ticular compliment to a white man's
disposition to be able to qualify as an Indian, as I look at it."

This time he was not in doubt about the expression on her face; a sudden
grimace like grief wreathed the red lips and there was more than a
suspicion of tears in her eyes. He stared at her, frankly amazed.

"If I have stepped on toes I am sorry. I never did know how to talk to
young ladies without making a mess sooner or later."

She returned no reply, and he went on with his food to cover his
embarrassment.

"Do you know Mr. Flagg?" she asked, after the silence had been
prolonged.

"Not very well. But I know about him."

"What especially?"

"That he's a hard man. He never forgets or forgives an injury. Perhaps
that's why he qualified so well as an Indian."

She straightened in her chair and narrowed those gray eyes. "Couldn't
there have been another reason why he was chosen for such an honor?"

"I beg your pardon for passing along to you the slurs of the north
country, miss----" he paused but she did not help him with her name.
"It's mostly slurs up there," he went on, with bitterness, "and I get
into the habit, myself. The Indians did have a good reason for giving
Flagg that honor. He is the only one in the north who has respected the
Indians' riparian rights, given by treaty and then stolen back. He pays
them for hold-boom privileges when his logs are on their shores. They
are free to come and go on his lands for birch bark and basket
stuff--he's the only one who respects the old treaties. That's well
known about Flagg in the north country. It's a good streak in any man,
no matter what folks say about his general disposition."

"I'm glad to hear you say that much!"

She pushed back her chair slightly and began to take stock of her
possessions. A sort of a panic came upon him. There were a lot of things
he wanted to say, and he could not seem to lay a tongue to one of them.
He stammered something about the wet day and wondered whether it would
be considered impudence if he offered to escort her, holding over her
the umbrella or carrying her parcel. He had crude ideas about the matter
of squiring dames. He wanted to ask her not to hurry away. "Do you live
here in New York--handy by?"

The cafeteria was just off lower Broadway, and she smiled. He realized
the idiocy of the question.

"I work near here! You are going home to the north soon?" The polite
query was in a tone which checked all his new impuls