Jean had an outward shrug of contempt, but the rumored
attentions of Wallace to Julie Breton, during his absence, sickened his
heart with fear. Was he to lose her, too, as well as Fleur?

Before supper, at the Mission, Pere Breton urged him to return to his
trapping grounds and spare himself the toil of a hopeless quest down the
coast in the face of the coming winter. Julie was adding her objections
to her brother's, when a knock on the door checked her. Her face colored
slightly as Jean glanced up, when she turned to the door.

"Bon soir, Monsieur!" she greeted the newcomer, a note of embarrassment
in her voice.

"Good evening, Mademoiselle. I hope I'm not late?" And Inspector Wallace
entered the room.

The Inspector, a handsome, well-built man of thirty-five, was dressed in
the garb of civilization and wore shoes, a rarity at Whale River. Chief
of the East Coast posts of the Great Company, he had been sent the year
previous, from western Ontario, and put in command of men older in years
and experience who had passed their lives in the far north. And
naturally much resentment had manifested itself among the traders. But
that the new chief officer looked and acted like a man of ability, the
disgruntled factors had been forced to admit.

As Wallace sat conversing of the great world outside with Pere Breton,
who was evidently much pleased by his attentions to Julie, he seemed to
Jean Marcel to embody all that the young Frenchman lacked. How, indeed,
he asked himself, could he now aspire to the love of Julie Breton when
so great a man chose to smile upon her?

Wallace seemed surprised at the presence of a humble Company hunter as a
member of the priest's family, but Pere Breton privately informed him
that Jean was as a son and brother at the Mission.

While the black eyes of Julie flashed in response to the admiring
glances of Wallace, Jean Marcel ate in silence his last meal at Whale
River for many a long week, torn by his longing for the dog carried down
the coast in the canoe of the thieves and by the hopelessness of his
love for this girl who was manifestly thrilling to the compliments of a
man who knew the world of men and cities, who had seen many women, yet
found this rose of the north fair. But as he ate in silence, the young
Frenchman made a vow that should this man, who was taking her from him,
treat her innocence lightly, Inspector though he was, he should feel
the cold steel of the knife of Jean Marcel.