e dispensed with?
In the course of the merry-go-round the cat's claw had become
disentangled from the doll's frock. Fifine had released the clutch of
reprisal on the cat's tail. Hamish had been visited with a fear that the
end of Fifine's josie might give way in rents before her obstinacy would
relax; and Odalie had not the heart to pull his hair with more cruelty
than she had heretofore indulged. So the magic circle gave way by its
own impulse as it had formed, and all the heads were once more bent
together in earnest absorption in the search and the subsequent
disclosures of the buffalo horn. Such choice symposia as these were
usually reserved for the dusk of the afternoon in bad weather when the
outdoor work was done, and Odalie--her house all in order--needed more
light for her other vocations. It was quite incredible how soon a loom
was set up and warping-bars constructed, and all the details in motion
of that pioneer home life, which added the labor and interests of
domestic manufacture to the other absorbing duties of the housewife that
have survived in these times of machinery and delegated responsibility.

These were the holiday moments of the day, but once when the mother and
the little girl and the cat sat intent upon the rug, their treasures
spread before them, Odalie's face paled and her heart almost sprang into
her mouth as she heard Hamish's step outside, quick and disordered. As
he burst into the room she knew by his eyes that something of grave
import had happened. And yet, as she faced him speechless, he said
nothing. She noted his uncaring casual glance at that potent fascinator,
the buffalo horn, and his hasty, unsettled gesture. He seemed resolved
not to speak--then he suddenly exclaimed solemnly:--

"Odalie, there is the prettiest creature in this settlement that you
ever saw in your life--and--the gracefullest!"

"A fawn?" said the mercurial Odalie, who recovered her poise as suddenly
as it was shaken.

He looked at her in a daze for a moment.

"A fawn? What absurdity!"

"Nothing less than a dear, I must needs be sure."

He apprehended her sarcasm. Then, too absorbed to be angry, he reverted
to himself.

"Oh," he cried with bitterness, "why do you let me go about in
worshipful company with my hair like this?--" he clutched at his tousled
locks.

"Yes--yes, I see. It always goes to the head," said Odalie, demurely.

"Don't laugh at me," he exclaimed, "but how had you the heart--and
San