tting them in its pellucid
chrysalis. The Almighty arms were resting her on a mountain of vision.
She had forgot how to weep. She was remembering how to laugh.

The more I thought about it the less endurable it became to have her
dependent upon the Grignons. My business affairs with Pierre Grignon
made it possible to transfer her obligations to my account. The
hospitable man and his wife objected, but when they saw how I took it to
heart, gave me my way. I told them I wished her to be regarded as my
wife, for I should never have another; and while it might remain
impossible for her to marry me, on my part I was bound to her.

"You are young, M's'r Williams," said Madame Ursule. "You have a long
life before you. A man wants comfort in his house. And if he makes
wealth, he needs a hand that knows how to distribute and how to save.
She could never go to your home as she is."

"I know it, madame."

"You will change your mind about a wife."

"Madame, I have not changed my mind since I first wanted her. It is not
a mind that changes."

"Well, that's unusual. Young men are often fickle. You never made
proposals for her?"

"I did, madame, after her husband died."

"But she was still a wife--the wife of an old man--in the Pigeon Roost
settlement."

"Her father married her to a cousin nearly as old as himself, when she
was a child. Her husband was reported dead while he was in hiding. She
herself thought, and so did her friends, that he was dead."

"I see. Eh! these girls married to old men! Madame Jordan told me
Madeleine's husband was very fretful. He kept himself like silk, and
scarcely let the wind blow upon him for fear of injuring his health.
When other men were out toiling at the clearings, he sat in his house to
avoid getting chills and fever in the sun. It was well for her that she
had a faithful servant. Madeleine and the servant kept the family with
their garden and corn field. They never tasted wild meat unless the
other settlers brought them venison. Madame Jordan said they always
returned a present of herbs and vegetables from their garden. It grew
for them better than any other garden in the settlement. Once the old
man did go out with a hunting party, and got lost. The men searched for
him three days, and found him curled up in a hollow tree, waiting to be
brought in. They carried him home on a litter and he popped his head
into the door and said: 'Here I am, child! You can't kill me!'"

"What did Ma