Above the hips there hung a belt made of the brilliant stained quills
of the porcupine.
The factor took the beautiful thing in his hands, and the purpose in
his mind crystallised.
In a swift moment he had bargained with the silent woman for a price
that astonished her and was back within the post, walking hurriedly
toward the cabin of the Baptistes.
At the door Marie met him, her bright eyes sparkling with the honour of
this visit of him who was the Law, the Head of De Seviere, and at her
eager greeting the first abating of the flush within took hold upon
him.
He stood like a boy, the gorgeous garment hanging in his hand and the
word on his lips forgotten.
"Madame," he stammered, "I would--" and got no further.
Sudden embarrassment took him and he grew angry with himself.
What could he say, how dared he do what he had done?
He could have thrown the white garment into the river in his sudden
vexation. Factor of the post, he had made of himself a stammering
youth, all for sake of the compelling beauty of a woman's eyes.
But at that moment, while Marie stood blankly on the sill holding to
the doorside and the silence grew unbearable, there was a step within
the cabin and Maren Le Moyne came from the inner room.
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