"I rather fear it is; but I hope not. Ah, what should we do without
hope in this world?"

"That's true," observed Jasper, with much gravity, "we could not get on
at all without hope."

"But come, Jasper," said the artist, "let's hear about your affair, and
I'll tell you about mine some other time."

"Well, there is not much to tell, but I'll give ye all that's of it.
You must know, then, that about two years ago I was in the service of
the Hudson's Bay Company, at one o' their outposts in the McKenzie's
River district. We had little to eat there and little to do, and I felt
so lonesome, never seein' a human bein' except the four or five men at
the fort an' a few Indians, that I made up my mind to quit. I had no
reason to complain o' the Company, d'ye see. They always treated me
handsomely, and it was no fault o' theirs that the livin' in that
district was poor and the post lonesome.

"Well, on my way down to Lake Winnipeg, I fell in with a brigade o'
boats goin' to the Saskatchewan district, and we camped together that
night. One o' the guides of the Saskatchewan brigade had his daughter
with him. The guide was a French-Canadian, and his wife had been a
Scotch half-caste, so what the daughter was is more than I can tell; but
I know what she looked like. She just looked like an angel. It wasn't
so much that she was pretty, but she was so sweet, and so quiet lookin',
and so innocent! Well, to cut the matter short, I fell in love at once.
D'ye know what it is, Heywood, to fall in love at first sight?"

"Oh! don't I?" replied the artist with sudden energy.

"An' d'ye know," continued Jasper, "what it is to be
fallen-in-love-with, at first sight?"

"Well, no, I'm not so sure about that," replied Heywood sadly.

"I do, then," said Jasper, "for that sweet critter fell in love with me
right off--though what she saw in me to love has puzzled me much.
Howsoever, she did, and for that I'm thankful. Her name is Marie
Laroche. She and I opened our minds to each other that night, and I
took the guide, her father, into the woods, and told him I wanted his
daughter; and he was agreeable; but he would not hear of my takin' her
away then and there. He told me I must go down to Canada and get
settled, and when I had a house to put his daughter in, I was to come
back into the wilderness here and be married to her, and then take her
home--so here I am on my way to claim my bride. But there's one thing
that puzzles me