ss had driven out of her Eden.
All at once she saw the wrong that had been done her, and realized from
this brute's insult that those early fears had been well grounded. It
suddenly occurred to her that in all the hours she had spent with her
lover, in all those unspeakably sweet and intimate hours, there had
never been one word of marriage. He had looked into her eyes and vowed
he could not live without her, and yet he had never said the words he
should have said, the words that would bind her to him. His arms and
his lips had comforted her and stilled her fears, but after all he had
merely made love. A cold fear crept over the girl. She recalled the old
Corporal's words of a few weeks ago, and her conversation with Stark
came back to her. What if it were true--that which Runnion implied?
What if he did not intend to ask her, after all? What if he had only
been amusing himself? She cried out sharply at this, and when Doret
staggered in beneath a great load of skins he found her in a strange
excitement. When he had finished his accounting with the Indian and
dismissed him, she turned an agitated face to the Frenchman.

"Poleon," she said, "I'm in trouble. Oh, I'm in such awful trouble!"

"It's dat Runnion! I seen 'im pass on de store w'ile I'm down below."
His brows knit in a black scowl, and his voice slid off a pitch in
tone. "Wat he say, eh?"

"No, no, it's not that. He paid me a great compliment." She laughed
harshly. "Why, he asked me to marry him." The man beside her cursed at
this, but she continued: "Don't blame him for liking me--I'm the only
woman for five hundred miles around--or I was until this crowd came--so
how could he help himself? No, he merely showed me what a fool I've
been."

"I guess you better tell me all 'bout dis t'ing," said Poleon, gravely.
"You know I'm all tam' ready for help you, Necia. Wen you was little
feller an' got bust your finger you run to me queeck, an' I feex it."

"Yes, I know, dear Poleon," she assented, gratefully. "You've been a
brother to me, and I need you now more than I ever needed you before. I
can't go to father; he wouldn't understand, or else he would understand
too much, and spoil it all, his temper is so quick."

"I'm not w'at you call easy-goin' mese'f," the Canadian said, darkly,
and it was plain that he was deeply agitated, which added to the girl's
distress; but she began to speak rapidly, incoherently, her
impulsiveness giving significance to her words, so