it you would like to
hear--of my people, or my parents, or myself?"

"All, all, my dear," cried Mrs. Stuart clamorously. "I'll speak for
him--tell us of yourself and your mother--your father is delightful,
I am sure--but then he is only an ordinary Englishman, not half as
interesting as a foreigner, or--or, perhaps I should say, a native."

Christie laughed. "Yes," she said, "my father often teases my mother
now about how _very_ native she was when he married her; then, how
could she have been otherwise? She did not know a word of English,
and there was not another English-speaking person besides my father
and his two companions within sixty miles."

"Two companions, eh? one a Catholic priest and the other a wine
merchant, I suppose, and with your father in the Hudson Bay, they
were good representatives of the pioneers in the New World,"
remarked Logan, waggishly.

"Oh, no, they were all Hudson Bay men. There were no rumsellers and
no missionaries in that part of the country then."

Mrs. Stuart looked puzzled. "No _missionaries_?" she repeated with
an odd intonation.

Christie's insight was quick. There was a peculiar expression of
interrogation in the eyes of her listeners, and the girl's blood
leapt angrily up into her temples as she said hurriedly, "I know
what you mean; I know what you are thinking. You were wondering how
my parents were married--"

"Well--er, my dear, it seems peculiar--if there was no priest, and
no magistrate, why--a--" Mrs. Stuart paused awkwardly.

"The marriage was performed by Indian rites," said Christie.

"Oh, do tell me about it; is the ceremony very interesting and
quaint--are your chieftains anything like Buddhist priests?" It was
Logan who spoke.

"Why, no," said the girl in amazement at that gentleman's ignorance.
"There is no ceremony at all, save a feast. The two people just
agree to live only with and for each other, and the man takes his
wife to his home, just as you do. There is no ritual to bind them;
they need none; an Indian's word was his law in those days, you
know."

Mrs. Stuart stepped backwards. "Ah!" was all she said. Logan removed
his eye-glass and stared blankly at Christie. "And did McDonald
marry you in this singular fashion?" He questioned.

"Oh, no, we were married by Father O'Leary. Why do you ask?"

"Because if he had, I'd have blown his brain out to-morrow."

Mrs. Stuart's partner, who had hitherto been silent, coughed and
began to twirl his cu