before Black Roger had said a word. He guessed it by the
lighted windows, full a score of them, without a curtain drawn to shut
out their illumination from the night. He could see nothing but these
lights, yet they measured off a mighty place to be built of logs in the
heart of a wilderness, and at his side he heard Black Roger chuckling
in low exultation.

"Our home, m'sieu," he said. "Tomorrow, when you see it in the light of
day, you will say it is the finest chateau in the north--all built of
sweet cedar where birch is not used, so that even in the deep snows it
gives us the perfume of springtime and flowers."

David did not answer, and in a moment Audemard said:

"Only on Christmas and New Year and at birthdays and wedding feasts is
it lighted up like that. Tonight it is in your honor, M'sieu David."
Again he laughed softly, and under his breath he added, "And there is
some one waiting for you there whom you will be surprised to see!"

David's heart gave a jump. There was meaning in Black Roger's words and
no double twist to what he meant. Marie-Anne had come ahead with her
husband!

Now, as they passed on to the brilliantly lighted chateau, David made
out the indistinct outlines of other buildings almost hidden in the
out-creeping shadows of the forest-edges, with now and then a ray of
light to show people were in them. But there was a brooding silence
over it all which made him wonder, for there was no voice, no bark of
dog, not even the opening or closing of a door. As they drew nearer, he
saw a great veranda reaching the length of the chateau, with screening
to keep out the summer pests of mosquitoes and flies and the night
prowling insects attracted by light. Into this they went, up wide birch
steps, and ahead of them was a door so heavy it looked like the postern
gate of a castle. Black Roger opened it, and in a moment David stood
beside him in a dimly lighted hall where the mounted heads of wild
beasts looked down like startled things from the gloom of the walls.
And then David heard the low, sweet notes of a piano coming to them
very faintly.

He looked at Black Roger. A smile was on the lips of the chateau
master; his head was up, and his eyes glowed with pride and joy as the
music came to him. He spoke no word, but laid a hand on David's arm and
led him toward it, while Bateese and Joe Clamart remained standing at
the entrance to the hall. David's feet trod in thick rugs of fur; he
saw the dim lust