventures. I found men
who were of the same cast of mind. To be sure, there were dangers, there
was also the pleasure and gratification of leadership, of subduing
savage natures. When I had resolved to settle in the North I sent to my
wife by a messenger and r