alls, I fear you'll not be able to leave the fort
at all."

"Yes, and Francois has promised to make me a pair," said Edith gaily,
"and to teach me how to use them; and mamma says I am old enough to
learn now. Is it not kind of Francois? He is always very good to me."

"Indeed it is very kind of him, my pet; but all the men seem to be very
good to you--are they not?"

"Oh yes!--all of them. Even Gaspard is kind now. He never whips Chimo,
and he patted me on the head the other day when I met him alone in the
ravine--the berry ravine, you know, where I go to gather berries. I
wonder if there are berries in all the other ravines?--but I don't care
much, for there are thousands and thousands of all kinds in my own
ravine, and--where are you going, papa?"

This abrupt question was caused by her father turning into the square of
the new fort, in which the most of the men were at work.

"I'm going to show you our house, Eda, and to ask you to fix on the
corner you like best for your own room. The partitions are going to be
put up, so we must fix at once."

As he spoke they passed through the open doorway of the new dwelling,
which was a long, low building; and, placing his little daughter in the
centre of the principal hall, Stanley directed her to look round and
choose a corner for herself.

For a few minutes Edith stood with an expression of perplexity on her
bright face; then she began to examine the views from each of the corner
windows. This could only be done by peeping through the bullet-hole in
the parchment skins that in the meantime did duty for glass. The two
windows at the back corners looked out upon the rocky platform, behind
which the mountains rose like a wall, so they were rejected; but Edith
lingered at one of them, for from it she saw the spring at the foot of
the rock, with its soft bed of green moss and surrounding willow-bushes.
From the front corner on the left hand Cross Island and the valley of
the river beyond were visible; but from the window on the right the view
embraced the whole sweep of the wide river and the narrow outlet to the
bay, which, with its frowning precipices on either side, and its bold
flanking mountains, seemed a magnificent portal to the Arctic Sea.

"I think this is the nicest corner," said Edith, turning with a smile to
her father.

"Then this shall be yours," said Stanley.

"But," exclaimed Edith, as a sudden thought occurred to her, "perhaps
Frank would like