The vague shape of a future different from the one he planned shimmered
in his mind. They could have each other here and now, and he could give
up his decision to return to the Sauk. He might flee temporarily to some
nearby county, find work, study until he could begin practicing
medicine, marry Nancy, perhaps even try to win back the estate in the
pale eyes' courts.

He would become, more or less, a pale eyes. It would be the end of him
as a Sauk.

And the White Bear arose in his mind, as clearly as if he had suddenly
stood up here among the corn stalks.

The White Bear said, _Your people need you_.

"Auguste, please, _please_," Nancy whispered. "It isn't wrong. It's
right for us. There's no other man but you who's right for me. I don't
want to end up a dried-up old spinster who never knew the man she truly
loved."

She slid down the length of him, falling to her knees in the furrow. She
pressed her cheek against the hard bulge in his trousers, sending a
thrill through his whole body.

"Please."

He wanted to let himself sink to the ground with her. He shut his eyes
and saw the White Bear more vividly in his mind. It seemed to glow.

He held himself rigid, fighting the pressure inside him that made him
want to give in to her. He told himself he could give Nancy this moment
of love she wanted and still go back to the Sauk. If he did not take her
now as she wanted to be taken, he would regret it bitterly later.

But if he did this with her it would tie them in a bond that would be
wrong to break. If he gave her what she wanted and then left, it would
hurt her, might even kill her.

He took a step backward, then another. His legs felt as if they were
made of wood; he could barely move them.

Nancy let him go, put her hands to her face and sobbed, kneeling between
the rows of corn.

He stood there a moment, feeling helpless. Then he went to her, took her
arms and helped her to stand up.

"I do love you, Nancy," he said. "But if I knew you as Adam knew Eve, I
would still have to leave you. And it would hurt both of us much more."

Sobs still shook her body. He did not even know if she heard him. But
she let him lead her out of the cornfield, around the locked and silent
church, and back to the wagon where his trunk lay. As they walked she
pulled a handkerchief out of her sleeve, wiped her face and blew her
nose.

His heart felt heavy as lead. Sure as he was that this was the right
thing to do, he was alm