(containing a screed of formal instructions) to the miserable mortal who
shall succeed me here. I'll take the best canoe in our store, load it
with provisions, put you carefully in the middle of it, stick Jacques in
the bow and myself in the stern, and start, two weeks hence, neck and
crop, head over heels, through thick and thin, wet and dry, over
portage, river, fall, and lake, for Red River settlement!"

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

OLD FRIENDS AND SCENES--COMING EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEFORE.

Mr Kennedy, senior, was seated in his own comfortable armchair before
the fire, in his own cheerful little parlour, in his own snug house, at
Red River, with his own highly characteristic breakfast of buffalo
steaks, tea, and pemmican before him, and his own beautiful,
affectionate daughter Kate presiding over the teapot, and exercising
unwarrantably despotic sway over a large grey cat, whose sole happiness
seemed to consist in subjecting Mr Kennedy to perpetual annoyance, and
whose main object in life was to catch its master and mistress off their
guard, that it might go quietly to the table, the meat-safe, or the
pantry, and there--deliberately--steal!

Kate had grown very much since we saw her last. She was quite a woman
now, and well worthy of a minute description here; but we never could
describe a woman to our own satisfaction. We have frequently tried, and
failed; so we substitute, in place, the remarks of Kate's friends and
acquaintances about her--a criterion on which to form a judgment that is
a pretty correct one, especially when the opinion pronounced happens to
be favourable. Her father said she was an angel, and the only joy of
his life. This latter expression, we may remark, was false; for Mr
Kennedy frequently said to Kate, confidentially, that Charley was a
great happiness to him; and we are quite sure that the pipe had
something to do with the felicity of his existence. But the old
gentleman _said_ that Kate was the _only_ joy of his life, and that is
all we have to do with at present. Several ill-tempered old ladies in
the settlement said that Miss Kennedy was really a quiet, modest girl--
testimony this (considering the source whence it came) that was quite
conclusive. Then old Mr Grant remarked to old Mr Kennedy, over a
confidential pipe, that Kate was certainly, in his opinion, the most
modest and the prettiest girl in Red River. Her old school companions
called her a darling. Tom Whyte sa