over, almost a husband's part.

"As he was very clever and gifted with the special faculty of not showing
what he felt, we sometimes asked each other whether he did not guess
anything, and he took care to let us know, in a manner that was painful
for us. We were going to breakfast at Bougival, and we were rowing
vigorously, when La Toque, who had, that morning, the triumphant look of
a man who was satisfied, and who, sitting by the steers-woman, seemed to
squeeze himself rather too close to her, in our estimation, stopped the
rowing by calling out: 'Stop!'

"The four oars were drawn out of the water, and then, turning to his
neighbor, he said to her: 'Why were you called Fly?' But before she
could reply, the voice of Only-One-Eye, who was sitting in the bows,
said dryly: 'Because she settles on all the carrion.'

"There was a dead silence, and an embarrassed pause, which was followed
by an inclination to laugh, while Fly herself looked very much confused,
and La Toque gave the order: 'Row on, all;' and the boat started again.
The incident was closed, and light let in upon the subject, and that
little adventure made no difference in our habits, but it only
re-established cordiality between Only-One-Eye and us. He once more
became the honored proprietor of the Fly from Saturday night until
Monday morning, as his superiority over all of us had been thoroughly
established by that definition, which, moreover, closed one of the
questions about the word Fly. For the future we were satisfied with
playing the secondary part of grateful and polite friends who profited
discreetly by the week days, without any contention of any kind among
ourselves.

"That answered very well for about three months, but then suddenly Fly
assumed a strange attitude towards us. She was less merry, nervous,
uneasy, and almost irritable, and we frequently asked her: 'What is the
matter with you?' And she replied: 'Nothing; leave me alone.'

"Only-One-Eye told us what was the matter with her, one Saturday evening.
We had just sat down to table in the little dining-room which our eating
house keeper, Barbichon, reserved for us at his inn, and, the soup being
finished, we were waiting for the fried fish, when our friend, who also
appeared thoughtful, took Fly's hand and said: 'My dear comrades, I have
a very grave communication to make to you, and one that may, perhaps,
give rise to a prolonged discussion, but we shall have to argue between
the course