d be. In another moment she was whirling down the
hall with him, her dark face flushed, her eyes radiant, her dancing
exquisitely light and exact. She passed Anne and Rast with a sparkling
glance, her small breast throbbing with a swell of satisfied vanity that
almost stopped her breath.

"There is Tita," said the elder sister, rather anxiously. "I hope Mr.
Walters will not spoil her with his flattery."

"There is no danger; she is not pretty enough," answered Rast.

A flush rose in Anne's face. "You do not like my little sister," she
said.

"Oh, I do not dislike her," said Rast. "I could not dislike anything
that belonged to _you_," he added, in a lower tone.

She smiled as he bent his handsome head toward her to say this. She was
fond of Rast; he had been her daily companion through all her life; she
scarcely remembered anything in which he was not concerned, from her
first baby walk in the woods back of the fort, her first ride in a
dog-sledge on the ice, to yesterday's consultation over the chapel
evergreens.

The six French fiddlers played on; they knew not fatigue. In imagination
they had danced every dance. Tita was taken out on the floor several
times by the officers, who were amused by her little airs and her small
elfish face: she glowed with triumph. Anne had but few invitations, save
from Rast; but as his were continuous, she danced all the evening. At
midnight Miss Lois and the Misses Macdougall formally rose, and the fort
ladies sent for their wrappings: the ball, as far as the first circle
was concerned, was ended. But long afterward the sound of the fiddles
was still heard, and it was surmised that the second circle was having
its turn, possibly not without a sprinkling of the third also.

CHAPTER III.

"Wassamequin, Nashoonon, and Massaconomet did voluntarily submit
themselves to the English, and promise to be willing from time to
time to be instructed in the knowledge of God. Being asked not to
do any unnecessary work on the Sabbath day, they answered, 'It is
easy to them; they have not much to do on any day, and can well
take rest on that day as any other.' So then we, causing them to
understand the articles, and all the ten commandments of God, and
they freely assenting to all, they were solemnly received; and the
Court gave each of them a coat of two yards of cloth, and their
dinner; and to them and their men, every one of them, a cup