skins, and bold eagle outlines. The eldest, the girl, was small--a
strange little creature, with braids of black hair hanging down behind
almost to her ankles, half-closed black eyes, little hands and feet, a
low soft voice, and the grace of a young panther. The boys were larger,
handsome little fellows of wild aspect. In fact, all four were of mixed
blood, their mother having been a beautiful French quarter-breed, and
their father--William Douglas.

"Annet, Annet, can't we have fried potatoes for supper, and bacon?"

"Annet, Annet, can't we have coffee?"

"It is a biting night, isn't it?" said Tita, coming to her sister's side
and stroking her cold hands gently. "I really think, Annet, that you
ought to have something substantielle. You see, _I_ think of you;
whereas those howling piggish bears think only of themselves."

All this she delivered in a soft, even voice, while Anne removed the
remainder of her wrappings.

"I have thought of something better still," said William Douglas's
eldest daughter, kissing her little sister fondly, and then stepping out
of the last covering, and lifting the heap from the floor--"batter
cakes!"

The boys gave a shout of delight, and danced up and down on the hearth;
Tita went back to her corner and sat down, clasping her little brown
hands round her ankles, like the embalmed monkeys of the Nile. Her
corner was made by an old secretary and the side of the great chimney;
this space she had lined and carpeted with furs, and here she sat curled
up with her book or her bead-work all through the long winter, refusing
to leave the house unless absolutely ordered out by Anne, who filled the
place of mother to these motherless little ones. Tita was well satisfied
with the prospect of batter cakes; she would probably eat two if Anne
browned them well, and they were light and tender. But as for those
boys, those wolf-dogs, those beasts, they would probably swallow dozens.
"If you come any nearer, Louis, I shall lay open the side of your
head," she announced, gently, as the boys danced too near her hermitage;
they, accustomed alike to her decisions and her words, danced farther
away without any discussion of the subject. Tita was an excellent
playmate sometimes; her little moccasined feet, and long braids
streaming behind, formed the most exciting feature of their summer
races; her blue cloth skirt up in the tops of the tallest trees, the
provocative element in their summer climbing. She w