ry Pepin, and
he said you would not do. Well, Pepin has considered well
since then, and he has thought that if you tried to suit
him, you might"

"It is too great an honour, Pepin. If you expect any one
in this world to be as good and kind to you as your
mother, you will find you have made a great mistake.
Believe me, Pepin Quesnelle. I am a woman, and I know."

"_Bien! Oui_, the mother she is good, ver' good, and I
know there is right in what you say. So! Still, I think
you have improved since we first met, and the mother
likes you, so you need not think too much of that you
are not good enough, and if you should think better of
it--all may yet be well."

But Dorothy assured him that, seeing she had given her
word to Pasmore, and, moreover, seeing she loved him, it
would be a mistake to change her mind upon the subject.

This, however, was not exactly clear to Pepin, who could
not understand how any woman could be foolish enough to
stand in her own light when he, the great Pepin, who had
been so long the catch of the Saskatchewan, had graciously
signified his intention to accept her homage. Perhaps
she was one of those coy creatures who must have something
more than mere conventionalism put into an offer of
marriage, so under the circumstances it might be as well
for him to go through with the matter to the bitter end.

"Mam'selle," he said, "the honour Pepin does you is
stupendous; he is prepared to accept you--to make the
great sacrifice. He lays his heart at your feet--he
means you have laid your heart at his feet, and he stoops
to pick--"

"You'd better do nothing of the kind, Pepin Quesnelle.
It's all a mistake!--You utterly misunderstand--"

But Dorothy could say no more, for, despite her alarm,
the situation was too ludicrous for words. What further
complications might have arisen, it is difficult to say,
had not just then the astute Antoine come to the conclusion
that his master was developing some peculiar form of
madness and wanted a little brotherly attention. He
therefore came noiselessly behind him and with a show of
absent-mindedness poked his snout between his legs.

In another moment Pepin had landed on his back on top of
his four-footed friend, wherefrom he rolled helplessly
to earth. Dorothy ran forward to help him up, but the
dwarf could not see her proffered hand now--it was
Antoine he had to do business with. He was already creeping
on all-fours towards the interrupter. Dorothy's h