that Lali was
something taller than Marion, and that she might be possessed of that
general trait of humanity-vanity. Mrs. Armour had not yet got used to
thinking of the girl in another manner than an intrusive being of a
lower order, who was there to try their patience, but also to do their
bidding. She had yet to grasp the fact that, being her son's wife, she
must have, therefore, a position in the house, exercising a certain
authority over the servants, who, to Mrs. Armour, at first seemed of
superior stuff. But Richard said to her: "Mother, I fancy you don't
quite grasp the position. The girl is the daughter of a chief, and the
descendant of a family of chiefs, perhaps through many generations. In
her own land she has been used to respect, and has been looked up to
pretty generally. Her garments are, I fancy, considered very smart in
the Hudson's Bay country; and a finely decorated blanket like hers is
expensive up there. You see, we have to take the thing by comparison; so
please give the girl a chance."

And Mrs. Armour answered wearily, "I suppose you are right, Richard; you
generally are in the end, though why you should be I do not know, for
you never see anything of the world any more, and you moon about among
the cottagers. I suppose it's your native sense and the books you read."

Richard laughed softly, but there was a queer ring in the laugh, and
he came over stumblingly and put his arm round his mother's shoulder.
"Never mind how I get such sense as I have, mother; I have so much time
to think, it would be a wonder if I hadn't some. But I think we had
better try to study her, and coax her along, and not fob her off as a
very inferior person, or we shall have our hands full in earnest. My
opinion is, she has got that which will save her and us too--a very high
spirit, which only needs opportunity to develop into a remarkable thing;
and, take my word for it, mother, if we treat her as a chieftainess, or
princess, or whatever she is, and not simply as a dusky person, we shall
come off better and she will come off better in the long run. She is not
darker than a Spaniard, anyhow." At this point Marion entered the room,
and her mother rehearsed briefly to her what their talk had been. Marion
had had little sleep, and she only lifted her eyebrows at them at first.
She was in little mood for conciliation. She remembered all at once
that at supper the evening before her sister-in-law had said How! to
the butler