talk awhile together; for, lest any accident befall the
packet you shall bear, I wish you to carry in your memory, with great
distinctness, the terms of my writing to your governor. I would that it
were not to be written, for I hate the quill, and I've seen the time I
would rather point my sword red than my quill black."

By this the shadows were falling. In the west the sun was slipping
down behind the hills, leaving the strong day with a rosy and radiant
glamour, that faded away in eloquent tones to the grey, tinsel
softness of the zenith. Out in the yard a sumach bush was aflame. Rich
tiger-lilies thrust in at the sill, and lazy flies and king bees boomed
in and out of the window. Something out of the sunset, out of the
glorious freshness and primal majesty of the new land, diffused through
the room where those four people stood, and made them silent. Presently
the governor drew his chair to the table, and motioned Councillor
Drayton and Iberville to be seated.

The girl touched his arm. "And where am I to sit?" she asked demurely.
Colonel Nicholls pursed his lips and seemed to frown severely on her.
"To sit? Why, in your room, mistress. Tut, tut, you are too bold. If
I did not know your father was coming soon to bear you off, new orders
should be issued. Yes, yes, e'en as I say," he added, as he saw the
laughter in her eyes.

She knew that she could wind the big-mannered soldier about her finger.
She had mastered his household; she was the idol of the settlement,
her flexible intelligence, the flush of the first delicate bounty of
womanhood had made him her slave. In a matter of vexing weight he would
not have let her stay, but such deliberatings as he would have with
Iberville could well bear her scrutiny. He reached out to pinch her
cheek, but she deftly tipped her head and caught his outstretched
fingers. "But where am I to sit?" she persisted. "Anywhere, then, but at
the council-table," was his response, as he wagged a finger at her and
sat down. Going over she perched herself on a high stool in the window
behind Iberville. He could not see her, and, if he thought at all about
it, he must have supposed that she could not see him. Yet she could; for
against the window-frame was a mirror, and it reflected his face and
the doings at the board. She did not listen to the rumble of voices. She
fell to studying Iberville. Once or twice she laughed softly to herself.

As she turned to the window a man passed by and