n I was gay in the sunshine, you
came, and only smiled but never beckoned; though your eyes seemed to
me very sad, and I wondered if mine would not also become sad through
looking in them so--are they sad, mother?" And she laughed up brightly
into her mother's face.

"No, dear; they are like the stars. You ask me for my part in that life.
I will tell you soon, but not now. Be patient. Do you not tire of this
lonely life? Are you truly not anxious to return to--"

"'To the husks that the swine did eat?' No, no, no; for, see: I was born
for a free, strong life; the prairie or the wild wood, or else to live
in some far castle in Welsh mountains, where I should never hear the
voice of the social Thou must!--oh, what a must! never to be quite free
or natural. To be the slave of the code. I was born--I know not how! but
so longing for the sky, and space, and endless woods. I think I never
saw an animal but I loved it, nor ever lounged the mornings out at
Holwood but I wished it were a hut on the mountain side, and you and
father with me." Here she whispered, in a kind of awe: "And yet to think
that Holwood is now mine, and that I am mistress there, and that I must
go back to it--if only you would go back with me.... ah, dear, isn't it
your duty to go back with me"? she added, hesitatingly.

Audrey Malbrouck drew her daughter hungrily to her bosom, and said:
"Yes, dear, I will go back, if it chances that you need me; but your
father and I have lived the best days of our lives here, and we are
content. But, my Margaret, there is another to be thought of too, is
there not? And in that case is my duty then so clear?"

The girl's hand closed on her mother's, and she knew her heart had been
truly read.

III.

The hunters pursued their way, swinging grandly along on their
snow-shoes, as they made for the Wild Hawk Woods. It would seem as if
Malbrouck was testing Gregory's strength and stride, for the march that
day was a long and hard one. He was equal to the test, and even Big
Moccasin, the chief, grunted sound approval. But every day brought out
new capacities for endurance and larger resources; so that Malbrouck,
who had known the clash of civilisation with barbarian battle, and deeds
both dour and doughty, and who loved a man of might, regarded this youth
with increasing favour. By simple processes he drew from Gregory his
aims and ambitions, and found the real courage and power behind the
front of irony--the language