that we had to be men. But all these years, Father, there
has been only one girl for me. I never gave Lettie Conlow a ghost of a
reason for thinking I cared for her. But she is old Conlow's own child,
and she has a bitter, jealous nature."

"Well, what took her to the--to the old cabin out there?"

"I do not know. She may have been hidden out there to spy what we--I was
doing."

"Did she have on a red blanket too, Saturday afternoon?"

"Well, now I wonder--." My mind was in a whirl. Could she be in league
against me? What did it mean? I sat down to think.

"Father, there's something I've never yet understood about this town," I
burst out impetuously. "If it is to have anything to do with my future I
ought to know it. Father Le Claire would tell me only half his story.
You know more of O'mie than you will tell me. And here is a jealous girl
whose father consented to give Marjie to a brutal Indian out of hatred
for her father; and it is his daughter who trails me over the prairie
because I am with Marjie. Why not tell me now what you know?"

My father sat looking thoughtfully at me. At last he spoke.

"I know nothing of girls' love affairs and jealousies," he said; "pass
that now. I am O'mie's attorney and am trying to adjust his claims for
him as I can discover them. I cannot get hold of the case myself as I
should like. If Le Claire were here I might find out something."

"Or nothing," I broke in. "It would depend on circumstances."

"You are right. He has never told me all he knows, but I know much
without his telling."

"Do you know how Jean Pahusca came to carry a knife for years with the
name, 'Jean Le Claire,' cut in the blade? Do you know why the half-breed
and the priest came to look so much alike, same square-cut forehead,
same build, same gait, same proud way of throwing back the head? You've
only to look at them to see all this, except that with a little
imagination the priest's face would fit a saint and Jean's is a very
devil's countenance."

"I do not know the exact answer to any of these questions. They are
points for us to work out together now you are a man. Jean is in some
way bound to Le Claire. If by blood ties, why does the priest not own,
or entirely disown him? If not, why does the priest protect him?

"In some way, too, both are concerned with O'mie. Le Claire is eager to
protect the Irishman. I do not know where Jean is, but I believe
sometimes he is here in concealment. He and Tell